Hundreds Of Products Ready Today. Dispatch/Collection Customer Question: Fitting Our MX-5 Side Mounts To A Cobra Monaco Pro
Customer question, Mazda MX-5 Mk1
A customer rang us this week from halfway through a seat fit, tools out, patience gone. A Cobra Monaco Pro going into a Mk1 MX-5 on our Endurance side mounts, and in his words nothing was lining up with anything.
That exact pairing is one of the most fitted combinations we sell, it is the seat these brackets were designed around, and we sell it as a package. So when it fights you, the odds are heavily on one of the same four small things, and every one of them takes seconds to put right once you know what you are looking at. This page is the talk Cameron gives over the phone, written down properly with a drawing.
- Every side mounted seat has its side holes 290mm apart, an FIA standard, so these mounts do fit the Monaco Pro
- Build the seat and brackets up on the bench first. In the car is the hard way
- The brackets are handed and the angled feet only sit flat on the floor one way round
- M8 bolts are not in the box with the mounts. Cobra usually ship cap screws already threaded into the seat
- Cobra's own fitting sheet says 45Nm on the seat bolts, washers on the outside of the mount
First, the reassurance: it fits
The Monaco Pro is a steel framed seat with a flat base and two M8 threaded inserts in each side, and the Endurance brackets were designed for that family of seat. Our listing names the Monaco range on it, and it is a seat we have tested extensively in the Mk1 and Mk2.
The two fixing holes in the side of a side mounted bucket seat are in the same place on every brand, 290mm apart, because the spacing is governed by the FIA. Cobra print it on their own fitting sheet. A bracket that suits one steel side mounted seat suits the next one, so when holes will not line up, check which way round the brackets are before you blame the drilling. Turning a bracket round costs nothing.
The whole trick in one drawing. The seat side holes are 290mm apart on every side mounted seat, the grids give you the height and angle, and the angled feet only sit flat on the MX-5 floor one way round.
What should be on the bench
Four things: the seat, the pair of brackets, eight M8 bolts with washers, and the original floor bolts you took out with the old seat. The brackets bolt to the four factory captive nuts in the floor, so there is no drilling anywhere in this job.
On bolts, read this before you drive to a shop. The mounts do not come with them, but Cobra normally ship the Monaco Pro with four M8 cap screws and washers already threaded into the side inserts. Check the sides of your seat first. If yours arrived bare, our M8 bolt pack below is a few pounds and Cobra’s sheet asks for the washer on the outside of the bracket with at least six turns of thread engagement.
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The order of work
The single biggest favour you can do yourself is to build the seat and brackets into one assembly on the bench, then carry that assembly to the car. Kneeling in an MX-5 footwell trying to line up six things at once is how this job earns its bad reputation.
- Lay the brackets out and pair them up. They are handed, one per side, and the front of each has the lip
- Bolt both brackets to the seat on the bench, finger tight, using the same grid hole on each side
- Start in the middle of the grid. You can chase height and rake later once you have sat in it
- Carry the assembly to the car and sit it on the floor points. The angled feet should sit flat with no persuading
- Start all four floor bolts by hand before you tighten any of them
- Sit in it, check your view and reach, then move grid holes if you want it lower or tipped back
- Tighten the floor bolts, then the seat bolts to 45Nm as per Cobra's sheet, and recheck after your first drive
The four things that catch people out
A bracket on the wrong side
The brackets are a pair, like shoes, a left and a right. On the wrong sides the feet point away from the captive nuts, and no amount of leaning on it will close a gap that geometry opened. If the feet will not sit flat, stop pushing and swap them over.
A bracket turned back to front
The MX-5 floor points sit at different heights front and rear, which is why the feet are angled the way they are. Reversed, the bracket rocks and the holes sit past the captive nuts. The lip always faces the front of the car.
Different grid holes on each side
One side in the second row, the other in the third, and the seat is twisted. Everything then looks misdrilled and nothing is. Back all four bolts off, pick one hole, use it on both sides, start again finger tight.
Tightening too early
Torque the seat bolts before the floor bolts are all started and you lock the assembly in the one position that does not line up. Everything stays finger tight until every bolt in the job has caught its thread. Then tighten, floor first.
If you would sooner keep the sliders
Side mounts bolt the seat solid, which is the lowest and most planted way to sit in an MX-5, and the way Garreth would have his own. The trade is that you give up fore and aft adjustment, so if the car shares drivers, look at the package route instead.
Our Monaco Pro MX-5 package pairs the seat with Cobra’s own adaption bracket kit, which keeps the original sliders under the seat. It is the kit we have tested back to back in the Mk1 and Mk2, and it is the answer for a shared or daily driven car where one fixed seating position will not do. Garreth’s maths on it is blunt: the package works out about six pounds dearer than buying the seat and our brackets separately, so if you want to keep the sliders it is not even a decision.
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And if you are starting from scratch instead of mid-fit, there is more than one way to put a Monaco Pro in an MX-5. The Cybul brackets are a stiffer take on the side mount idea, the Cobra adaption bars suit the NA and NB with Cobra’s own seats, and the H frame subframes carry the Monaco Pro base mounted, because it is one of the few FIA seats drilled for both fittings.
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Common questions on this job
Do the Endurance MX-5 side mounts definitely fit the Cobra Monaco Pro?
Yes. The Monaco Pro is a steel framed, flat based seat with M8 side inserts at the FIA standard 290mm spacing, which is exactly what these brackets are designed around. Our listing names the Monaco range, and we sell the pairing as a package.
Are the Mk1 and Mk2 mounts the same part?
No, they are separate listings for a reason, so order the one for your shell. Both are 4mm steel and both bolt to the factory floor points with no drilling.
Do I lose fore and aft adjustment on side mounts?
On this route, yes, the seat bolts solid and you set your position once. If more than one person drives the car, the Monaco Pro MX-5 package keeps the original sliders and is the better call.
What bolts do I need and what do they torque to?
M8 into the seat inserts. Cobra usually ship cap screws threaded into the seat, and their fitting sheet asks for washers on the outside of the mount, at least six turns of engagement, and 45Nm. Our M8 bolt pack covers you if your seat arrived without them.
Will these mounts take my fibreglass bucket seat?
No. The front lip on the bracket fouls a glass fibre shell, so these are for steel framed seats only. Ring us with the seat you have and we will point you at the right bracket instead of the nearly right one.
Is this setup right for competition scrutineering?
For FIA paperwork the seat has to be on FIA approved mounts, which means Cobra’s own certified side mounts, so tell us if the car races and we will spec that route. For road and trackday use the Endurance brackets are the popular answer.
Stuck mid-fit? Ring us from the garage
The customer who rang was moving again in five minutes, because on the phone this is nearly always a case of naming which of the four traps you are stood in. Ring 0115 9893488 with the car and seat in front of you and Cameron will talk you through it while you turn the spanners. And if you would sooner not fight it at all, bring the car and the seat to us and we will set it up with you sat in it, which is how it should be done anyway.