So for the last few months i have been daily driving an 01 miata with the hard Suspension package.
Its harsh over my normal travels. Rough ride, not enough leg room width wise, and the surfboard seat sucks.
So im selling it to buy a different nb. To build into a commuter.
I think i want to start with a base model 99-2000 for the different seats and softer suspension. But im not sure.
So i come to ask, with the constraints of nb, challenge budget, and commuter car, how would you set up the chassis and interior for maximum comfort?
You can improve the ride.
You can not improve the footwell/legroom.
There is only one factory seat in either leather or cloth. What seat do you have now?
FM basic suspension pieces made mine better than the blown/factory suspension. Tokiko white shocks, firm but not harsh springs.
NB seats suck, I'd look into the aftermarket to find something more comfortable (This should gain you a bit of legroom as well).
Might be hard to find but the NB has a 4.3 rear end, find a 3.9 to reduce the busyness under the hood and improve MPGs a bit.
Good stereo.
The 01-05 has a different seat than 99-00, as well as different door panels.
Current car is 01 in leather.
I sat in some cloth 99 seats yesterday, and they were much better.
As far as leg room, an inch or two would make a huge difference. Im guessing flat door panels, and maybe something with the center console.
Im my current car, to push the clutch pedal the whole way, my right leg is at a pretty steep bend. So there may be a way to adjust the pedals to help, but im not sure. The clutch either needs to come towards the driver, or gas pedal towards the firewall.
JohnRW1621 wrote:
You can not improve the footwell/legroom.
I don't agree with this. An aftermarket seat goes a long way to increase leg room. There are also the options of removing the dead pedal, cut and welding the throttle pedal, and even an aftermarket steering wheel add room. My 1999 Miata with the modifications above has more room than my Cayman S. Oh, and I'm 6'4".
In reply to Dusterbd13:
You have to consider that the Miata pedal positioning was done intentionally with fast driving and heel-and-toe downshifting and rev matching in mind, and I find it nearly perfect in that situation. The narrow driver side footwell helps keep your feet positioned during said spirited/sports driving. The two together make it really easy to keep your heels planted while doing the "pedal dance" on mountain twisties or a road course. I too find the footwell a bit annoying during highway cruising, but I don't care.
Is there a way to reduce the amount of travel required for the clutch pedal? That would go a long way for me. Would allow me to move the seat back more and increase leg room by requiring less knee angle.
Sorry for my statements on "one seat". My real experience is with NAs.
In reply to Dusterbd13:
Add a 1" shim between the front of the seat base and the slider and remove the bottom bolt of the parking brake bracket and throw a washer or two between that and the tunnel.
In reply to Woody:
Ill have to try that!
Any ideas on just what pieces Suspension wise?
In reply to Dusterbd13:
The miata.net crowd is very adamant that, oddly enough, the KYB Excell-G shock is nearly perfectly valved for the OEM springs.
Really?? I have never had a set of kybs, Monroe, or Gabriel that i thought were good for anything.
Guess I need to try them.
One area not mentioned that makes a significant difference is chassis stiffness. A rollbar and/or braces make the chassis stiffer so the suspension can work more accurately rather than flexing the car and transmitting movement where it is not effective. It also allows for softer suspension with equal results. I have had a Harddog rollbar in my S2000 99 10AE Miata and converted my other 99 Miata from road car to Exocet. I also had a 96 Neon that I added a full cage to race from a street car with nothing. Everytime this made the car smoother,quieter and more responsive while feeling better anytime there was torsional stress put on it.
Dusterbd13 wrote:
Really?? I have never had a set of kybs, Monroe, or Gabriel that i thought were good for anything.
Guess I need to try them.
You REALLY need to replace the bumpstops (FM 54mm would be good) while you have it apart. They are almost certainly shot, and even if they're still there the modern material the new ones are made from gives vastly superior performance as well as a nicer ride. New top hats too, they'll also be shot.
I wouldn't sell the car, you have a good base. Summary: good suspension, tweak the seats, enjoy.
Seats: The leather seats are always more bulky than cloth. It's not a fundamental design change with the surfboards. My recommendation is a foamectomy. Strip the covers off the seat and reassemble. Then start carving on the foam. Take some out of the base and the back. Keep sitting in it and evaluating. When you're done, you'll have a custom-fit seat that will give you more legroom, drop you further down and fit like a glove.
Stiffness: The 01-05 cars are stiffer than the early ones.
Suspension: As noted, the FM suspension will give you a better ride and handling than the stock stuff. The stiffer springs will keep you out of the bumpstops which makes for a much smoother ride. You can use the KYB GR2 (aka Excell-G) with stock springs. The stock bumpstops at one end of the 01-05 cars have a tendency to disintegrate, so you probably don't even have stops at one end.
