Holly crap, just tried to remove the 4 nuts that hold the brake booster - with the cage in place, on my back, upside down and I still only managed to get to two of the nuts - the two on the right towards the steering column, forget it. My 13 year old had to extricate me. What do the bigger dudes do?
I once did this in my old street car, with no cage and an adjustable seat. But I'm on the verge of hurting myself. So, any advice before I go under again?
And I remember doing this for the clutch master years ago - but no idea how I did it.
For sure doing this is the worst version of Miata Twister... In the middle of doing this, I ended up going to Northern Tool and found an articulating 3/8 inch socket T bar that had a swivel on the end. I think that helped for one of the bolts that is close to a bracket or steering column. It is doable, if I had to do it again, I'd probably remove the seat and maybe hard top. There are 2 bolts that hold the steering column under the dash, I'd probably take them out to drop the column if it looks like that would help. Also there are one or two bolts holding the column to the firewall...removing those could help. I think I did mine with the car on jack stands...I wouldn't do that again as it just makes it harder with the extra distance getting out.
The kicker with this is that Mazda calls for a special tool to set clearance between the vacuum push rod and master. I bought that tool, however the booster that came from Mazda matched exactly with the one I took out...
Any way, have fun with it. If all else fails, buy the floor drop pan and then reach in there after you cut the hole.. I think beneath the floor access would work too!
Cal