seat runners

[street]

Do new seat runners exist anywhere, or does anyone know of good substitute from another car.

I want to install my mx5 seats on runners, (yes i know have to do a bit of welding) and keep my original runners on my original seats. At my twice yearly testing requirement i would then simply swap them out for my original thereby avoiding lengthy compliance route in NZ.

Thanks

[berni29]

Hi

I think you will have to get some secondhand ones and clean them up. I have just adapted an original set to fit some BB Classic seats I have. I agree that the MX5 seats are a worthwhile upgrade. In the past I have used MGF seats also. I personally will not use the original seats because of a lack of headrests.

Best of luck!

Berni

[StressCraxx]

I believe both Sue Miller in the UK and RD Ent sell seat rails new. The PN for Rdent is 26B0138SS.

[alanr]

The +2 seat runners are the same as in a Reliant Scimitar Se5a.
Problem is for you though is I doubt Scimitars ever made it as far as NZ...or did they?

Alan.

[stugilmour]

I might have lost the plot, but take it you wish to use a newly purchased set of stock Plus 2 runners in conjunction with your MX5 seats?

Not sure if all Plus 2 seat rails over the whole product run are the same, but note on the RDent parts listing there may be a change of part number. Whether this corresponds to the updated interior is not clear. Anyway, my ‘69 Federal seats hinge the entire seat from the front to gain rear seat access and there is no recliner mechanism. With the Federal seats with integrated head rests the seats severely restrict rear seat access as they hit the headliner prematurely.

I took a different approach. I installed new aftermarket seats using the rails supplied with the new seats. Although my new seats are not MX5, the relationship of the seats to the rails is similar to my 2011 NC MX5 GT i.e. the seat bottom stays fully in place and only the seat back hinges forward for rear seat access and recline. The result is rear seat access is greatly improved, but check your seats for clearance as YMMV.

To install the aftermarket seats I locally strengthened the fibreglass floor pan and drilled new mounting holes. I didn’t glass in new bobbins, but that would be an option. I reasoned IIRC my Esprit V8 seats used through holes in the floorpan rather than bobbins. I stored the stock mounting bolts and washers by threading them into the stock bobbins so mounting the stock seats back in the car would be very easy and there is no residual hole to leak through the floorpan.

Mounting the new seats this way allowed me to get them as far back as possible; their adjustment range is plenty for the Plus 2. Note that I couldn’t put the new seats quite as far back as I was able to move the stock seats aft (in an earlier iteration of getting a bit more room), but they ended up pretty close to stock position relative to the pedals and wheel. Rearward mounting is restricted by the seat base width contacting the rear seat area side panel, which is quite wide at the lower aft corner of the door opening. We really only use the rear seat for stuff, but much prefer access now.

Anyway, sorry for length, but wouldn’t MX5 rails perhaps offer an easier solution? Note I have made a bunch of assumptions, and not sure if your MX5 seats are completely different, and whether MX5 rails would land too high in a Plus 2; I had to lower my Miata seats to fit under the hardtop with a helmet. If you do pursue new stock seat rails, perhaps confirm if there were different versions.

HTH. Good luck with the seat upgrade. We really appreciated our replacement seats on our last long tour. We love the recline feature, and even added seat warmers and manually inflatable lumbar bags, both sourced from eBay.

[The Veg]

Anyway, my ‘69 Federal seats hinge the entire seat from the front to gain rear seat access and there is no recliner mechanism. With the Federal seats with integrated head rests the seats severely restrict rear seat access as they hit the headliner prematurely.

Same with mine but it's worth noting that the tilt-mechanism isn't part of the runners. My gripe with the stock seats isn't so much with the head-restraints* hitting the ceiling when tilted (I too only use the rear seat for light cargo), but that they are too low to save my neck in a rear impact and instead push my shoulders forward (see picture below), making the seat uncomfortable after a while. Do I remember correctly from LOG 37 that we're about the same height?

Federal seat head restraint is way too low for me! (stoopid beard now thankfully removed too)

I installed new aftermarket seats using the rails supplied with the new seats.

Which seats? The comfort-issue I mentioned above has me seriously considering a change of seats. Of course due to being very tall overall and long of torso, I can't use anything that puts the top of the squab any higher than the stock seat. I would also prefer to retain fore-aft adjustability and definitely want a head-restraint for safety reasons.

even added seat warmers and manually inflatable lumbar bags, both sourced from eBay.

In an old British sports car? Wot's the world coming to?



