Herro there. 1999 miata issues

Hello all, nice forum you have going here. I'm here because the miata forums aren't too track intensive, and so you all might be able to better aid me. Thanks in advance, quick fun facts. Along with the Miata I have a 2008 Subaru WRX sedan, with an SPT cat back, full alpine sound system with 250watt amp, prosport boost and EGT gauges, and a Cobb accessport v2 running a perrin stage one map at 17lb's of boost. Bout 230awhp. Subarus are my first love in the car world, but too much. I can't bring myself to try dodging cones with it, world rally blue is too beautiful to wear the battle scars. So, enter the miata, and autocross.

I have a 1999 miata 80k miles great condition, with springs, shocks, sways, Enkei RPF-1's with yokohoma S-drives. Camber set to -1 on all four tires by Ptuning. Under the hood NGK plugs, and a K&N RAM intake. also have a hardtop off a 95 type R.

I love this car. I have the option to flip it for an 01-03 S2000, I'm very tempted but theirs just something I love about this little mazda; perhaps it's just character.I hear it handles better than the s2k, but the extra power from the F20 is ever so tempting. Opinions on this?

The capital issue, which requires immediate attention regardless of whether or not I sell it and grab the honda. I'm 6'2", and with my helmet on (one of the nicer bells, ran out of money) my head (helmet) scrapes the top. This is both my with soft, and hardtop. My question to you is would a "racing" seat drop me down lower? I need about 5 inches of drop to comfortable clear. I assume the rails are also very important in getting a lower position in the car?

Thank you so much, sorry to drop all this on you guys, I'm just excited to find a racing community with the same sort of attitude towards the hobby/life style. Hope you enjoyed reading my life story there lol. Thanks again-Sean

Scasey wrote: ...enter the miata, and autocross. ...my head (helmet) scrapes the top. This is both my with soft, and hardtop. My question to you is would a "racing" seat drop me down lower? I need about 5 inches of drop to comfortable clear. I assume the rails are also very important in getting a lower position in the car?

For just autocross, you can drop the soft top and gain unlimited headroom clearence. SCCA autocross does not require the top to be in position.

One caveat:
If you plan to run upper body restraints such as a 4 point harness or a torso belt or even a CG Clip in a convertable while autocrossing, then you will be required to have a roll bar in place and required to be sure that your helmet stays underneth that roll bar.
As long as you DO NOT use upper body restraint and stay with the factory seat belt, you can legally autocross without a roll bar or even with a roll bar of any height (even lower than your helmet.)

Follow this logic. If you were to roll your car with upper body restraints, your torso would be locked in a upright position and there would be no way for you to duck down under the windshield or into the passanger side seat area to avoid being crushed. Therefore, a proper height rollbar would be your only saftey. If you end up upside down with standard seat belts, the 3 point belt would allow for your to (in theory) duck to saftey.

To answer your second question, yes you can gain some height if still needed. Others will chime in on this topic and they will recommend a "foam-ectomy" first and a replacement seat, rails second. I have not done either so i will leave it to them to comment. Personally, I took the autocross with no upper body restraint option.

Of course, high speed race track events often require upper body restraint, proper roll bar and a hard top.

Welcome,
John
'90 Miata

Edit: I hate to give "rules" without citing a source so for my above statements about upper body restraint please see rule 3.3.1 and the following link.
http://www.scca.com/documents/Solo%20Rules/2008_Solo_Rules_2.pdf

We don't know what sort of use this car will see - can you fill us in a bit there, Sean? Autocross? Track days? Canyon carving? Will the hardtop be a once-in-a-while thing, or will you mount it more or less permanently on the car?

If you're looking for a race seat, the best thing to do is to go to a track day and check out what's there. A race seat can - but won't necessarily - lower you in the car. More importantly, you have to fit in it comfortably. So check out what other Miata owners have done until you find something that works for you.

In my experience, a lot of aftermarket seats that still mount on the OEM rails will not drop your seat height. In fact, a lot of them do the opposite...

@Sean - I doubt that you can find 5" of drop in seat height in a Miata without severe modifications of the floor pan. You might gain some space by using a sidemount seat and mount it without rails but that of course only works if noone else ever drives your car.

I don't know how much taller, if at all, the NB seats are, but I know in a NA you'd be very near sitting on the floor boards to gain 5 inches.

Scasey,

Have you tried a miata with a "foamectomy" done to the seat? If you search on Miata.net, you'll find lots of info about it.. I'm 6'3", and once I did that, I had TONS of room in my NA Miata... I see the Ptuning reference, so I'm pretty sure I'm local to you. If you want to try sitting in my car before you slice up your seat, drop me a line.

Hope this helps!

I am 6'2" also and have a difficult time with head room. I have a Kirkey aluminum seat that I bolt directly to the floor and it actually puts me a little low in the car. I use the stock holes in the floor with the stock bolts and it works fine. I had to add a couple of brackets to extend the front of the seat to catch the front mounting bolts.

Also your choice of helmets can also help. I have 2 helmets and I am 1" to 1.5" taller in one than I am in the other.

Take out the seat, sit in on the floor with your helmet on and see how much room you actually have to work with.

I'm a Miata owner but I also love S2000's. If you're seriously considering the trade, I'd strongly recommend that you drive your Miata and an S2000 back to back, preferably in anger, to help cement your decision.

In my Targa car, I have the seat bolted directly to the floor and even removed the crossbars where the factory seat mounts. My wife Janel needs a booster cushion in order to drive it, but it gives me the headroom I need!

Thanks all so much! I've been auto crossing, it's a very competitive CSP car. I'm getting tired of cone dodging though and I want to get on the track. Maybe time attack, or just Summit point friday at the track meets.

The reason for the need to fit in with a top is I had to miss an event because of rain this year. I couldn't race with the top off, and I'm not trying to turn it into a rust bucket. I'm going to try this foam surgery, ever so carefully. More and more though I'm coming to find that a lot of things are pointing to S2000.

@LTdan, thanks much for the offer but I won't trouble you just yet.

Thanks so much everyone, I really appreciate it. If It's cool with you, I now have a problem with my daily driver.

This bag of fun is with the 2008 wrx. It makes a clicking noise similar to when put a stick into the spokes of a bicycle tire. Only does the noise in second gear at 1500-2000 RPM, and I think it only does it in second gear. The noise is kind of quiet and blends in with the boxer rumble.Today, when I really got on the gas going up a hill in third or fourth at wide open throttle, boost went up to 13lb's and then started dropping off. I got off the gas at 8lb's. When I got out of the car I smelled burning oil cry.

Any ideas from the experts here? thanks so much, I'm nothing but trouble lol. Any ideas? Is it my transmission,