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MG MGA - MGA seats

Being over 6' I've always found the mga seat a touch uncomfortable over longer periods and I've seen a way of tilting the back and seat base up to provide more comfort and support - www.VORD.net. Just wondered if anyone else has tried this and if they are happy with the results.
J H Cole

The usaul way of adjusting the seat angle, is by using a wood wedge. Cut to fit the lenght of the seat rail,it is tapered from the back(zero) to the front ( app. 1 inch) and installed giving the proper rise to the front area of the seat. Becarefull...as to much rise will cause your legs to touch the steering wheel as well as making entry and exit from the car difficult.
Gorodn
Gordon Harrison

The details can be found on Barneys site - mguru.
Hope this helpes, Dave
David Godwin

I think that information is not on my web site, because I've never had that problem. I'm the "short" guy who raised the seat about 1/2 inch with wood spacers under the tracks to have better visibility over the front end when autocrossing (and also to make space for more carpet padding.

Gordon is correct that the easy way to tilt the seat is to install wedges for the slider tracks. If you put wedges under the tracks the seat will change height as it moves fore and aft. That may be okay if a smaller person wants it forward and higher at the same time. If you put the wedges on top of the tracks it tilts only the seat and not the tracks, and then it will slide at a constant height.

There are a couple of problems with this approach. As Gordon mentioned, the front edge of the seat cushion gets closer to the steering wheel, so installing a smaller steering wheel may be desirable. I had installed a 1 inch smaller wheel prior to raising the seat 1/2 inch, so it was all the same to me.

The way to recline the backrest without changing the altitude or attitude of the seat base is to elongate the holes in the frame for the backrest pivot bolts, similar to if the holes were worn out oval. You might do a nice job of it and weld the holes closed, then drill the holes in a different location.

The other problem is, if you have long legs you may already have the seat pushed back against the cockpit rear trim roll. In that case, reclining the entire seat or only the backrest could result in positioning the seat base farther forward when the backrest hits the cockpit rear rail. They you get your knees tucked up higher under the steering wheel.

There is only so much space available in the MGA, so if you are tall in both upper and lower body you may be dealing with a trade off between head room or leg room.
Barney Gaylord

I have fabricated my wedge from 16 gage steel and have them on all my cars. It goes from 1" high down to zero and is as long as the seat rail. They do make a noticable difference on long rides but it does decrease the distance from your legs to the steering wheel. I think that 1" is about the maximum. I would definately recommend it and you can always remove them if you don't like them. Have a good day!

John
John Progess

A smaller steering wheel really helps. My first MGA came with a MGB wheel. It was a definite improvement. The throttle pedal is set too close as originally designed. Remove the cross bolt on pedal stop and adjust the cable so it just gets full open when the pedal is on the floor.
R J Brown

JH
I'm 6'6" with size 13 shoe and suffer the same conditions. Wedging the seat pins my knee against the gear lever. I changed to a 15" wood wheel and remounted the seats as far back against the battery box and that actually sets them under the cowl (as Barney mentions). I could drive with the top up without any trouble.
SJS Steinhauer

This thread was discussed between 07/01/2008 and 08/01/2008

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This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGA BBS is active now.