Even in a Miata, some things aren't cheap

by "AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion)
Published 06/20/2017 at 22:54

Tags: Miatafications ; Miata ; Mazda ; Schroth ; Blackbird fabworx ; Revlimiter
STARS: 3

Here’s a quick rundown of how much money it took to get my safety equipment (seats/bar/harnesses/etc.) set up properly.

Just a reminder. My “ideal build“ is a duel purpose, track monster/offroad adventure-mobile. Eventually getting to the point where I can change between the two identities in a relatively short period of time. This is also a daily driver, and I plan on dd’ing it for quite awhile. Lastly, I’m a big fan of buying the best possible, so I never feel the need to “trade up” in the future for a higher quality part. Might as well just spend a bit more time saving up now you know?

So, the build. Seats, seat brackets, harnesses, roll bar, miscellaneous, in that order.

The seats are Bride knock-offs from a fantastic Californian company called Sonic Motors. I know, I know... I JUST said buy the best and blah blah blah. But when I say knock-offs.... I’ve had these seats (Sonic Motor Vs3's) and the Brides they’re “modeled off of” next to each other and couldn’t spot a difference. The fabric is the same. They feel the same. I’m 99% sure they’re the same seat. And they are everything I want in a seat. So not sure exactly what’s going on here, but at $300 each—with shipping—from a company that’s been an absolute pleasure working with, I’m not complaining. Fixed back racing buckets with removable padding, weighing in at less than fifteen pounds, that are surprisingly comfy for me at six feet tall and 200 pounds.

Seats: $300.00 x2

Total: $600.00

Brackets. Most of the ones I was looking at were very clunky, required a good deal of cutting/drilling/fab work to use or didn’t have certain features I was interested in. Then I found the ones manufactured in America through GarageStar. Strong, lightweight, made for Miatas. I can bolt my stock seatbelt receiver to the mounts if I want to swap between belts and harness, I retain a sliding function (good for passengers) and I sit with the seat bottom touching the floor pan. In addition, there’s not a side mount seat out there I couldn’t get to work with these, no bending/cutting/drilling required. They even included all new hardware, most other companies having you reuse the stock bolts.

Brackets: $219.95 x2

Total $1039.90

Harnesses. I went with Schroth Hybrid II 6-point belts. Comfortable, very quick to put on and adjust, and Schroth’s fantastic customer service and reputation. No Takata products here, thankyouverymuch.

Harnesses: $459.00 x2

Total $1958.90

Rollbar. Blackbird Fabworx GT3 NB rollbar. What that all means is an X braced rollbar that works with hardtops, glass soft tops, and plastic soft tops while being accepted by all racing organizations. Custom powder coat was a cheap add on, so pearl gunmetal grey found a home on my bar. Unlike most bars, the harness bar is built in and therefor doesn’t need to be purchased separately.

Rollbar: $1115.00

Total: $3073.90

Other! Seats were great from the beginning, but I decided to upgrade them a bit for long trips. The removable cushions were cut open, and memory foam used in their place.

Materials cost: $60.00

The harnesses needed a red quick release latch to be street legal. Would it have ever been an issue? Probably not, but the reason behind the rule—making sure first responders can get you out ASAP—is a good one that I fully support.

Latches: $80.00 x2

Grand Total: $3293.90

That’s a big chunk of change. More than I purchased the car for. And there are still a few things to finish up. I would like fire suppression, rollbar padding, door bars, and probably a few odds & ends I can’t think of now.

Looking at the numbers is a bit painful when I think of how much extra power that could have bought instead. But then I remind myself that I can buy 200tw summer tires for $100 a piece. Miata life. Pros and Cons, Oppo. Pros and cons...

PS: before you go off about “harnesses in a street car” ask yourself if you’d rather trust a 25 y.o. Airbag (along with 25 y.o. Impact sensors that were non-functioning when pulled) in a tin can with stock seats that end well below the base of the neck, or a beefy rollbar with professionally installed racing seats/harnesses and hours of direct input from Schroth on optimizing for my particular situation. If you’re still going with the stock setup, we’ll have to agree to disagree.

