Need NA miata seat advice

I want to replace the drivers side seat in my 95 miata(M edition seats look nice but give no support at all). It will be staying a street car so i dont want a full track seat just something that is more supportive(laterally etc..) reclinable is prefered. I dont particular want to spend more than $500 but i would say $750 max. all in(mounts etc) and only for the drivers side. I am not tall so height doesn't matter much but would like to sit a little lower than the m edition seats.

I use a modified NA seat in my NB. I did the foamectomy on the back and substituted some VW GTI structure and foam in the cushion. I have more comfort and better lateral support now. Unfortunately there aren't a lot of aftermarket seats that are narrow enough to fit a Miata.

Best reclinable seat for an NA or NB is the seat from an NA or NB.

If you want to sit lower, do a proper foamectomy on the base and the back. Not the over-simplified internet version, but strip the coverings off the foam and custom-fit the seat to you. To go lower, remove the rear mounting points from the tub and bolt the back of the slider through the floor.

1995 M edition seats have some value, so I don't think you'll spend anything at all.

I think the one option that I've seen that is attractive is the Elise seat. But that isn't reclinable, nor is it cheap. I'll second Keith's motion for a modified NA/NB seat.

I think my old miata's driver seat had a foamectomy because every time my wife drove, I felt like I was riding on top of the seat rather than in the seat. It definitely had more of a crown to it than the drivers seat.

There really is no reason to spend money until you've tried a foamechtomy.  I'm about as "mechanically challenged" as you can get and was able to get my driver's seat done in about and hour and a half.  (Pro tips:  Much easier with 2 people, cut the metal "hog rings" and replace them with small zip ties when you put it back together, much easier to work with and you can "tension" the leather by how far you pull the zip ties.  An electric bread knife works great for shaping the foam, but may make your bread taste funny for a month or two)  You can shape the factory foam until it fits you perfectly.  If you are concerned about sagging (mine doesn't sage after 4 years, BTW), you can replace what you cut out with a lower density foam (purchase at a craft/fabric store) and still get the right "sink" into the seat while retaining the shape.  If you don't tear up the foam you're removing, it's also pretty much reversible.  Just keep the pieces you remove. 

My only regret is that I just did the seat pan.  I wish I had reshaped the seat back a little too.  Some day . . .

Here to say what everybody else said. the Foamectomy does wonders. It's what I do for the street.

Once you go on track, nothing like a full race containment seat.

How low can you actually get the foamectomy?

Need similar advice...

Did the bottom foamectomy, but its still messing my back up really badly for any longer drives.   Aside from expensive elise seats, anyone done anything that worked well?

I think sinking into the pan is tweaking my spine.  

(had some sciatica to begin with, did 10 hours over two days in miata and have been laid up for several weeks with PT afterwards)

Don’t just do the back. Do the whole seat. Pull off all the foam, reassemble the seat and go through multiple rounds of sit/trim/sit. The result should be supremely comfortable because it’s a custom seat. I’ve done this to several cars and it’s all day comfort  if you want something simple, iirc you can stuff some extra padding into the lumbar region without disassembling the seat - there’s a pocket back there in the stock upholstery on the NA seats at least.

If I wanted to go extremely low, I’d consider swapping out the bottom foam for Confor blue memory foam. That might take some experimentation. It’s actually quite difficult to get lower than a modified stock seat in my experience. The Elise seats are low but don’t fit me perfectly. They do let you get a long way back, so they’re great for legroom and they get you mad points for hard parking. 

Jaynen said:

How low can you actually get the foamectomy?

With the combination of the foamectomy and cutting out the rear humps (I bolted my brackets through the floor) I dropped over 2". I'm 6'2 and was able to drive the car comfortably with a helmet on with the top up.

And then I got a HALO seat :)