Seats

[George Wilder]

Pete
Have sent Richard a message
George

[Richard Stanbridge]

Pete
So, it appears that late Mk 1 and Mk 2 MX-5 seats are the same.
The driver's-side seat cushions in the photo look a little distorted - is it an optical illusion?
I noticed on ebay late last week that there were two or three sets as "Buy it now" listings and all quite reasonably priced.
When I was looking for a pair about 2 years ago the going price for very good condition seats was about £120. I managed to get mine for £70 via a "Buy it now" listing. All good value when compared to rebuilding the original MGB seats.
I had an early MX-5 (Eunos, actually) for a few years and I found that the seats were very comfortable, even for very long journeys, hence the choice for the MGB GT. The Mk 2 seats are even better and look less bulky, in my opinion. Oh, and to answer your previous question the headrests are quickly and easily removed.
I have had a number of MGB roadsters and GTs (ranging from 1967 to 1980) over the years and while I found that the original seats were comfortable, the MX-5's are superior. I am what used to be considered a few years ago as average height , 5' 8".
There are a number of MX-5 traders around the country who have secondhand spares such as seats and the locations of some: -
Ipswich
Berwick upon Tweed
Doncaster
Romford
There must be many more.
Regards
Richard

[Peter Cresswell]

Thanks Richard and George for your help.
The pair of seats in the picture are a 'Buy it now' for £70, but the drivers seat has a patch on the side of the backrest facing the door, (it looks in one of the other pictures to be a tank tape repair!) but the bolsters are not worn. These seem to be the best available at the moment, but I'm not sure they are the right ones for me. Significantly, no one has snapped them up or made an offer, despite a lot of people 'watching'.

Thanks for your help and advice. I'll let you know how this progresses.

[Peter Cresswell]

At last I dropped on a pair of MX5 black cloth seats on ebay and secured them at just over £81. They have come out of a late Mk1 car that had covered 50,000 miles, so they are in excellent condition. These are now fitted:

[attachment=0]SDC12927.JPG[/attachment]

The drivers seat was slightly harder to fit than the passenger side, because I wanted more for/aft movement than I've allow the passenger. To facilitate this I fitted the seats to pieces of strip steel and then bolted this to the floor. On the passenger side I managed to use the existing mountings. When the headrests are removed (an easy job as they remove like most modern cars do by pushing in a little button to release them) the tonneau cover fits flat on the car so the mod is not obvious when parked. I haven't driven the car yet as the drivers side front wing is off the car and so it doesn't have a windscreen yet, but they feel quite firm unlike the very saggy seats I had. If I find I sit too high in the car I might try cutting some of the base foam out to get my bum closer to the floor!