Alcoholic

Is there anything that I can do to make my oem seat sit lower? Are there any aftermarket racing seats that sit lower then the stock seats do? It would really make my driving experience a whole lot better if I had more steering wheel clearence as my knees sit quite a bit higher then then the wheel does.

I don't want an aftermarket wheel...

2FAST7S

I think your only option might be aftermarket steering wheel...or maybe a smaller diameter stocker(99 efini maybe??? dont know). I have a friend that used to have a similar problem...getting in and out of his car was a pia. threw in one of those sqarish ones. Problem solved and it looks NICE TOO...

Alcoholic

I like having an airbag and cruise controll and what was all this BS I hear about people struggling to get their turn signal return to work with aftermarket wheels? I mean if it comes down to it then I'll buy a wheel but I'd probably end up doing that and get the seat to sit lower if it's possible.

A cm or two from a smaller mazda wheel probably won't help much. It's a pita for me just to hit the brakes.

One of you experts chime in.

jic

iTrader: (1)

aftermarket one
theyre smaller and look better

Herblenny

iTrader: (13)

I had this conversation with 20B 3rd Gen. He's going with some aftermarket seats. I don't remember which ones. You might want to PM him and ask.

Another possibility will be to somehow lower the stock seats. But they are pretty low already. I have couple of seats torn apart. I'll take some pics.

jic

iTrader: (1)

thatd sound good.
aftermarket steering wheel thats smaller and a lower clearance seat=must more space for taller people

Alcoholic

I almost forgot that I made this thread . Anyway, thanks.....I'll shoot him a PM.

moconnor

iTrader: (14)

There is a write up on Miata.net about removing seat foam to give more room for taller drivers:

http://www.miata.net/garage/headroom.html

No idea if it would work for FD seats though.

Some Nardi steering wheels also come with an airbag and are slightly smaller than the stock USDM wheel.

BlueRex

Smaller OEM steering wheel that retains airbag - '99 nardi wheel, and '00-'02 Mazda flying m nardi wheel. Neither requires drilling for the signal returns if they're off of an RX-7 (370mm compared to stock 380mm).

Lower seats - OEM RZ or Spirit R recaros (pricey, but a perfect fit). There's probably a lot of other choices, these are just the ones I'm aware of.

Alcoholic

Lol that 370mm wheel would only get me 5mm of extra clearence for my knees.

<----- not a rich fd owner. I would love to get a set of those oem recaros but they're probably way past what I'm willing to pay considering the fact that my car is damn near stock.

damn mazda for deciding that they *know* where my wheel needs to be.

13b4me

I have a machined aluminum spacer for my steering wheel on the FC... Momo bolt pattern... Basically you bolt the spacer to your hub adapter and then bolt the wheel to the spacer... It brought the steering wheel about 30mm towards me which is about perfect... Especially if you're tall... PM me and I could probably dig you up a pic of it... Eliminates the need to get lower seats...

akiratdk

nice~~ now that is what I call an invention!!~~

audiobot7

^^^

Addict

I've got a 2nd set of OEM seats that I'm modifying, tearing the foam out of the middle, to get more headroom. So far I've completely removed the center section of foam, and replaced with an inch of closed cell foam. I left the bolsters, and shaved them back somewhat so that I fit between them. Just going to figure out how to cover them(cheap neoprene stretchy cover from pepboys will be the first try). And I only intend to use this seat for autocross and maybe a HPDE or two, so it doesn't have to look that great or be perfect.

Definately is giving me MUCH more headroom, but I'll also pay attention to steering wheel room tomorrow when I play with them.

BlueRex

One big positive about the options I mentioned is that they don't lose much value and will be cake to resell. Plus you get to enjoy them while they're on your car. But there probably are more economical methods (that don't look as good )

audiobot7

Or just lay off the alcohol

rotoober

iTrader: (3)

I removed about 2" of foam from my seat bottom. Pretty easy if you take your time and don't get too excited with the knife (serrated bread knife works best). Remove the seat, seaparate the backrest from the bottom, carefully remove the clips holding the leather to the seat frame - then cut away!. I used to hit my helmet on the roof (touring- sunroof model). This mod gave me another 1" of headroom, and aftermarket momo gave me enough heel-toe room for my legs.

axr6

I placed a quick-release hub between my original hub location and the wheel. It moved the wheel about 2" closer to my body, freeing up huge amounts of knee and thigh room. Besides, you can just disconnect the wheel getting in or out for a lot easier exit.

I always preferred the extra control that I get with bend elbows vs. straighg forward reaching arms. Get a lot more fine feel out of the steering that way.

Taikutsu

i did this too! makes the clearance a lot better

Ibumar

Got a question. Are you using the stock wheel and hub and just insert a quick release?
Can you give me some more specifics? I was thinking about doing something like that as well to get some more space, but assumed I'd need all new parts....

Thanks

axr6

Unfortunately for your stated requirements, it will not work with the standard, air bag equipped wheel. Should work, however, with just about ANY aftermarket wheel.

The standard steering wheel is more fitting for a Bus than a sportscar to begin with and the airbag robs a lot of feel out of it for having to accelerate, move and stop that heavy mass in the center. You definitely feel the difference between the heavy standard wheel and a light aftermaket wheel in terms of preciseness, response and transition.

Removing the air bag may represent a risk but, for some people, some rewards outweight the risk. Such is being the case for me with this exchange. Besides, you can make the conversion by removing the whole clockspring assembly, facricating a simple setup for cruise control if you wish to retain it and make it so that you can return the original system in a matter of minutes.

eric e

my 1st fd came with a momo race wheel that was a smaller diameter and flatter than the stocker

i'm 6'3" and smaller meant i couldn't see the speedo and flatter meant it was in closer to the dash, my knuckles kept hitting the indicators and my knees were too close

i fitted a 30mm spacer and brought the wheel out closer to my chest and solved the knuckles and knee problem but still couldn't see the speedo at cruising speeds

eric e