Morr's Simple NA Build

[—tsingson—]

Can't wait to see the seats in the car! Do they come with brackets as well or are those separate?

[morr]

Thanks, me too! I just ordered a driver's seat for now to make sure I like it. Luckily, they come with universal brackets that bolt up to the stock sliders.

[morr]

Well the new seat is in! It's a SonicMotor VS3. It's mounted using the side brackets that come with the seat bolted directly to the stock sliders. First impression? It sits way too high compared to the Lotus seats I had. I can lower it about an inch, but I think I'm also going to run it without seat cushions or do a foamectomy on the cushions. I also might look into a Garagestar bracket or some other mount to get the seat closer to the floor.

Overall, for the price I'm pleased with the seat. I just would not recommend it for anyone taller than 5'8". My head is just slightly over the top of it with the cushions removed.

edit: I have since lowered the back two bolts on the brackets to drop me about 1" and also removed the seat cushion and put a few soft shop towels in as padding. The minimal padding doesn't bother after having Lotus seats for the past 2 years.





I would say my interior is about 85% complete for what I want. For those that may not know, this is my muse for the interior and part of the exterior. Once the flares are on though, it'll be more like M2-1028 on a little bit of steroids

[—tsingson—]

Seat looks great, Paul. Any pics of the modifications you made to the seat?

[morr]

Thanks Anthony! I didn't take any, but I'll be sure to get some photos soon for other people to reference. These seats hug me pretty dang tight, for anyone considering them… I'm 5'8", weigh 155lbs, and my waist size is 30-32. I would not recommend them for anyone even slightly larger than me haha. The only other thing that bothers me about the seat is that the bottom is completely flat instead of bowing down where you butt goes and arching up where your thighs would rest. However, my revised "cushioning" helped to alleviate that issue as well.

I also looove having the shoulder bracing again. I feel so much more planted when taking turns and bends quickly.

I think I may be over-analyzing them, but that's because the Lotus seats felt perfect to me in every way… the angle of them, the shape of the bottom, the drop in height, etc. All in all, I love the new seat. My butt just needs to get used to it

On another note, to answer your question the other day about the interchangeability of the NA/NB sliders… I just realized last night that I'm using my old NB sliders I forgot I had left the NA sliders in the NB when it sold.

edit: I also had to run the stock belt thru the harness slots, because the shoulder brace completely blocks access to the seatbelt. Not a big deal, just another note about fitting these seats.

[—tsingson—]

I saw that in your picture. I just have it sitting over the shoulder part and leave it like that.

Those seats would not fit me at all. I'd probably need a shoe horn to get my ass out.

[morr]

Haha yeah, I have to lift my left leg up and over the side of the seat to get out. Almost knee'd myself in the face the first few times getting out

But I guess that's a good excuse to get door bars since the seat would block them anyway!

[—tsingson—]

I had thought about the same thing. Might be a little difficult after basketball practices and games though.

[morr]

Haha yeah that's true. Falling into the seat is the easy part… getting out is another thing

[—tsingson—]

The first couple of days of just dropping into the seats were pretty bad. Happened to my daughter as well.

[morr]

Yeah it takes some getting used to, but I did prefer the lower side bracing on them for getting out compared to a bucket seat. If you do reupholster them, do you think you'll try to have them add more padding or are they fine for you as-is?

[morr]

So, just shy of 7 months after purchasing my flares, wheels and tires… we finally installed everything today! Thanks again to blu92 and ChrisJuliano for the help I did some additional trimming today after getting home, but need to reinforce the one front bumper brace on the passenger side cuz it pushes the bumper in a full lock. Other than that, it's very minor rubbing.

Just a reminder so people don't have to read back, the flares are Carbon Miata. Wheels are 15x9 et0 Rota RKR's with 225.45 Nitto NT01s.







Tomorrow I'm gonna go ahead and spray on some "Flex-seal" type stuff to cover the cut areas and see about finishing the reinforcement on the front bumper. I will attempt to get them painted prior to MATG, but the main goal was just to get them at least installed prior.

Overall, I'm very happy with the flares and how today went. It took us about 4 hours just taking our time. I also should be getting an alignment in the next week or so.

[—tsingson—]

If you do reupholster them, do you think you'll try to have them add more padding or are they fine for you as-is?

Damn, I never saw this post. Sorry man. I'll try to have them do a little more padding when they get redone. I really am leaning towards a biscuit colored leather but who knows. The red has really grown on me. I may sell the wheels and go with a different color also. But your car looks great with the flares on. Are you in Pittsburgh right now? I thought you were going to wrap the flares instead of paint?

[—tsingson—]

Black flares would be nice.

[morr]

Damn, I never saw this post. Sorry man. I'll try to have them do a little more padding when they get redone. I really am leaning towards a biscuit colored leather but who knows. The red has really grown on me. I may sell the wheels and go with a different color also. But your car looks great with the flares on. Are you in Pittsburgh right now? I thought you were going to wrap the flares instead of paint?

No worries! That color will probably look good, I just loved the red/black/silver combo myself. I'm still pretty set on my flares being red I think. I just feel like black or white just looks unfinished.

Thanks! Yeah, I left out a pretty big update (granted it wasn't car-related), but I relocated back to Pittsburgh. No bridges burned, and I still keep in touch with my old boss/coworkers but I outgrew Beaufort. Working a sign shop in Pittsburgh making more there and also doing more freelance design. I just had so many more connections back here that it made sense for me career-wise. A few pics of the process - which I will never do again (towing a Uhaul that is)

Changed wheels/tires before the trip… probably a good idea


This was when the trailer was about 80% full.


Said trailer.


All in all, what should have been a 10-11 hr trip took about 15-16. It wasn't bad, but I had my dog with me so I stopped about 4hrs from PA to spend the night at a hotel. I'm just glad the NA was able to tow all that weight… WV and VA mountains were awful haha.