Hundreds Of Products Ready Today. Dispatch/Collection The Best Way To Fit A Sparco Evo L Into Your Mazda MX-5 Mk3
Fitting guide, Mazda MX-5 Mk3 (NC)
This one comes up enough that Cameron has the answer ready before the sentence is finished. Sparco Evo L going into an MX-5 Mk3, what do you mount it on?
The kit is the easy half: PCI Racing make the fitting for this car and it is what we would fit. The bit worth reading is which of their two kits you pick, because that choice is worth 25mm of seat height and nobody publishes that number. You get it here because we have had both on the bench.
- The Evo L bolts straight to either PCI kit. You do not need separate side mounts on this route
- The fixed mount is listed as the PCI Adjustable Seat Mount, £252.00. It is the lowest you will sit
- PCI sliding sub frame, £330.00: keeps fore and aft adjustment and sits 25mm higher
- The Evo L is the wide-shell Evo, FIA 8855-1999, HANS friendly, 4 and 6 point compatible
- Both mount prices are per seat position, so a pair of seats needs two mounts
- One seat all in: £864.00 on the fixed mount, £942.00 on the slider
- Both kits bolt to the factory floor points, so there is no drilling in a standard car
What is on this page
Two kits, and the 25mm between them
PCI Racing do two fittings for the Mk3 and they look similar in a photograph, which is how people end up ordering the wrong one. The difference is what sits between the floor plate and the seat.
The fixed kit is the one we list as the PCI Adjustable Seat Mount, £252.00, and that name catches people out. Adjustable means you set the height and angle when you fit it, not that it slides once it is in. The uprights bolt to the floor plate and that is it, so the seat sits as low as this car allows.
The sliding sub frame at £330.00 puts a runner mechanism in between, so you keep the fore and aft adjustment you are used to. The mechanism has to live somewhere though, and it lives under you: it lifts the seat 25mm over the fixed mount. That figure is ours, off the bench, not off a spec sheet, and it is the number the decision turns on.
Garreth puts the money side of it like this: the slider is £78 more, and that £78 buys you adjustment, not a better seat. If you are the only one who drives the car, he would keep the £78 and take the lower seating position, because that is the bit you feel every time you get in.
Same seat, same floor, same car. The slider mechanism has to live somewhere, and where it lives is under you, which is the 25mm.
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Why the Evo L suits this car
The Evo L is the wide shell version of Sparco’s Evo. Same fibreglass construction, same FIA 8855-1999 homologation, same velour trim and HANS friendly shape as the standard Evo, with more room across the shoulders and hips. It takes 4 and 6 point harnesses and it is a fixed back seat, so it does not recline.
The Mk3 is the generation that makes this easy. It is a roomier car than the Mk1 and Mk2, so the wide shell goes in without the shoulder arguments you get in the older cars. Garreth’s view on the shell size: do not order the L just because you are a big lad, and do not avoid it just because you are not. Some drivers want the extra room to feed steering through their shoulders even when the standard shell fits. If you can get to the showroom, sitting in both settles it in about twenty minutes.
How the job actually goes
There is no drilling in this on a standard car. Both PCI kits bolt to the factory seat mounting points, and both carry the side mount uprights themselves, so the seat bolts straight to the kit. That is the part people get wrong: they order side mounts as well and end up with a box of parts they do not need.
- Old seat out, and keep the factory bolts, you are going back into the same holes
- Build the kit to the seat on the bench, finger tight, same hole either side
- Drop the assembly onto the floor points and start all the bolts by hand first
- Sit in it before anything is torqued, helmet on if the car is for track
- Tighten the floor bolts, then the seat bolts, then check it again after the first drive
Common questions on this fit
Do I need side mounts as well as the PCI kit?
No. The uprights are part of both kits, so the seat bolts straight on. Ordering side mounts on top is the most common wasted order on this job.
How much lower is the fixed mount, really?
25mm against the sliding sub frame. That is our own figure from having both here, and in a car with as little head room as an MX-5 it is the difference between comfortable in a helmet and not.
Will I lose the fore and aft adjustment on the fixed mount?
Yes, that is the trade. You set the position when you fit it and it stays put. If more than one person drives the car, take the slider instead.
Is there drilling involved?
Not on a standard car. Both kits use the factory seat mounting points. Torque them properly and check your belt buckle clearance once the seat is in.
Will the Evo L fit a Mk1 or Mk2 as well?
The seat will, but this kit will not, so order the mount for your car. PCI do separate fittings for the Mk1 and Mk2 and for the Mk4 ND. Tell us the year and we will pick the right one.
What does the whole job come to?
For one seat, the Evo L at £612.00 plus the fixed mount at £252.00 is £864.00, or £942.00 with the sliding sub frame. The mount price is per seat position, so double that part if the passenger side is going in too.
Do I keep the factory seat belt?
On a road car this is the one to check before you order. The buckle sits close to the seat in an MX-5 and a bucket changes where it lands, so tell us you are keeping the factory belt and Cameron will go through the buckle position with you before anything is picked.
Can I run a 6 point harness with it?
The seat is drilled for 4 and 6 point and it is HANS friendly. What decides it is what you are mounting the belts to, so ring us with what is in the car and we will go through it.
Getting it ordered
Ring 0115 9893488 with three things: whether the car is track, road or shared, which sides you need, and your height if you are anywhere near six foot. Cameron will pick the kit off that in a couple of minutes. And if you are within driving distance, come and sit in the Evo and the Evo L before you commit to a shell, because that is twenty minutes that saves a return.