new member and now with pics

[hmmmnz]

hi guys/girls
the mrs has just bought a mark 2 (i beleive) 98 mx5
we just picked it up today
....

and while she is a tiny scottish lass, im a 6'4" kiwi lad, and ill be buggered if i can safely drive the car with my knee jammed against the steering wheel and the consul, i was thinking of just putting a smaller steering wheel on it and putting a resitor in and be done with the drivers air bag, but the mrs wont have a bar of that and she'll be the one mostly driving the car so thats fair enough i suppose....

so my real question is .... is there a smaller steering wheel out there (aftermarket or from another mazda) that will fit that is a smaller diameter
and still has an airbag???

[dynofiend]

Im pretty sure that you cannt get an aftermarket wheel that adapts to the standard airbag.

Anyway, id be of the opinion that either you leave the airbag well alone, or you remove it entirely. They are not fun things to be playing around with

If you are going for a smaller wheel for more legroom, be aware that getting a wheel which is more dished (closer to the driver) will also afford you more legroom.

If your other half is really concerned about driver safety, let her watch this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTZl9V17U4Y

It shows a standard mx5 with a non airbag after market steering wheel crashing head on into a tree at about 80kph, the driver suffers no injury at all.

[sprsta]

if you remove the airbag you will be unable to get a WOF

give this a go first then look at steering wheels

http://www.mx5forum.co.nz/viewtopic.php?t=8445

[soulfader]

aftermarket seats and rails will lower the height by 30~50mm
and it will require certs

[jif]

welcome to the club !

doing a seat "foam-ectomy" is popular with the US crowd too , a search on http://forum.miata.net/ will yield more info

[Posted via external email]

[poison]

I looked for some aftermarket seats and I could not find any that were as
low as the standard seats, every one I test fitted ended up with me looking
at the sun visor. Only the fixed back, full race seats were as low, if you
want any comfort or recline the aftermarket ones almost always sit higher.
And are you sure about needing a cert? I thought they had revised this.

[Posted via external email]

[poison]

If your other half is really concerned about driver safety, let her watch this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTZl9V17U4Y

It shows a standard mx5 with a non airbag after market steering wheel crashing head on into a tree at about 80kph, the driver suffers no injury at all.

Yeah he had a full harness and to be honest I think he was doing a fair bit less than 80 by the time he hit the tree. All the crash test videos at 80K seem to do really major frontal damage and driver injury. Tree's are nto as flexible as one might think.

Mazline/Brownie Comments? You must have seen a few damged MX5's by now.

[soulfader]

And are you sure about needing a cert? I thought they had revised this.

[Posted via external email]

i needed to get mine certed last year.. not on a mx5 though

my understanding was that any modifications to rails needed to be certed including aftermarket rails

but please do let us know if it has now been revised so i can just buy some rails and chuck mine in

[hmmmnz]

well its not looking too good then really

i might see if i can get another standard wheel and a smaller sports steering wheel, and weld the 2 together ...... famous last words aye

if anyone has a airbag wheel that they don't want, let me know

[sprsta]

just give the seat mods a go first

i think the standard wheel will be steel and you would be lucky to find an aftermarket one not made of alloy

either you will want an aftermarket wheel that you can swap for wof's if she lets you (not recomended)
try some aftermarket seats (after the seat mod)
or remove the airbag add a cage get a log book and turn it into a race car

its up to you

[brownie]

Is your steering wheel the 4 spoke std Mazda or 3 spoke Nardi/Momo type?,You can change the 4 spoke for a 3 spoke without upseting the airbag module , might buy you a little more room.
In the end you arn't supposed to remove the airbags,
But they are a lot of fun to play with when the boss it out and the boys are bored ....BANG BANG !! .
Someones got to know how they work .
They can be dangerous mind you,and damn loud !.
We,ve only had one full damaged NB and that was a L/F side impact so no air bag damage.,Most damage seems to be from peple driving too fast in the wrong gear and running out of power to pull themselfs out of trouble going around corners.
Just because we own classisc handling sport cars doesn't mean we know how to drive them on the limit,Unless you are lucky enough to get some track work in.

[hmmmnz]

the problem with doing the seat mod is.... she's a wee lass, all of 5'2
so the car has plenty of room for her, and if i mod the seat to suit me, she'll .... well lets just say its not really worth my life
ill keep my eyes open on trademe for a spare wheel, and go from there,
i can weld both alloy and steel, so shouldnt be too much of a mission to come up with a smaller wheel, (she won't let me modify the one thats in the car), grrrr,
ill keep ya posted if i come up with any thing...

[brownie]

Is your wheel a 3 spoke or 4 spoke?

[hmmmnz]

Is your wheel a 3 spoke or 4 spoke?

its the standard 3 spoke one like the one for sale in the classified section

[Trevor]

the problem with doing the seat mod is.... she's a wee lass, all of 5'2
so the car has plenty of room for her, and if i mod the seat to suit me, she'll .... well lets just say its not really worth my life
ill keep my eyes open on trademe for a spare wheel, and go from there,
i can weld both alloy and steel, so shouldnt be too much of a mission to come up with a smaller wheel, (she won't let me modify the one thats in the car), grrrr,
ill keep ya posted if i come up with any thing...

I have made worthwhile changes to my car, (1997 NA 1800) without upsetting it for my wife to drive.

Removed the centre foam padding from the seat and cut away some of the side padding. This also improves the sideways grip of the seat in a big way.

Shifted the steering wheel upwards, by removing some spacing stuff.

Moved all the pedals forwards, by changing the angles to a more vertical position. This involved shortening slightly, one push rod.

I have also fitted an after market smaller wheel, which moves the wheel position forwards, but this mod. need not be included.

By moving all the controls forwards, a shorter person simply uses a more forward seat adjustment, while the taller person has a much improved driving position. I now have my desired straight arm position.

Trevor.

[hmmmnz]

how did you angle the steering wheel, its a bit of a bugger that the wheel doesnt come out from the factory with that ability... like most cars these days

[Ian]

Here's an idea.
It takes 2 mins to remove the drivers seat.
Get another - seat factory or aftermarket, make up some custom rails to suit your driving position, using the original floor mounting points, ( shouldn't be too difficult and could be non - adjustable) and swap in the modded seat whenever 'you' are planning to be the driver...5 mins I reckon to swap seats. The modded seat could sit closer to the floor AND, in the case of a factory seat, could have the 'foamectomy' done.
You may want to check to see if the present seat is going all the way back...some NB seats don't, but there is a removable pin to allow this to happen.
Ian

[Trevor]

how did you angle the steering wheel, its a bit of a bugger that the wheel doesnt come out from the factory with that ability... like most cars these days

My car had a rather strange bracket/spacer arrangement between the column and the cross brace. It must be something related to the collapsing of the system in a crash situation. I could not see the advantage and removed this stuff, so as to move the column higher.

Cheers, Trevor.

[sprsta]

heres some more air bag stuff

http://www.nissansilvia.co.nz/osiris/vi ... 22&t=43318