Miata or Del Sol seats, any one put them in their 914? Options

[tradisrad]

I picked up two Miata seats for $30 yesterday and the inital fitment looks good (pics this evening). The seats are a bit wide for the back pad and a few inches taller than the 914 seats, but they are very comfortable and I am not too tall. I am fighting a moral issue of changing the seats to Mazda seats, but if i go through with this I will keep the original seats.

So, has any one put one (or two) in thier 914? How did you adapt the seat rails? I dont want to drill through the floor pan if I can avoid it, so I will try and adapt to the 914 rail. Any pictures to share?
I also would like to see some pictures of carpeted firewalls.

[realred914]

stock seat rails will make the seat sit higher than teh mazda rails. dont worry about four holes on the floor, they can be patched up if you ever want to go original again.

one thing is my del sol seats have soul baby!!!!!

but really no sweat, the holes wiont harm your car any more than teh big motor, aftermarket swat bar, poly bushings, and monoballs, oh and lest we forget that crazy six mount you have in there that would be near impossible to turn back to original without major effort.

come on by and check out the del sol seat for fit when you can.

later gator

[tradisrad]

red, I'm gonna try and make the stock rails work first. then if I dont like or they dont work well I'll consider drilling.

[Rand]

I also would like to see some pictures of carpeted firewalls.

Search will turn those up. A couple examples:
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=107172
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=101335

[realred914]

red, I'm gonna try and make the stock rails work first. then if I dont like or they dont work well I'll consider drilling.

you want to test fit my del sols first? maybe to day?

of to kens in a few, latter!

[r_towle]

I picked up two Miata seats for $30 yesterday and the inital fitment looks good (pics this evening). The seats are a bit wide for the back pad and a few inches taller than the 914 seats, but they are very comfortable and I am not too tall. I am fighting a moral issue of changing the seats to Mazda seats, but if i go through with this I will keep the original seats.

So, has any one put one (or two) in thier 914? How did you adapt the seat rails? I dont want to drill through the floor pan if I can avoid it, so I will try and adapt to the 914 rail. Any pictures to share?
I also would like to see some pictures of carpeted firewalls.

If you did not know...the backpad middle section comes off...
Pull the whole backpad out and take a look from behind.
Not sure if that helps with the fitment...just thought I would throw it out there.

Rich

[tradisrad]

I picked up two Miata seats for $30 yesterday and the inital fitment looks good (pics this evening). The seats are a bit wide for the back pad and a few inches taller than the 914 seats, but they are very comfortable and I am not too tall. I am fighting a moral issue of changing the seats to Mazda seats, but if i go through with this I will keep the original seats.

So, has any one put one (or two) in thier 914? How did you adapt the seat rails? I dont want to drill through the floor pan if I can avoid it, so I will try and adapt to the 914 rail. Any pictures to share?
I also would like to see some pictures of carpeted firewalls.

If you did not know...the backpad middle section comes off...
Pull the whole backpad out and take a look from behind.
Not sure if that helps with the fitment...just thought I would throw it out there.

Rich

Good sugestion. Unfortunatley my car is a '70 so if I install 2 seats I will need to get a late back pad or carpet.
thanks
-Rob

[tradisrad]

Pictures: This is on the 914 seat rails, but not bolted to the floor. I'm outta time tonight.

[underthetire]

Those look pretty good. Not sure if they are faded or just the pic, but you can get some Rit dye from Rite-Aid, mix it to the desired color, and spray them with a spray bottle. Did my carpets that way, and a old seat I had with pretty good results. The trick is to mix the dye light, then go darker as needed. And you may want to either shampoo them afterward or sit on a towel for a while.

[realred914]

me, i am thinking if trad dont want to dril holes in floor, maybe we can mount the new seat tracks using the existing mounts in the car, use the seat hing studs as a rear point with a croos bar mounted to them studs to hold the new tracks, and then make a cross bar that is bolted to the front seat mount bracket after the toothed hight adjuster is removed. you would have three points them to mount you track brackets, and thus still have a low track . hieght is an issue with this seat, a very fat padded bottom, kind of like Oprah, I guess we will call trads seats Oprah seats!!!
so keeping the track low is the main goal here, so the seats fit right.

[tradisrad]

the seats are a bit faded, but for $30 for 2 seats w/o tears was a good deal. I am/was not sure how they would work. If I decide I really like them I will look for better seats.

[underthetire]

the seats are a bit faded, but for $30 for 2 seats w/o tears was a good deal. I am/was not sure how they would work. If I decide I really like them I will look for better seats.

That is a good deal. If you decide to change them let me know, i'd pay double just so the girlfriend would ride in my car (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[andys]

Rob,

The style of those seats go reasonably well with the 914. It's difficult to tell in your photo; is the seat bottom of the Miata higher than the stock 914 (passenger side)?

Andys

[tradisrad]

Yes the bottom of the seat is higher than the stock 914 seat (both passanger and driver). My car is a '70 so it has the early passanger seat that is fixed and I think it sits a bit lower than the stock 914 driver seat. I can take a side by side pic of the stock and miata seat this afternoon as well as the stock seat reinstalled.