For the rear end ratio, I like 4.1 on a naturally aspirated 1.8 with the 5-speed. You can get that out of a 04-05 6-speed or a 1994-97. If you have the 6-speed already, you're cool.
Top hats (aka upper shock mounts) don't wear on the NB, that's an NA thing. But the upper bushings do get old and crusty. About $27 for a car's worth.
Funny, I find the surfboards far more comfortable than the NB1 seats. Different strokes I suppose. You can gain a lot of room by going aftermarket, but it's hard to find something that's both cheap and comfortable. I would think that you'd have no trouble trading your surfboards for NB1 seats (if you were closer, I'd do that trade in a heartbeat), and if you're changing the suspension anyway, I'd rather do it on the car that I already have than an unknown quantity different one.
Edit: Similarly, if you have the Hard-S suspension package (Bilsteins, correct springs, etc. I can't imagine that you couldn't find an autocrosser that wanted to trade you something less performance-oriented than that. Your car has all the pieces that other Miata owners typically want to swap in, so take advantage of that.
Well, the car was sold on verbal agreement and deposit yesterday. Main reasons for the sale is rust, and color. I live too far south to have to get the torch out to do an alignment on a 15 year old car. Im a spoiled pansy, i know.
The legroom issue is width for leg spread. The seat can still go back a good few inches. So would a foamectomy actually help?
And Keith, if im understanding you correctly, the harshness is from bottoming out, not too stiff of shocks and springs?
In my '99 NB I replaced all the seat cushion foam on an early NA seat with the remains of a VW GTI seat. I welded the tubular side supports to the Miata pan and used the GTI bolsters pretty much as stock, then carved and filled the cushion to fit the Miata pan. A little home upholstery work and I have a more comfortable seat. I find any NA or NB seat won't support my legs properly and my left leg flops over on the handbrake. With the VW foam and bolsters that doesn't happen.
Spread would probably be door cards. Have you sat in it with the door cards off to see how that feels?
Dusterbd13 wrote:
And Keith, if im understanding you correctly, the harshness is from bottoming out, not too stiff of shocks and springs?
If by "harsh" you mean that small amplitude bumps are transmitted through the suspension instead of being absorbed, that can be bad shocks, overinflated tires or bushing problems.
It's worth distinguishing between an improperly damped spring and one that's got too high a spring rate for the job at hand. Usually, what's diagnosed as the latter is really the former.
Bottoming out is usually a bigger hit. You'll feel that as a hard hit on a sharper, bigger bump. Miatas also react badly to sharp dips - if the shocks are questionable, it'll rebound pretty hard in this case. If the bumpstops are gone, it'll be really hard when you run out of travel, almost a metal to metal feel.
DeadSkunk wrote:
In my '99 NB I replaced all the seat cushion foam on an early NA seat with the remains of a VW GTI seat. I welded the tubular side supports to the Miata pan and used the GTI bolsters pretty much as stock, then carved and filled the cushion to fit the Miata pan. A little home upholstery work and I have a more comfortable seat. I find any NA or NB seat won't support my legs properly and my left leg flops over on the handbrake. With the VW foam and bolsters that doesn't happen.
Would anyone else here like to see Skunk prove that he can flop his LEFT leg over the handbrake on a left-hand drive car? 
In reply to Keith Tanner:
Harsh as in, on surface streets and interstates, itll rattle the fillings out of your teeth. Big sharp bumps are actually softer feeling, unless pothole. Potholes require replacement internal organs.
You bring up tire pressure: as an afterthought, what should it be? I run it at 38 on the falken 950 all seasons, as that is the pressure they seem to wear and handle the best on the other mazdas (p5, mazda5).
Wildscott: love to see it. I honestly assumed that he was from another country Nd had a rhd miata.
Step one: drop that tire pressure to 28 psi.
WildScotsRacing wrote:
DeadSkunk wrote:
In my '99 NB I replaced all the seat cushion foam on an early NA seat with the remains of a VW GTI seat. I welded the tubular side supports to the Miata pan and used the GTI bolsters pretty much as stock, then carved and filled the cushion to fit the Miata pan. A little home upholstery work and I have a more comfortable seat. I find any NA or NB seat won't support my legs properly and my left leg flops over on the handbrake. With the VW foam and bolsters that doesn't happen.
Would anyone else here like to see Skunk prove that he can flop his LEFT leg over the handbrake on a left-hand drive car?
It was my other left leg.
I'd trust Keith implicitly on this. In fact, I did, and ended up with a solution that works well for me (v-maxx adjustable coilovers and fm sways - I wanted to be able tweak ride height and damping). Many folks love the Koni shock/FM springs kit as well. Neither option is really all that expensive and FM customer service is exemplary...
