aftermarket seats

[gofer]

The easy part is finding a seat that you want, the hard part is finding a way to mount it low enough in the car that your head isn't touching the headliner and it clears the center console/door panels.

I run a Sparco Evo II seat and tried "bolt-in" Planted side mounts and bolt-in brackets that use the stock 2g seat mounting locations. Unfortunately they don't work out, at least for this seat and/or a person my height. My head was into the headliner, even without a race helmet, and the "wing" of the seat back was over the door panel and nearly into the window.

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I returned the "bolt-in" Planted hardware and took it to my local fabricator who installs cages and seats nearly every day. To get the seat over (towards the center of the car and steering wheel) he had to remove a good portion of the stock driveshaft tunnel. I'm still running a full length exhaust too, there's just a lot of wiggle room under there. He also removed the OE seat bracket hardware, creating mounts welded directly to the floorboard.

You'll notice, because I don't have a roll bar/cage in my car (yet) I had him hard mount a plate to the side of the D/S tunnel for the stock seat belt. I recommend you do the same, installing a 4/5pt harness seems like it would be safer but not in a car without a cage. In the event of a roll over your spine could compress if the roof collapses on your head. I used a stock rear seat belt because it's soft cloth and a lot shorter than the long plastic seat belt piece mounted to the 2g front seats.

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[dsmsavage]

Dare I ask... was this fabrication expensive?

Also, (I have done NO research on the topic) did that gauge mount in the center (replacing the lighter) easily?

 

[gofer]

$400 for everything. The gauge in the cigarette lighter location requires a dremel and 20m.

 

[95REGF150]

Do I spy a hydraulic E-brake? That's Awesome!

And your absolutely right. My RSX seats sit high. There is no way around it with how high the factory mounting locations are in near the tunnel. The way you had it done is really the only way to go for a tall person but there is quite a bit of fab involved to drill the spot welds and remove the original rails. Plus if doing it yourself you have to be comfortable with your fab skills that you strengthen the floor enough to mount the seat without ripping off. Yours looks like it was done very well. Seen some people use fender washers underneath the factory floor.

 

[gofer]

Do I spy a hydraulic E-brake? That's Awesome!

And your absolutely right. My RSX seats sit high. There is no way around it with how high the factory mounting locations are in near the tunnel. The way you had it done is really the only way to go for a tall person but there is quite a bit of fab involved to drill the spot welds and remove the original rails. Plus if doing it yourself you have to be comfortable with your fab skills that you strengthen the floor enough to mount the seat without ripping off. Yours looks like it was done very well. Seen some people use fender washers underneath the factory floor.

Yes, it's a CNC staging brake to help with launching the car at the track. I haven't had the pleasure of using it yet since I haven't plumbed it in but, it's in the works (like everything else).

Removing spot welds can be shitty and tedious work with the wrong tool, you can find carbide spot weld bits on Amazon that make life A LOT easier. I had an over the counter Ace Hardware special that dulled after the first dozen spot welds and it sucked after that, the carbide one's though are magic.

That's why I went to someone I knew had been doing seat/cage installs for years for cars that race in sanctioned events. Cutting corners and getting creative is something I've learned to do with my DSM to get it to run but, when it comes to my life, I'll leave it to the professional's and come out of pocket for it. Staying IN the seat if I ever get in a wreck is something I'll appreciate.

 

[dsmsavage]

Very clean install and fab work. Reasonably priced and well worth the cash for safety. Look forward to seeing what gets fabbed up for a cage.

 

[richardlapalme]

Recaro evo 8 seats. Very hard to fit in my 1g. I use the hammer on the center tunnel to make more room to keep them as low as possible. And i cut and welded the floor on the driver side to be able to wear my helmet without touching the roof. (i'm 6'1''). Other than that, they are ppppeeeerrrrffffeeeccccttt!!!

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Sorry, i didn't take pics of my custom brackets.

 

[Justin DuBois]

This was a good thread. I started another recently:
https://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/2g-front-seats.532708/