Heya

I'm thinkinga bout removing the back seat, for extra luggage space between the trunk and cabin - since our rear seats dont fold down (like most modern cars).

Anyone done this? How hard is it? Any pics?

 

Very easy...grab the front of the seat bottom and pull straight up. The back has two bolts at the bottom holding it on. Sorry I don't have any pictures to offer up.

 

Yes.

It's not.

Here.

 

weight savings = faster = :D

 

6 lbs is 6 lbs my man. THe last race I did, I finished 9 lbs over weight, I would have loved to loose 6 lbs.

 

you're nasty.........

 

What's the point of removing the back seat, wasn't that a reason why you purchased initially? If you only wanted two seats perhaps you should have considered another vehicle - maybe even one in Mazda's stable - the Miatta.

 

removing the back seats won't offer much more storage space because there are fixed metal bracings behind the seat backs.

 

history on the metal braces. when the car was still in chasis mule stage the back end of the car was a modified 626 chasis. It had incredible rear grip. the engineers and others who drove it were very pleased. then when they actually started to run the RX-8 shell they found the grip had been lost. they discovered it was because of the size difference between the c-pilars of the 626 body and the 8 body. the 626 having been much bigger. so in order to get the grip back they built in the Vbrace. this also had the benefit of an increase the torsional rigidity AND also complying with a UK rule which requires that in case of rear impacts the luggage not find its way into the passenger compartment. So you will find this type of "un-modern" non-folding rear seats on Many cars which are built in one place for world wide distribution. Other vehicles that are built in the area they will be sold will only have those safety features that are required for that area.

conclusion- dont bother removing the seats. the v-brace will still constrict access of larger/more items between the two locations and removing the v brace is not a good idea for traction and stability reasons.

 

Even thought the "V" brace has to stay, well not really. You can still put skis and a snowboard through the hole between the trunk and cabin...

 

Here's the real 'double ><' rear brace the car deserves :D