Tall guys and Miatas?

I raced my Miata for several years in showroom stock, and I'm 6'2" tall. Full cage, factory seat, the works. I did take the cover off the seat and cut the foam. I sit almost 2 inches lower because of it. It's really worth doing.

I have a side-by-side picture of a standard and unmodified seat. Stand by while I upload the shot to a hosting site.

I gutted the seat in my Miata. I mean Gutted. No foam on the bottom. It actually worked pretty well. I left the side bolsters, but the main part is just metal. Drove it like that for probably 80k miles. That got me low enough that I didn't have to remove the visors. I could see windshield frame all around the visor. I'm 6'1".

Joey

In reply to joey48442: I didn't go that far. I can still sit comfortably and I left the side bolsters alone. The net effect with the lower cushion and intact side bolsters is improved lateral support - another reason to do it.

actualsize wrote: I have a side-by-side picture of a standard and unmodified seat. Stand by while I upload the shot to a hosting site.

Pictures yet?

He's teasing us.

This one's been modified. You can't tell from looking. It's more of a race seat than the original. With the added suede in place of some of the leather (made to the same pattern as the original), it does a great job of butt retention while remaining comfortable for long trips. Total cost for the pair of seats was $300 for the upholstery work.

I probably posted it in this thread already.

I want to thank you guys. Ya'll might have solved my headroom problem in the Mustang.

OK, I'll throw in my two cents a couple of months too late. You guys had me convinced that a Miata would be fine for me. Well, it isn't. I tried out a 2000 model this past weekend. My knees are up around the steering wheel, my head is firmly smushed against a bar in the convertible top and my feet are all tangled up in the footwell.

It sounds like with a foamectomy, the car might be bearable, but still way on the tight side. In any case, I don't think I could bring myself to opening up a great looking leather seat and hacking at the insides. I think it would be easier to just buy a Z3.

In reply to Otto_Maddox:

Good lord how tall are you? I'm 5'11" with a 32" inseam and I normally drive with the seat one or two notches forward of the rearmost position. And while I feel claustrophobic with the top up, I'm in no danger of hitting the roof with my head.

Doing a foamectomy would work for SVreX if he was the primary driver, but I got the impression that he only drives it occasionally, if at all. Seat surgery probably would upset Mrs.SVreX , especially if she likes her car and seating position. If it were me, I'd just suck it up and enjoy the ride, letting her do the driving.

In reply to Wowak:

6' 2" with a 33" inseam and size 14 feet. If I had the seat forward a couple of notches, I actually think I'd have more headroom because I wouldn't have my head on one of the top supports. But then, my knees would be up pretty tight to the dashboard.

I used to own an MGB. I was lighter then but no shorter, and I would swear that car was roomier. Not that I really fit very well in that car either, but 15 years ago I was a lot less demanding of comfort in my cars.

I'm another former MGB owner. The difference in leg room is due to the location of the gas tank, more than anything else. MGB's have more leg room than any car I've ever been in.

In reply to Woody:

Yeah, it was the leg room that was great. The top of the windshield was in my way, but other than that it was great. My wife said I looked like a shriner in a clown car driving it. She says the same thing when I sit in a Miata. That kind of makes me feel a little less cool, but how cool is a middle aged accountant regardless?

My solution ended up being to remove the sun visors. They're crap anyway, and that way Mrs. SVreX is perfectly happy as well.

I feel like I put on a Miata like a glove, as opposed to my AW11 MR2, which I got into just like a regular car. That didn't stop me from buying another Miata because they're just so darn fun. ;)

I did a foamectomy in my first one. It had a custom roll bar and harnesses. I did HPDE events with it. Had to run with the top up most of the time, because I still had issues with helmet vs. roll bar clearance when the corner workers could see how close it was, even with the foamectomy. I haven't altered the seat in my current Miata, just pulled the visors out. No roll bar (that may change someday), no plan for track days with the car at this time. Any future track car will have a fixed roof. I might eventually take my Sentra SE-R to one, for example.

Woody wrote: I'm another former MGB owner. The difference in leg room is due to the location of the gas tank, more than anything else. MGB's have more leg room than any car I've ever been in.

