I've been wanting to install a rollbar so I can take it on the track at miller. Before I install a rollbar, I need to replace my seats with something that is tall enough to prevent me from whacking my head on the rollbar in an accident. Even though I'm plenty short, my head still sticks up a good 4" above the stock 99 seats. The 01+ seats were supposedly taller, but even those aren't famous for being awesome seats. Some people in the miata world believe that it's safer NOT to have a roll bar for DD. They figure you're more likely to get rear-ended or in a collision than roll, and whacking your head on a rollbar without a helmet could mean instant death. Personally, I'm more afraid of sliding off a curve in a canyon and rolling the car, so I want a roll bar. Plus I want to take it to Wide Open Wednesdays at miller.
My seats are starting to show their wear too, so it was time to replace them either way.
There aren't many seat options that fit a miata. There isn't much room in there, between the seatbelt tower and the trans tunnel. Factor in that the roof is really low on these, and your roll bar can't be super high or the top won't close over it. So the goal is to get a narrow, comfortable seat the still reclines, has good support and bolsters, doesn't cost a fortune, and sits as low or lower than the stock seats. The most popular options include:
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lotus elise seats: $$$$$, brackets to make them work are spendy, not much padding for extended periods of time in the car, but they're thin and sit nice and low
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FD RX7 Seats: $$$ tough to find, tough to modify (though being mazda seats gives you a couple options like being able to reuse the female end of the seatbelt), but they look amazing. I question if these are tall enough to protect your head from the rollbar
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Porsche 914 seats: not much bolstering, most are hammered, but they fit
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Honda S2000 seats: fairly cheap, leather (which I don't love in a sports car), they fit close enough, but require custom sliders. Unfortunately these get stolen from S2000s all the time, so if you can, try to verify that these are legit takoffs.
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JDM Mazdaspeed Miata (Japanese only) recaro seats: fit awesome, no mods required, super rare, super expensive, and tough to import from Japan.
Almost every seat requires custom modification to make it fit. These mods are simple when compared to the 4x4 world, but they're still more complex than a bolt-on solution. Since this is still a daily driver, I didn't want to go with a full bucket seat with a fixed back.
Last night I picked up a pair of seats from a s2000. I assume they weren't stolen since he had 2 s2000s there in various states of repair. They come to the top of my head, which is great. And if I had to, I could use a 4-point harness with them. I don't plan on tracking this car much, but I'd like to take it out once or twice a year, and I may want a true harness then. The only thing I don't love about the S2000 seats is the leather and how much you slide with leather. I may consider reupholstering the center seat pad to keep my butt in place, but I'll have to try them out first before I do that.
So this weekend I'll be building some custom slider mounts to get them as low as possible in the car.