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Isn't it illegal to put a non-airbag steering wheel in a car that originally came with an airbag?

And I vote for the spacers on the mounting rails. That seems to be the safest way to gain the correct driving position.
 
Isn't it illegal to put a non-airbag steering wheel in a car that originally came with an airbag?

And I vote for the spacers on the mounting rails. That seems to be the safest way to gain the correct driving position.
A mechanic or shop cannot technically remove standard safety equipment. Not in my state, anyway.

Although I think with the proper paperwork, maybe they can swap the wheel out.
 
Hi Samantha, it's Cory from RCM!

Maybe you should consider having a roll cage built with a custom seat mounting rail. That would be the safest way to raise your seat and get you into the proper driving position.

Oh, and next time stop before you take your no-pillow picture. I'd hate to think of you barreling down the road at 75 mph seeing only your dashboard and trying to take a picture at the same time. :shock:
 
Discussion starter · #26 ·
1. I don't care if it's against the law to remove the airbag. It's not the law maker's face/chest sitting in front of the steering wheel.

2. After I posted the picture, i figured someone would comment on the speed. I had the camera beside my face while driving. I've taken about 2 million pictures in the last year or two. I know where to hold my hands for the perfect picture even without looking.

3. Hi Cory! I'm glad you made your way over!

4. I could nicely ask my dad to help. I honestly never thought of working with the rail underneath, and he's like premo welder/tool man. I'm just tired of sitting on pillows. I've been doing it for... 4 years now? I take that back, i didn't need one in the mini!

5. I want a roll cage. For looks only <3 because i'm a girl.
 
You wish you were taller, I wish I was shorter...

If I gave you a few of my inches, would you be happy?





...uh, um. I just realized what I typed...didn't mean it that way. :oops: #-o
HaHaAHAH
Hey samantha. I have had a couple of customers bring their miatas to me witht hte same problem. Both female, reffered to me by friends.
Neither customer was into cars or sports minded, they just owned a miata and loved it.

Well I ended up making a seat riser something similar to that in the JDM link someone tossed out there.
I made a prototype first and we abused it to test for integrity and then we took it to a friend at a machine shop and had him destroy it under the pressure of a hydraulic press. Why? Just to firgure out if it was safe enough to stand up to a crash. It was!
We used thick gauge angle iron and some 1 inch box beams and just got welding.
I'll dig for some pix and post them up. It wasn't as dramaitc as that link.
It raised the seat just shy of 3 inches, that was what we aimed for.
 
Discussion starter · #32 ·
My pillow is pretty thick... it'd take alot more than 3 inches to lift me... since my butt falls in the crevise.

And no need for a support group on tall people, since most of the male Miata owners i know are over 6 foot. :p It's not fair one of the smallest cars wasn't built for small people.
 
And no need for a support group on tall people, since most of the male Miata owners i know are over 6 foot. :p It's not fair one of the smallest cars wasn't built for small people.
I'd say it wasn't built for very small people...the average Japanese male tops out at something under 5' 7", while the average Japanese female is barely 5'2". The car was designed with that in mind, which is why most folks at about 6'+ folks 5'- have troubles fitting just right.

Good luck, dearie :)
 
I'd say go with the lift blocks for your seat, or since it'll have to be made try different heights before you settle, but make sure you start out tall.
 
I would get some very sturdy steel channel stuff (a steel bar with a U shaped cross section. Have it cut into 4 ~1.5 long sections, drill one side of the channel on each one and bolt those to the original mounting points on the floor. Then set the seat on top of the channel sections and mark and drill for the holes that will mount the seat. Then basically just bolt the seat through with nuts and bolts.

If you want to be extra fancy and safe you can weld the nuts underneath the upper facing legs of the channel and then close the box with more steel. Its like a 2 hour job for a good fabricator.
 
We have a club member that needed to raise her seat in a NB. She got some longer bolts and added some washers between the track and the seat frame.

Using steel channel or box stock would be the best way to raise the seat. McMaster-Carr has all kinds of stock and the bolts. Cutting it and fitting everything shouldn't take longer than an hour or two.

Good luck with it!!
 
Well in my first miata I DID have a reverse foam mod PLUS a pillow. Now i just have a stiffer pillow :)

I'm 4'11. I have long legs, but the upper half of me is very small.

I was looking into after market, but all the reviews i saw were people excited they were LOWER than stock.
can't you just space the seat higher with a bunch of washers?
 
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