IIRC, the MGB was designed so that the guy who designed it could fit, and he was 6'10-ish.

Otto_Maddox wrote: In reply to Wowak: 6' 2" with a 33" inseam and size 14 feet. If I had the seat forward a couple of notches, I actually think I'd have more headroom because I wouldn't have my head on one of the top supports. But then, my knees would be up pretty tight to the dashboard. I used to own an MGB. I was lighter then but no shorter, and I would swear that car was roomier. Not that I really fit very well in that car either, but 15 years ago I was a lot less demanding of comfort in my cars.

I'm about the same height and inseam, but my feet are like a size 10. The only Miata I felt really comfortable in had the seat bolted directly to the floor.

The trick to fitting the tall freaks in the MGB was probably that it was such a pain to put the top up, you never bothered! Seriously, though - my MGB GT has ridiculous amounts of headroom. But MG owners who have sat in it get out muttering things about collapsed seat webbing...

I found out a few weeks ago that I am a tight squeeze in an NC Miata with a helmet on and the top up. Helmet goes right against the top. That was a surprise to me.

GUNDY wrote: Different approach guys, Remove the seat, roll the carpet back, and using a spot weld cutter or a cut-off wheel remove the 2 rear seat mounting pedistals from the floor. Use a hammer and dolly to flatten the indention in the floor. Remount the seat, bend the rear seat tabs up to match the contour of the floor and drill holes in the floor. Replace carpet, install seat with bolt and nut with large diameter washer and finish with undercoating to keep the water out. If you also have a shorter driver the seat rises as it moves forward. I did this on my 95 which my wife (5'4") drove and had no problem.

Ok. i read, re-read, re-re-read and looked all over online and as simple as this process sounds i STILL have a question.

What the heck do you do with the seat-belt bracket. It is supposed to bolt to the transmission tunnel but since the seat is dropped it not longer come close to the hole. Can i just leave it undone. It looks like the seat-belt receiver is bolted to the seat itself so i think i can get away with it.

Thoughts?

Also, still not low enough haha. ill be mounting a seat directly to the floor for the drivers side. Or mount it on sliders bolted directly to the floor.

Hey, the thread is alive again. I've had my '99 Miata for a month or so now. It fits fine as long as I never put the top up and keep my left arm hanging over the side of the door.

It is definitely too small for me and definitely worth it to put up with from time to time.

I don't intend to foamectomize or anything because it fits my wife very well. Without some extra shoulder and foot room, the extra headroom won't really matter anyway.

My wife's father has owned NA, NB, NC Miatas consecutively. Loves them. He is 5-6, so its a great fit. I OTOH, am 6-5/210 and never even bothered to sit in his NC as the first two had sufficient clown car factor to simply give up. At Christmas, for E36 M3s and giggles, I tried the NC and it is better than the early ones, but basically the same. Never gonna work for Manute.

I searched for this topic, wondering if anyone had reached the same conclusion, but like me yearns for a 5/4 scale Miata.

What's the next best universal sportscar, if the Miata is truly too small?

mtn wrote: IIRC, the MGB was designed so that the guy who designed it could fit, and he was 6'10-ish.

My dad's BJ8 Healy is likewise surprisingly "tall friendly"..

Try a BRZ/FRS?

Jaynen wrote: Try a BRZ/FRS?

Funny you say that. I parked next to a BRZ today (first I've seen in the wild) and it looks quite small, even compared with my Civic. Internet says 37 front headroom for BRZ. In my own experience, that's not enough. Sadly.

"

Ia am deciding weather or not to buy a 1990 miata because of leg room I am 6' 3 and 34 inseem. Will I fit??

In reply to Adamsspencer:

I'm 6'2", 34 inseam, and while i fit in my 1990 miata my knees are a little scrunched and my hair occasionally brushes the top. Seat is all the way back. To make it better I would foamectomy the seat, and maybe run a smaller steering wheel. However, SWMBO drives it and at 5'4" it fits her just right so no mods.

I tried to foamectomy the drivers seat just a little, and couldn't get one of the screws out for the plastic shrouding that the seat pivots around. So I said screw it and put the sat back in lol.