Miata Roll Bar Project

"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678) 05/24/2019 at 12:18 • Filed to: None

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Step one of removing the roll bar from the old Miata is complete! It was a bit of a hassle getting a few of the bolts detached but in total it took me about 3.5 hours from start (interior still mostly assembled) until I had everything out, organized, and all of the junk cleaned up. It was MUCH easier when I finally got around to putting the rear of the car on jack stands and removed the wheels. I at first tried to access the bolts without doing so and it was just a waste of time and frustration. It was *possible* to do it that way but once I had it in the air, it was easy to simply impact wrench everything out without issue or any struggle at all. The old car is now nearly fully disassembled of everything that I want out of it, with the coilovers being the one remaining item.

I also removed the dash camera, amplifier I had behind the passenger seat, along with some other junk in the car. The next day, I already got right to work on the new Miata and had the interior apart and the new roll bar lined up and ready to drill. I didnt quite finish that car since I was just doing it in a parking lot (looked kinda funny I guess with the seats and half my interior strewn about the ground). But I have it at the point where I can just drill holes next time I get into the shop and then finalize bolting everything in and put back together my interior.

I did also discover that I cannot fit the stock seat and the lap belt harness mounts at the same time. So I am going to skip the idea of swapping my racing seat and OEM seat back and forth for track days/daily driving . Will just have to suffer through the racing seat at all times. Ideally I might just search for another more comfortable seat that clears the harness mounts but I still would have to hot swap since its unlikely I can find a seat that is both comfortable and keeps my head below the roll bar.

To be continued...

Cash Rewards > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 05/24/2019 at 13:06

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Good luck! Head below roll bar is the challenge. My plan was to install sparco Sprint I have ready to go, and take some measurements. I'm going with the same setup as xMxxxMx. I got one bolt I couldn't get loose on the seat, and was on my way to a garage to get some help when I got hit yesterday. 

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Cash Rewards 05/24/2019 at 13:27

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This is what you get for not having $1 million worth of tools at home to be full self sustained without needing to go anywhere to fix stuff! I don’t like the idea of mounting a harness to the seat, it just seems less secure in my opinion. The drilled in eye bolts with backing plates is a surefire way to remain secured to the car under any scenario. In general I don’t really trust the seat mount bolts because of how short they are on a Miata , meaning it’s only a few threads holding all of those loads. It’s certainly something to consider though since it would make my life easier. If I remember correctly though, the issue he was having was with the sub straps? I think there’s probably a clearance issue with those as well but I havent tested that out yet. Those I will definitely drill into the floor since my racing seat mounts are side mounted anyways. The only way I can really get any lower would be to remove the humps and/or floor pan modifications.