Foamectomy, Now What?

[cwisenheimer]

I installed a Hard Dog DD Sport in my '02 and my head is too close to the bar for my ease of mind. The bar *is* padded, but I'd hate for somebody to smack me on the crown with that thing at 30 mph.

I decided a foamectomy was in order. Got a Walmart electric knife, pulled the driver's seat, disassembled it, and whaddya know, a previous owner had already done a foamectomy. Crap (re-assemble, re-install).

So, now what? Are there any other tricks for a stock seat? Should I start shopping for Elise/Exige seats? Has anybody tried an additional headrest pad?

[MoonieGT]

I bought an extra cushion from one of the online parts places and really went to town on it. I swap it in for track days and use my mildly foamectomied one for around town. The gutted one is not super comfortable, but got more head clearance for sure.

[EricJ]

I put in a Goodwin seat. It is taller than the stock seat, so my head will hit it before hitting the bar.
You can use the stock seat belt and it is OK for daily driving, if you're not too large.
It's pricey, but it bolts in, with a little fiddling.

[Jiggerachi]

I'm in the same position. After a few different foamectomy jobs on my seat, the padding is so thin in the ass pan you can see through it. The problem is the rails are directly under your ass so even if you pulled the pad entirely and sat on metal it would not be much different. I've looked into hammering the metal pan for a deeper seat, but the rails are under it, can't do much there.

You can go extreme and take a surprising amount of foam out and still be comfortable. I daily drove with mine almost on the metal for 2 years and it never once bothered me. Others have had said theirs was uncomfortable this way so as always YMMV.

No experience with aftermarket seats, but the rails are always going to be under whatever seat you have, so not much lower than stock. There are some on here that have bolted the seat to the floor using custom mounts. That'll get you a LOT of room. AltIan did a writeup on this, it's on his cardomain page. I keep fiddling with the idea but never wanted to make the commitment since my wife likes to drive the car occasionally.

If you're ever passing through Euless at the right time of the day you're welcome to try my seat out. Not sure how similar a 94 is to an 02 in this regard though.

[EddieVegaGen1]

So lucky that I'm only 5'7" so stock seat height is perfect for me :) I even throw in a cushion when I have to, after those nights that I leave my window open when the sprinklers come on... Hope you find a way to keep your cranium safe man.

[Dave04]

At 6'2" my only solution after a pretty severe foamectomy was to purchase an S2000. Never could get it where my head wasn't touching the roof, much less a roll bar.

[flyin94m]

That's an expensive seat cushion...

[EricJ]

On the Goodwin seat the bottom of the seat is below the slider rails. It has a 2" cushion that can be removed to get lower.
The big thing for the roll bar is the height of the back of the seat.
I would guess many aftermarket seats would have a taller back than a stock seat.

[cwisenheimer]

By "Goodwin seat," I assume you are referring to the Marrad Miata Seat sold by Goodwin Racing? Nice seat but $900?

The stock surfboards in the '02 are pretty tall. They clear the bar but not by much.

If I had deeper pockets, I'd like to try the Tillet B5 that is a replacement for Elise/Exige seats. Dang good looking seat and not that much more than the Marrad, as long as we're in the $1K ballpark.

[Jiggerachi]

On the Goodwin seat the bottom of the seat is below the slider rails. It has a 2" cushion that can be removed to get lower.
The big thing for the roll bar is the height of the back of the seat.
I would guess many aftermarket seats would have a taller back than a stock seat.

How wide is the seat? Are the aftermarket seat rails set farther apart than stock? I thought the aftermarket rails were still too narrow to sit between...might need to start looking for a seat/rails now. As you can see I don't have much experience, i've been too cheap to fork over the cost of aftermarket seats.

[MoonieGT]

I can't get past the $900 part for seats that just don't look like they justify the price tag. Where did the money go? As far as functionality for a miata, they look great. But they're not "fancy" enough for that much cheddar...

[EricJ]

How wide is the seat? Are the aftermarket seat rails set farther apart than stock?

The seat is narrow enough to fit in a Miata and wide enough for me (240lb) to drive to Mineral Wells. The rails bolt into the stock bolt holes, so they're the same width. I can sit in the seat without the cushion (between the rails) for a 20 minute session, but not a 1 hour drive.
The price isn't much different than a Planted base $140, with Sparco rails $70, and an Sparco Evo seat $750(ish). The Goodwin comes with brackets and rails.
I was looking for a seat that, 1. I could use with a 5 point harness. 2. Was comfortable enough to drive to events (Mineral Wells, Hallett, Houston), 3. Bolt into a Miata.

There are probably much cheaper ways to get a taller seat back. i.e a Sparco Sprint V

[MoonieGT]

Maybe you're right. Maybe it's not as expensive as I'm thinking when you consider the rails etc...

The Sparco Chrono looks like a decent street and some track work option if it fits...

[cwisenheimer]

But have you seen the Tillet B5? Gorgeous. http://images53.fotki.com/v53/photos...MG_1571-vi.jpg

[MoonieGT]

Relies completely on the belts for support eh?