*They are head restraints, not rests, according to my dad who worked for several years at the Highway Safety Research Institute back in the '60s. They're there primarily to literally save your neck by preventing the head from being snapped backward in a rear collision. Being able to rest your head on them is merely a side-benefit.

[shynsy]

"They are head restraints, not rests, according to my dad who worked for several years at the Highway Safety Research Institute back in the '60s. They're there primarily to literally save your neck by preventing the head from being snapped backward in a rear collision. Being able to rest your head on them is merely a side-benefit"

Looking at the photo they don't look as if they could even be head restraints. Need to be 4 or so inches higher.
Tim

[Donels]

I fitted MGF seats. I used the existing MGF runners but removed the bolting features as they’re completely wrong for a +2. Then bolted the modified runners to a makeup mount that matched the new bolt pattern to existing +2 seat mounts. They do not tilt for rear access but slide well forwards if access is required. You could probably do the same for MX5 seats. When looking for suitable seats I found MX5 seats are far more expensive than MGF seats.

IMG_1567.jpeg (26.98 KiB) Viewed 327 times

[stugilmour]

Which seats?

Veg, I installed these. Mine have red highlight stitching which looks pretty good. Headrests are height adjustable. I added lumbar air bags and seat heaters. The lumbar was an absolute must. Probably should have got the suede insert; we ended up with a couple of IKEA fake sheepskin pads.

https://www.performance-world.com/Super ... 281220.htm

I posted a couple of the supplier’s pictures (from the link above) in the forum thread below where I suggested the seats to another Canadian forum member. I thought I had posted some pictures of mine installed in the car, but recall now I thought there would be limited interest on the forum ‘cus they are a Canadian brand and I am not sure if they ship out of the country? They state on their web site they only ship within Canada, but they also appear to be available on Amazon Canada. Not sure about south of the border.

viewtopic.php?t=53686&p=392324

The big appeal for me was our local Hot Rod parts shop stocked the whole range of Performance World seats, so zero shipping costs on whatever you want. Priced in Canadian bucks too.

They aren’t particularly well made seats, but any other alternatives required shipping and importing to Canada at considerable additional cost. Happy with the new seats, but have retained the stock pair so the ‘upgrade’ is reversible.

We both loved the comfort on our epic ~3,500 mile trip to the West Coast Lotus Meet in California. Return trip in October was below freezing so the warmers were really welcome. Lumbar bags seem to hold adjustment well, so no extra fuss. Wish they had a bit more side bolstering, or the stock seatbelts fit the passenger a bit better. I am six feet tall and still fit fine, although I was able to put the stock seats further rearward than the replacements. Lynn fits fine as well.

Cheers!

[The Veg]

Looking at the photo they don't look as if they could even be head restraints. Need to be 4 or so inches higher.

Perfectly adequate only if you're Chunky's short-arsed size.

[The Veg]

Thanks Stu. How thick is the bottom of that Canadian seat?

I think I'll be SOL for finding anything that'll leave enough head-room for me, as with the stock seat -the bottom of which is only about two inches thick- my head is close enough to the headlining that I can just slide my fingers between the top of my hair and the headlining.

That leaves me five options that I can think of:

1. Do nothing and put up with the discomfort.

2. Install non-federal seats.

3. Have the upholstery shop take the forward hump out of the head-restraints.

4. Have a cushion made to put between me and the seatback to bring me forward enough that the head-restraint no longer pushes my shoulders, and modify runners to move the seat back farther by the same amount since I've already got it as far back as it will go in stock condition.

5. Make the floor flat (remove the raised pedestal upon which the seat mounts) to accommodate installing non-Lotus seat. Even this may not be enough for some aftermarket options, but then most are too wide anyway.

[stugilmour]

Using the drawing below, the top of the seat cushion at the front of the seat (F line) is about 7” off the floor at the peak. I estimate the seat cushion to be about 2” or 3” off the floor (Between the E line and the base of the seat back).

The seats are very tight to the floor. I had to use a few fender washers to pack out the mounting bolts front and rear to get the desired mounting angle and prevent the back of the seat slider hitting the carpet, preventing the seat going all the way back. Although not sure, I think this is pretty common fitment for aftermarket seats.

You may be correct that my replacement seats are slightly higher than stock, but if so it is not by much. I can sit in the car wearing a helmet with either seats installed though, so perhaps you sit a bit taller.

Interesting contrast to my NC Miata seats, which I think would sit considerably higher, although I haven’t tried them or really measured. Although my particular Miata seats include a height adjustment between the runners and the seat base, I still had to lower the seat to fit with a helmet on. Weirdly only the seat base goes up and down, creating a large gap between the seat base cushion and the seat back.

HTH