Wide seats, Trans Notch Out Panel & 3" Exhaust
 

Fellas,

I bought a set of used Sparco seats. One is an EVO II and the other is a Sprint - both certified til 2023 still. I'd like to put the Evo on the driver's side and Sprint in the passenger since the Evo fits my shoulders a little better.

However the EVO II is pretty big. The guy I bought em from manage to fit it in his Miata but he majorly smashed the trans tunnel to do it. I was planning on grabbing the notch out panel and welding it in to save myself some headache. https://www.miatacage.com/transmissi...otch-out-panel
That got me thinking though - I have a 3" test pipe and exhaust running through there.

How far does the notch out panel go into the exhaust area and could it possibly interfere with a 3" exhaust?

I don't have a notch panel, but do have a drop pan. I'm running a 3" exhaust and it's a bit tight, had to make adjustments to the routing after installing the drop pan, but it does fit. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures handy with the exhaust installed.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...cf3a49e6c3.jpg
The drop.

Thanks man. Yeah I bet it's similarly close, maybe a bit less since the notch doesn't go down as far, but probably as wide.

Just as an FYI there is NO WAY to mount the EVO II (US) in a Miata and still have it low enough to pass the broomstick test. Just simply isn't enough room, maybe with a full pan - but I beat the hell out of the trans tunnel, enough that it was touching my exhaust, and it still didn't fit.

I'm ordering an OMP WRC-R, which should fit a little better.

Passing the broomstick test is going to be highly dependent on each individual's bodily dimensions.

As far as mounting the Evo II, I have a pair in my 2000, using 1 piece PCI mounts. I had to bash the tunnel up closer to the dash, and had to trim the door right at the window track area to be able to close the door without contacting the wing of the seat (much more an issue on driver side vs passenger. I am running LRB panels vs stock, since the NB armrests protrude into the car so far anyway.

Definitely, yeah. For me, the seat simply would not fit. If I bashed any further forward I'd be hitting my 3" downpipe. With how it was sitting, the seat actually had 20+ degrees of layback since I couldn't drop the front of the seat down any more. Just wasn't going to work. I think If I was smaller I could have raised the rear of the seat and just run it like that. I'm about 5'10"-11".