Ive fitted Moss chassis braces front and rear and recently one behind the seats. The car certainly feels tauter and seems to turn in quicker into corners and generally be a little more responsive. It has definatly made the car more rigid, quite noticable over less than perfect roads.

The front/rear bars from moss cost me about 75 quid inc vat and p&p, and can be fitted in an afternoon. I did it, and Im no mechanic. The bigger chassis brace I got secondhand for 30 quid from a guy off this list. This is a bit of a pain to put on (read total arse!!) took me about 4/5 hours of messing about, it was a very tight fit! Still I can now strip most of the trim from around my seats like a demon ;o)

What about asking Jay Ng, the list or any breakers if they have any secondhand braces. Also I know John Cookson does a good homemade one thats cheap. (11/99)

Any "strut" brace

wrong

in a 5 has to be not only bent

wrong

but thin 2,5 cm (IIRC) diamter bar from shock tower to shock tower in its most important dimension.

which one?

Now for the flood of postings from folk who've fitted one & it's transformed their car....

It improved my car. It didn't transform it. (12/99)

The only one that comes to mind that DOESN'T require a lot of fitting is the Mazda UK Style bar, which is a low chromed one sort of squared off.

The other style bars don't tend to be the no drill quick and easy fit devices BUT are relatively easy to fit and usually reguire a small amount of drilling.

You could go for the factory windblocker which will act as a brace as well, as fitted to the 1.8 range. For simple bracing you can get a plain black bar with fitting kit that is designed for the 1.6 MK1 which SHOULD fit the MK2 but hasn't been tested as yet. About the 37 mark posted to you. If you want any more info on the Chrome or powder coated style bars which should give you the bracing you want, drop us a line at mailto:enquires@donutz.co.uk and work out which of the I.L.Motorsport bars would be suitable and obviously a price as well!

IF you find another option please let me know as always interested to find out what other products are available and from whom etc. All to easy to miss something out there! (3/00)

Got the cockpit brace fitted this weekend.....it was a lot of hassle (assembling, taking off, reassembling...), complicated by the fact I had to reposition my "roll bar" (its not a real one, just one that bolts directly to the rear deck (NOT the seatbelt towers)).

Worthwhile points:
1. Its probably easier to fit one of the many aftermarket versions that bolt between the seatbelt towers.
2. You need to remove the seatbelts temporarily to bolt in the bar. Make sure you have access to a torque wrench, as I hate to think of the consequences of bolt failure in an accident due to someone applying "FT" (opposite to finger tight...).
3. A deep socket is needed if you bolt on the bar with the bolt going down inside the seatbelt tower, and a nut attached inside the tower. I didn't have a deep socket to fit, so inserted the bolt the other way up, made captive by a nut and then fitted the bar. Provided you get the bolt really tight, it doesn't turn in on itself.
4. Trimming the seatbelt surround panels; easy. drill a hole, centred 4 cm from the centre of the seatbelt hole. Use a Dremel or hole-borer bit to widen to the correct size for the bar. Keep the Dremel handy for a bit of trimming on the car. The fit of the bar on my 92 was VERY tight (it looks like there is a slight difference in the distance the seatbelt towers are apart from later cars? Or maybe just production variation).
5. The seatbelt top caps foul with the end caps on the bar, with the result the seat belt pivot is not fully free. I still have to trim off some plastic from these bits.

Was it worth it?
A lot has been said on the Miata list about the fitment of this bar in earlier cars. Technically, its part of the side impact system (though why 93 model cars with the door impact bars don't have it I don't know why), and supposedly according to Mazda won't do anything for stiffness (though there seems to be precious little difference ultimately between it and other aftermarket cockpit braces, let alone what people reckon of style bars, or are we all being fooled...).

