MX5 Mk3 - roll-cage, Tilletts, harnesses and a DIY re-trim
Discussion
A little history. I compete in Sprint events and last year contended (and won) Bristol Motor Club's Vincenzo and Son Bristol MX5 Challenge. This year I'm pretty much developing the car as I was concerned with the safety aspect of the OEM roll hoop. I sit too high and the first thing that would hit the tarmac would be my head... this isn't very good! Not that we have too many accidents but they do happen!
tl;dr - here are the pictures of the finished setup.
So, to improve safety I looked all the options for roll hoops, bars and cages. TR Lane/GC Fabrications are the obvious choices here but they don't have rear stays to allow the soft top to still operate. They may well be stronger and taller than the OEM roll hoop but I felt they weren't suitable, for my purposes, due to the minimal rear stays.
I found the Paul Sheard supplies the full cage for the MX5 Supercup and it's available with just the rear half. This seemed much safer than the aftermarket 'hoops'.
Now, to fit the half cage I needed to remove the soft top roof and I'd therefore need to fit a hard top replacement. Paul sells a GRP hard top which is lightweight but it's also minimally trimmed and doesn't really offer much refinement on the motorway. I decided to stick with the OEM hard top, it may well be heavier but it's refined and has decent resale value.
Next are the seats. When I started looking there were minimal options (that I knew of) out there for seat mounts so I ended up having some made up to my own specification. The ones that I could find sat off-centre to the steering wheel so they weren't really suitable. I used Tillett seats (a B6F and a B5) to get them low enough, the domes of the seat bottom sits lower in the mount so I can get it exceptionally low. Once fitted, they actually sat too low and I had to mount them at the highest setting AND use spacers.
Finally, I re-trimmed the rear. It's all removable in minutes and made from a sheet of ply, automotive felt and camper van stretch fabric. I aimed for a 'GT3-esque' look for it and I'm pretty happy with the results. It could have made it neater if it wasn't removable but this is the compromise.
First event, with this setup, is on Saturday... I was cutting it fine!
tl;dr - here are the pictures of the finished setup.
So, to improve safety I looked all the options for roll hoops, bars and cages. TR Lane/GC Fabrications are the obvious choices here but they don't have rear stays to allow the soft top to still operate. They may well be stronger and taller than the OEM roll hoop but I felt they weren't suitable, for my purposes, due to the minimal rear stays.
I found the Paul Sheard supplies the full cage for the MX5 Supercup and it's available with just the rear half. This seemed much safer than the aftermarket 'hoops'.
Now, to fit the half cage I needed to remove the soft top roof and I'd therefore need to fit a hard top replacement. Paul sells a GRP hard top which is lightweight but it's also minimally trimmed and doesn't really offer much refinement on the motorway. I decided to stick with the OEM hard top, it may well be heavier but it's refined and has decent resale value.
Next are the seats. When I started looking there were minimal options (that I knew of) out there for seat mounts so I ended up having some made up to my own specification. The ones that I could find sat off-centre to the steering wheel so they weren't really suitable. I used Tillett seats (a B6F and a B5) to get them low enough, the domes of the seat bottom sits lower in the mount so I can get it exceptionally low. Once fitted, they actually sat too low and I had to mount them at the highest setting AND use spacers.
Finally, I re-trimmed the rear. It's all removable in minutes and made from a sheet of ply, automotive felt and camper van stretch fabric. I aimed for a 'GT3-esque' look for it and I'm pretty happy with the results. It could have made it neater if it wasn't removable but this is the compromise.
First event, with this setup, is on Saturday... I was cutting it fine!
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