Replies (26)

"Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo" (thetomselleck)
06/20/2017 at 22:59, STARS: 0

That’s three running Paseos!

"MonkeePuzzle" (monkeypuzzle)
06/20/2017 at 22:59, STARS: 3

spending it where it counts.

difference in seats may be in the type of plastic or reinforcing used, and/or the certifications.

and harnesses on the street are fine, better even, as long as you and passenger are dedicated to wearing them properly adjusted.

"interstate366, now In The Industry" (interstate366)
06/20/2017 at 23:02, STARS: 0

Makes me feel better about wanting $1300 Mugen lowering springs for my Prelude.

"AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion)
06/20/2017 at 23:02, STARS: 0

How many 4wd tercel Wagons? (with the cool seats obviously)

Between the original purchase and the mods, I’m almost at clean, unmolested s2000....

"AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion)
06/20/2017 at 23:04, STARS: 2

Aim high. And when costs get you down, just think about how much people have to spend on sticky tires for their new sports cars with 19 inch wheels

"AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion)
06/20/2017 at 23:07, STARS: 0

My good friend on the other hand, bought a janky Miata and first thing stripped it and slapped a turbo on it. 200 whp in a 2000 pound car with 5.5 inch wide wheels is quite exhilarating...

Yeah, I was thinking either that, or they stole the design and can undercut because they didn’t pay for R&D...?

"WRXforScience" (WRXforScience)
06/20/2017 at 23:11, STARS: 4

An unpadded rollbar without a helmet can be deadly, even padded they can be dangerous without a helmet. I’d recommend installing padding asap.

"Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo" (thetomselleck)
06/20/2017 at 23:14, STARS: 2

To answer your question, about six PLAID equipped ones, all with shot transmissions and rust.

"AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion)
06/20/2017 at 23:18, STARS: 0

Padding is on the way! With the cushion removed from my seat I’m 4.5 inches under the bar, but even so... I totally agree

"Supreme Chancellor and Glorious Leader SaveTheIntegras" (jegoingout)
06/20/2017 at 23:18, STARS: 0

Dat jdm tax

"WRXforScience" (WRXforScience)
06/20/2017 at 23:22, STARS: 1

Good to hear, that’s quite a bit of clearance, so you should be fine. Most of the bars I’ve seen that fit under the top don’t give that kind of clearance. I personally like having the stock belts for daily driving duties, most harnesses make it tough to reach the stereo or anything other than the steering wheel.

"DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time" (dc3ls-)
06/20/2017 at 23:25, STARS: 2

Or a dozen inclinometers!

"Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo" (thetomselleck)
06/20/2017 at 23:26, STARS: 1

Right in the feels

"DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time" (dc3ls-)
06/20/2017 at 23:29, STARS: 0

:’(

"AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion)
06/20/2017 at 23:32, STARS: 2

I’ve got the stock belt attached on the driver’s side for that reason, but without the airbag I’m a bit hesitant to use it... Yeah was not expecting that much clearance, but then again the stock seat had almost six inches(!!) of padding in the bottom. Maybe that’s why it weighed almost 70 pounds!

"pip bip - choose Corrour" (hhgttg69)
06/21/2017 at 05:28, STARS: 0

big chunk of money maybe, but think of the fun you’ll be having with it and that money you spent will be well worth it

"ateamfan42" (ateamfan42)
06/21/2017 at 14:45, STARS: 0

PS: before you go off about “harnesses in a street car”

I thought the concern about harnesses is that if the body is rigidly restrained, but the head is not, then then neck is subject to severe injury in a crash— hence the use of HANS or equivalent.

Don’t stock belts have a webbed section designed to stretch under extreme load and allow a small amount of body movement, lessening the stress on the neck? Are there harnesses the provide the equivalent? If so, those might be a good match for the street.

"ateamfan42" (ateamfan42)
06/21/2017 at 15:12, STARS: 0

Grand Total: $3293.90

That’s a big chunk of change. More than I purchased the car for.

