AestheticsInMotion

This has been a long time coming. I've loved the S2k seats for years and always believed they would make a great multi-purpose Miata seat in between the stock garbage and a tight one-piece bucket. Due to a recent car prowler stealing my Brides, Schroth Harnesses, and GS rails among other things... I decided it was time to try something different.

Before:





What I came out to last friday:

Worst feeling in the world. But the sound system build I probably put 50 hours into was untouched. Guess the OEM-look build paid off...
And the new setup (in progress):






Ap1 S2k seats in a gorgeous blue. Found on Craigslist for a hell of a deal, the owner swapped in some JDM something-or-others and put these in storage where they sat for years. A hair dryer should get the small creases out, but other than that.... These are mint. I'm actually shocked to see an Ap1 seat in this great of condition. This doesn't make the loss of all my gear go away.... But it does help.
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So now I need to figure out how to get these to work in the Miata. The biggest hurdle is that I'm not going back to seatbelts. I was running 4 point ASM harnesses for street duties and that is 100% what I plan on going back to when funds allow. This car is a daily driver in addition to all the other fun we get up to together. The S2k seat does not have any provisions for use with harnesses. I'm going to have to change that.

Lap belt is no problem, it will work just fine without modification. The shoulder belts... Well. I'm going to have to cut holes, do some stitching to keep the leather together and then install grommets of some sort to keep from fraying the seat. Even at 6ft, the seat is tall enough that I can cut holes in the proper place for an ideal shoulder belt placement. Actually, it will fit better than my Brides.

One thing I never got around to with the now stolen setup was installing sub belts. I'm going to do that this time. Schroths ASM setup is sold as a 4-point, but will accept sub belts for a quick 5/6 point conversion. Obviously I'll need to make another hole in the bottom cushion for the sub straps, but having never used 6-points yet I'm not quite sure what the ideal location is. Will look into more.

In addition to the harnesses, I also need to figure out how I'll be attaching the actual seat to the car. I would like to get as low as possible without resorting to a foamectomy, but I'm unsure of my options when dealing with an OEM style seat that doesn't have universal mounting holes on the sides. I'm thinking cut out the floor pan, weld in a flat piece, ????, what profit. Or something. Any thoughts? The seats are currently sitting on OEM sliders which are amazingly low profile. Honestly I think the cushion and brackets are thinner than the stock Mazda seats, so that's a good sign.

My Brides were always slightly off center with the steering wheel which was mildly infuriating. Will fix. Guessing I just need to beat the transmission tunnel in a bit. Maybe bend a wing.

Anyways, that's the plan! Trying to recover from the break-in as best as I can. It blows having to store my car under a tarp miles away at a safer location. Nothing like driving a CVT Subaru Outback to make you miss your roadster ☹️

Ah well. We’ll be back better than ever.









​​​​I'll update this as I get my seating setup dialed in. Also, any tips appreciated The sooner I get this taken care of the sooner I can get back on track and add some boost!


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afm

iTrader: (3)

I see that you care enough about safety to want to convert the ASM harnesses to 6-point. Do you really want to add multiple sets of unsafe harness holes to an OEM seat that was never designed for them?

AestheticsInMotion

I'll risk it. And also do whatever I can to mitigate the risk. Maybe a metal backing plate...? You're completely right, but... There are going to be trade-offs no matter what I do. It's just an inherently unsafe platform. Rollbar and lack of airbags means I'll take my chances with harnesses over belts, and I don't have the cash to drop on Lotus seats or something similar.

At the end of the day the only thing I'm really counting on to keep me safe is avoiding an accident

Leafy

iTrader: (1)

Is the S2k seat a shell seat or a tube frame seat. Most OEM seats are tube frames so I dont see how holes in not very structural foam will make a difference.