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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - MX 5 Seats fitting

Hi All,
Ive just bought some used MX5 seats. From chatting with folks at the MG and Triumph day I told these are correct type. They are going into a 1973 RWA car, it will also have club roll bar fitted.


The seats have the slider mechanism on and it all works fine, but as can be seen in the secong pic the mechnanism is at an angle, there is also a spike attached.

Has anyone fitted these before? I assume I cut off the spike and just bolt the seats down? Anyone fitted these before?


Bruce Burrowes

and here is a picture of the seats..


Bruce Burrows

Small(?),
Cut the pointy bits off with an angle grinder. You can cold bend the end bit level by careful use of a large screwdriver inserted through the end hole. You may then need a wee bit of clearance to allow freedom of seat sliding action so use large washers to give the correct spacing between the runners and the floor.Also be prepared to use different number of washers front and back to give correct angle. I think that you can re_use at least one existing floor hole on either side nearest to the tunnel. Note that the angle of the seat slide adjuster is such that it will nicely crush your fingers against the raised cross member if you shuggle (tech term) the seat forwards.It may be possible to bend this upwards but I have not done this yet......once you have crushed your fingers once you will not repeat the exercise but for the sake of passengers it is probably worth modification.
The seats are very good, allowing rake adjustment but keep hold of your original ones for originality sake.

John
J Sloan

Hi. I have a 1970 midget with fitted roll bar ( and MX5 seats). The seats you have purchased with the adjustable headrests will be ok for clearance with the fitted roll bar.
Ref the spikes - I fitted a drilled rubber block slightly longer than the spike, so the spike does not touch the floor. This maintains the seat angle. The rear runners bends downwards, and I fitted a rubber strip to it, again to protect the floor a bit. The MX5 rear drilled holes almost line up with the rear Midget holes, so I just slightly enlarged the MX5 ones to fit. Passenger side - having fitted the rear bolts, drill the front through for 2 new holes. Driver side - BE CAREFUL. The inside fitting is perilously close to the fuel line. I used a bracket so that I could drill the hole more central to the car.
As the runners are not square on to the floor, I took templates of the angles and had wedges made up, and fitted to either side of the runner, to enable bolts to go through at 90 degrees to the floor for stability.
The seats actually give a bit more room in the car, and are well worth fitting!
Geoff Mears

I installed these in my 1979 Midget, damn near nicked the fuel line using the holes in the seat rails as a template.
Richard Reeves

Many thanks for comments, especially about the fuel line.

Geoff I particularly like your solution. Do you where I can get the rubber blocks, as it's not something I have lying around.
Bruce Burrows

I cut off the spikes. Bent the front holes and cut and welded straight the rears.

I added large washers (welded) to take care of the ridge around the holes.

"Relieved" the seat base a little to get clearance to slide the seat.

new holes as required in the floor pan with large bolts and more large washers.

https://flic.kr/p/GAxnTi
Dean Smith ('73 RWA)

Dean, thannks great pics. I can see your handy work. I dont know how to weld and dont have the equipment etc etc, but is there a reason the back ones couldnt be bent?
Bruce Burrowes

On one side of each seat there was a significant "web" between the hole and the horizontal that would have made a clean bend impossible.
Dean Smith ('73 RWA)

Small, I used an old insulating block. (The thick solid rubber block that sits between heat shield and carb on a twin carb set up}. Just cut one in half and use the bolt hole to go over the pin on the seat chassis. It is actually a perfect diameter hole for the pin to go through. To protect the floor (and carpet) at the rear I cut a length of old hose length ways and slid it on.
Geoff Mears

When you put the seats into the car you will see why you will need angled spacers to fit your bolts through. I fitted the passenger seat at a very slight angle for passenger comfort - again, you will see what I mean when you try it out . This also means that the handbrake doesn't get fouled as it moves the front edge of the seat away from it.
Geoff Mears

Do you swap MX5 seats over, left for right, etc, as you do when fitting MGF seats? In the photos here they do look remarkably similar in design to MGF seats. By swapping the MGF versions over you still keep access to the rear squab recliner adjuster.

The other thing with MGF ones is that you remove the seat belt anchor that comes with the seat and use the original buckle point fastened to the rear of the transmission tunnel. You need to do this partly because of swapping the seats over, but mainly because by using the original car mountings it is supposed to comply with MOT standards as the seat belt isn't then anchored to a seat which might come adrift in an accident. At least that is what I was told, though if you were ever involved in an accident so severe that the seat ripped out you would probably not be around to check exactly how the failure occurred. :-(
GuyW

Guy, no, you don't need to swap the seats over - you can easily reach the squab adjuster. I also used a MGF seat belt guide, which I purchased from a well known site. They fit onto the MX5 headrest. I removed the seat belt anchor that is attached to the seat chassis, as it was a different connection to my current anchor, and I kept my existing seat belts, which I just threaded through the MGF guide. Works perfectly.
Geoff Mears

Yes, it was the seat belt anchor that you are supposed to remove to satisfy MOT, and rely on the original car mounted one.

I suspect the squab adjuster is higher up then on the Mazda seats. The MGF one is low down at the side of the base and if you don't swap the seats over it is hard up against the B post, especially if you have the seat fully back, and you just a cannot reach to grip it properly
GuyW

Geoff,

thats great thanks again.

Bruce
Bruce Burrowes

This thread was discussed between 26/02/2017 and 18/03/2017

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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