When it comes to safety, best not to be cheap. Also, most of this equipment you could remove and reuse in another care someday. So think of it as an investment in safety equipment, rather than consumables.

Plus, much of this equipment you’d need in any car for legal track day fun. So it is just the price to pay for that capability.

"daender" (daender)
06/21/2017 at 19:52, STARS: 0

I have no choice but to run a stock airbag in my Miata to keep it within street (stock) classing. Two of my autocrossing buddies actually removed their rollbars prior to traveling to SCCA Solo Nationals in Ohama, NB (we’re located in South Carolina) to ditch 50+ pounds of ballast. That said, I plan on going to a rollbar, harness, and gutting the airbag out from the stock cover as I’m not sure if the Camaro V6 swap will still allow the Miata airbags to fire correctly in the event of a crash.

$1000k+ for one of Moti’s rollbars? Holy cow, I never knew they were that pricey!

"AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion)
06/21/2017 at 20:16, STARS: 0

Yep, but that’s with the powder coating, and it’s literally the most expensive bar he’ll configure for an NA being an NB bar with x bracing and harness bar! Oh and shipping is included in that. Which I would have to imagine is not cheap...

Yikes. I’ve been meaning to get into autox this summer but I’m afraid that with my mods I’ll get absolutely destroyed in whatever class I end up in. Camero v6... Have you been following Ryan’s (thePass) build than?

"daender" (daender)
06/21/2017 at 20:40, STARS: 0

Okay, with shipping included in Moti’s price, then it’s not too bad after all as a similar setup for the black powdercoat Hard Dog M2 Hard Core Hardtop-friendly variant with padding and bolt-in harness bar is about 780$ before shipping (granted, they’re 3.5 hours from where I live so shipping is really 20$ in gas with pop’s truck if I pick up it myself). I don’t know if I could live with that huge x-bracing in the way on a daily driven basis, even with the viewing holes drilled into the gusseting.

Kinja might have eaten my picture but you can find a picture of said Hard Dog on their website .

"AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion)
06/21/2017 at 20:52, STARS: 0

I’ll post some pics later from a drivers perspective, but the X brace is actually MUCH better than a single/double diagonal in terms of rear view visibility if that’s what you’re worried about. YMMV of course, but it was a pretty big difference when I went back to back with those two, and then a boss frog single diagonal!

Do you have seats already? One thing I noticed was that even with padding the stock seats were just awful with the rollbar overhead. Literally had to bend forward to be comfortable. And to get enough padding to make it feel reasonably safe meant being unable to use a soft top or hardtop...

"daender" (daender)
06/21/2017 at 21:05, STARS: 1

Nah, I have the stock NB2 seats which are pretty decent, nothing great unless you’re comparing it to previous Miata seats. If you are comparing them to previous generations, then these are a good OEM upgrade for NAs and NB1s. I’ve sat in NB cloth seat that underwent a mild foamectomy and it’s very awesome for a budget autocross/track day seat as you sit low and deep enough for the factory seat bolstering to really do its job.

"AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion)
06/24/2017 at 02:38, STARS: 1

This is exactly what I see when my mirror is adjusted properly. The X bracing basically just “frames” your field of view, cutting out the outermost edges. Now imagine a double diagonal with the two diagonal bars meeting at the top. Very bad rear view visibility. Same for a single diagonal, cuts right through the middle. A double diagonal with the bars meeting at the bottom would be nice, but I don’t think anyone makes that (?)

"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
08/14/2017 at 11:01, STARS: 0

Wow, I guess I got a pretty decent deal on my Brides with garage star mounts then! I picked them up used so of course it was cheaper. But I paid about half that so that makes me pretty happy. However, my girlfriend disliked riding in one as a passenger so I ended up selling one but I kept the bracket. So I may try to find a more comfortable seat eventually. But for now Im doing the ghetto route with mismatched seats.

"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
08/14/2017 at 11:08, STARS: 0

Seat+mount is less than 25 pounds so you would go from being able to run STR to CSP. You could just ballast it though I believe. But in CSP you can run sub 200TW tires which are WAY more fun =)