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MX5 seat height etc
cliftyhanger - 6/3/22 at 12:57 PM

My daughter wants an MX5.
She is 5' dead, and has tried our car (mk2) and she just isn't tall enough to reach pedals and sits too low. When she did a track session year sago, I made a "booster seat" from a cheap seat cover and 2" foam. Worked well enough, and got used again when she did a trackday in my spitfire.

The booster seat/cushion is not a long term solution. So are there any other solutions people have found/seen?
I am wondering about a box section subframe to fit between seat runners and the floor. Or is there another seat (late mx5??) that may be utilised?

Ta

nick205 - 9/3/22 at 10:16 AM

Aren't any of the MX5 seats height adjustable like they are on most other cars?

Messing about raising the height with a different subframe may well invalidate safety approvals the car has.

40inches - 9/3/22 at 10:49 AM

Longer seat bolts and spacers? https://forum.mx5oc.co.uk/t/raising-seat-height-2005-nc/117238

pewe - 11/3/22 at 11:52 AM

A colleague was similarly vertically challenged (her words not mine).
The local Ford Main Stealer put blocks attached securely to the pedals so she could reach them - seemed to work for her combined with a booster cushion.

cliftyhanger - 11/3/22 at 09:56 PM

quote:
Originally posted by pewe
A colleague was similarly vertically challenged (her words not mine).
The local Ford Main Stealer put blocks attached securely to the pedals so she could reach them - seemed to work for her combined with a booster cushion.


I think my daughter wants to avoid teh booster cushion, despite the homebrew one working well. I suspect it is concerns about the aesthetic as much as anything else. But yes, an adjustable height seat could be ideal, especially as her husband is more normal height (5@8, same as me. Which as everybody knows, is the "correct" height)

If it comes to it, I am happy to cut/weld up a subframe, which would be at least as strong as the existing fixings. But adjustable woud be better.

Slimy38 - 11/3/22 at 10:30 PM

Does the MX5 still have the roof? My seats were awfully close to the soft roof as standard, I doubt I'd be able to lift them more than an inch before I'd struggle to shut the lid. A hard roof might be different.

Rather than a booster cushion, would putting more seat padding into the seat work? There is a common MX5 process called a 'foamectomy', you could go the opposite way and do a seat enlargement rather than a reduction? Although 2 inches of foam might be a challenge.