On a brief road test yet, on back roads it didn't feel a whole lot better, though the car hasn't been handling quite as well as well post-accident repair as pre-accident (I suspect the garage only checked the front 2 wheels for alignment....so 4 wheel alignment is going to be needed) and the roads were a bit wet so I wasn't really chucking it about. However, it is definetly less crashy over pot holes, so that must mean something. I'm not particularly tall, so the seat doesn't need to go all the way back, but I could see how the squeak of the bar on the back of a seat could really jangle someones nerves. Another advantage is that now I can use the rear deck more for extra luggage space on a long trip. (3/00)

Anyone here got an MX5/Roadster/Miata with extra strengthening bars down the side of the seats? I saw these bars in several pics on an accessories site a week or so ago - but the bars themselves weren't covered on the site. They were between the seat and the doors. They're about the thickness of roll-over bars and were diagonal - probably from the bulkhead (?) behind the seat at perhaps one foot above the door sill to meet the floor just in front of the front edge of the seat.

I saw a Miata rebuild site (dutch perhaps) that showed the floor with seat and carpets removed and that had what looked like extra mounting holes on the floor - perhaps that's there they are fixed? Anyone know what I'm on about? :o)

I guess they're supposed to reduce scuttle shake? Anyone know any more? (6/00)

No I meant the seat belt bolts up by the brace bar .. they take the same socket head in my Berkley bar'd version (just special chromed bolts) .. and look very similar to an Engineer..

.. and 15 GBP is not terrible .. most bolt places now have a min order of 30 GBP .. and there is still the question as to what strength of bolt you fit .. Grade 8.8 is a minimum here while Grade 6.4 is also available sometimes.. so think yourself lucky at 15 GBP . I paid 30 GBP for 8 studs .. it could have been 4 studs for 30 GBP but I upped as it cost nothing more .. and now I find they are 10-15mm too short .. oh well .. life at the edge and all that! (6/00)

I fitted the Moss braces to my '91 Roadster at the weekend, and they went on OK. The rear brace fits on the bolts that set the rear toe in/out and camber. They're the same bolts that support the lower wishbone to the chassis sub assembly, so are easy to identify.

You'll need two 17mm spanners for the job, a jack, axle stands, preferably a torque wrench, and some Tip-Ex.

Firstly, jack up the car and place it securely on the axle stands. Then go under the car and paint a mark with the Tip-Ex on the adjuster cams that set the toe in/out (these are on the rearward facing end on the lower wishbone bolts).

Place one of your spanners over the head of the lower wishbone bolt and hold it steady to prevent it from rotating, and slacken the nut with the other (the nut is on the end facing the rear of the car). This can be a bit tricky as the nut is on pretty tight, but with enough determination and bad language, it'll come off.

Then, depending on how much toe in/camber you have, the brace will either slot over the ends of the bolts or, as in my case, not. If the brace fits, then all you have to do is pop the nuts back on and tighten up to 75lb ft, which is where the torque wrench comes in, while holding the bolt with one of your spanners to prevent it from rotating and upsetting your suspension settings.

If like on mine, the brace appears to be the wrong length and won't fit, you'll have to turn the bolts that set the toe in. They're on an eccentric cam, so rotating them will make the end move towards the centre of the car, or away from it, depending on the direction of rotation. Playing with this will allow you to fit the brace over the ends of the bolts.

But rotating the bolts will upset the suspension settings, I hear you cry! Yes it will, but as you were smart and marked up the position of the adjuster cams with Tip-Ex before starting, it's only a case of rotating them back to this position, and tightening up the nuts as mentioned above. (7/00)

But rotating the bolts will upset the suspension settings, I hear you cry! Yes it will, but as you were smart and marked up the position of the adjuster cams with Tip-Ex before starting, it's only a case of rotating them back to this position, and tightening up the nuts as mentioned above.

.. not strictly true I'm afraid.. close but no real banana .. there is quite a bit of movement between washer and bolt .. been there while trying to DIY my alignment .. looked the same but the bolt was in a different place .. you end up doing it 'all from one side' to get it loaded one way. (7/00)

I suspect the 1.8 has a different length seatbelt bolts. Maybe try your local Mazda dealer and see if the part number is different.Maybe either cutdown the spacer on the bar itself, so it sits lower, or (try this first) use a longer bolt and lots of washers/spacers so it fits a bit higher. Messing around with the seatbelt bolt makes me nervous.

has anyone else had difficulties?
Yes; I did trim one side of SAZ9826; the endpiece on the bar itself. (12/00)