Mazdaspeed Type F seats

captaincabinets · Postby **captaincabinets** » Sat Nov 12, 2016 9:28 pm

Hi all

Thinking about changing my NB1 seats for Mazdaspeed reclining seats. Is the seating position much lower than stock NB1? Looking for a replacement where I can sit lower, I am 6ft and find myself hunching all the time.

Thanks in advance

Lokiel · Postby **Lokiel** » Sat Nov 12, 2016 10:37 pm

Unfortunately they will sit you higher.

Consider doing a foamectomy on your existing seats or try and find some Lotus Elise/Exige seats.

smy0003 · Postby **smy0003** » Sun Nov 13, 2016 10:09 am

Mazdaspeed also made a full bucket seat which would most likely lower you. You have to commit to a no carb diet and stump up a bit more dosh for that option though.

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Lokiel · Postby **Lokiel** » Sun Nov 13, 2016 6:52 pm

Are you referring to this one:

If so, you may need a Gattaca-style hip reduction, I think it was designed for the Japanese market only.

ie. Narrow hips only!

Surprisingly it actually accomodated my wide shoulders, almost no other bucket seats do that - maybe it was designed for comic-book superheroes (broad shoulders, tiny waist)?

captaincabinets · Postby **captaincabinets** » Sun Nov 13, 2016 10:42 pm

I'm waist size 32-34 so I might be able to swing it. Unfortunately no superhero shoulders to match!

Anyone got any info about lowering rails for the Type F? Think I'd be able to get a few cm drop out of them? Are they a pain to fabricate or can they be sourced? My brother is a welder he could make me some, if I had a reasonable diagram for him to work from.

Cheers

Lokiel · Postby **Lokiel** » Sun Nov 13, 2016 11:23 pm

The Type F seats come with 4 mounting brackets. The seats slide on in-built rails that run between these brackets so there's no scope for modifying the brackets without modifying the seat,

hks_kansei · Postby **hks_kansei** » Mon Nov 14, 2016 9:20 am

As above, rails for the recliners are actually part of the seat frame, and then adapter plates line it up with the mx5 floor.

About he only way to get more than a tiny bit of lowering would be to cut out the floor humps and make it all custom.

The fixed back above are great, but seriously tiny, seriously, they're sized like a kids booster seat.

Mazdaspeed did also make another kind of fixed back called the "B-spec" which is what I have in my car.
It lacks the shoulder wings of a full bucket, but has the higher hip and kidney bits for support.

More importantly, it gives you a good inch more headroom, more if you take the bum cushion out (or make up a thinner one)

Bolts onto the standard rails too, no drilling etc (NB needs a few changes to fit, but nothing too difficult)

captaincabinets · Postby **captaincabinets** » Mon Nov 14, 2016 5:39 pm

Thanks for the info. Spec B sounds cool Kansai but unless you're offering yours for sale though I think I'd be waiting many years for a set to pop up, and god knows how much they'd cost! I found literally one photo of them on google. I suspect that would relate to ridiculously hard to find.

smy0003 · Postby **smy0003** » Mon Nov 14, 2016 6:58 pm

You can find one here:
http://www.mx5cartalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=73049&p=893003#p893003

captaincabinets · Postby **captaincabinets** » Mon Nov 14, 2016 7:08 pm

Ah. Last month & cheap. And sold. Damn.

Looking into Lotus seats at the moment. Looks like the Probax are the go, Lokiel. There's a dude selling some on ebay as probax, but I think they aren't. 4 sections at the top rather than 6, if that makes sense. Hopefully an honest mistake.

smy0003 · Postby **smy0003** » Mon Nov 14, 2016 7:12 pm

Ahhh missed the big [SOLD] in the title. Whoops.

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hks_kansei · Postby **hks_kansei** » Tue Nov 15, 2016 2:22 pm

captaincabinets wrote:Thanks for the info. Spec B sounds cool Kansai but unless you're offering yours for sale though I think I'd be waiting many years for a set to pop up, and god knows how much they'd cost! I found literally one photo of them on google. I suspect that would relate to ridiculously hard to find.

Yeah, they don't come up often.

I know of 4 in the country, I owned two of those for a while.

The B spec seat was based on the seat in the Mazda AZ1 car, with some minor changes to colours and padding.

If you want I can put you in contact with someone who can find one and import it from Japan. (They may even have an AZ1 seat in stock?)

Send me a PM and I'll give you their details.

3gress · Postby **3gress** » Tue Nov 15, 2016 3:32 pm

Hi James, i contacted dan (rupewrecht) about the brackets and he suggested you can make slightly lower brackets that mount between the type f seat integral rails and car. They amount to flat pieces of steel. Dan was looking for a photo to help. The fixed back type seat also in pics i sent you seat you nice and low but are very narrow and ridiculously hard to get in and out of. I'm around 62kg and 5'10" and it is still a tight fit.
Dan actually has an az1 seat listed for sale now.

captaincabinets · Postby **captaincabinets** » Tue Nov 15, 2016 5:12 pm

62kg?! You guys weren't kidding. Japanese spec indeed!

Thank you for the offer Kansai. I found the Rupewrecht one, looks like it could do with a re-foam and reupholster, and costs more than the two that went (admittedly very cheaply) last month.
https://scontent.fadl1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/ ... 9007_o.jpg

Thanks for going above and beyond with the photos Dan, as well as contacting Dan/Rupewrecht about the rails. If it would be possible to get the Type F's a few cm lower than my current NB8A seats, I'd be happy with them. They look fantastic, have better support, and are in better condition than the current seats.
What I'm concerned about is that, given the F's are slightly higher to begin with than the NB8A seats, I'd end up back at square one, defeating the purpose of the seat swap in the first place.