* * hey guys.....

[gsxitement]

....So here I am with my trusty 2Gb. I bought it in 2000, and am currently converting it to road race status. I have an Autopower roll cage (6 point), OMP one piece FIA approved, Simpson 5 point ands some other things. I was able to get the main bar installed. pretty straight forward. I'm having some problems getting my seat mounted in the car. I have a seat bracket. I just can't seem to get the right clearances for my head. Do you guys know of any tricks to getting the seat in place well. I was thinking of the OMP sidemounts, that way I have kind of adjustibility.

The thing is. I'm just feeling really overwhelmed by the whole thing. I'm an accomplished mechanic, hold 2 degrees in auto tech, have worked on an scca camaro, and have gone to the Skip 3 day race school...soon to take the advanced. I just can't seem to find any help, or at least get pointed in the right direction. Mind you, I am very computer illiterate. I have pics of my progress, and can take more upon request if it helps. Every system in the car is apart right now. I have to rebuild the motor, the head just came back from machining. The rear suspension is in pieces. The inside of the car looks like it threw up. I have the power slot 12.5 two piece rotor upgrade with goodridge lines.


If any of you guys that have some experience with setting these rigs up for some time attack sessions could point me in the right direction. Maybe I could document the progress for info or something. I just don't know where to start.

Thanks guys

 

[housegsx]

I was thinking of the OMP sidemounts

Thanks guys

Yes, sidemounts. That's the way to go.

Pics would be cool. It's nice to see another car get involved in road racing.

 

[gsxitement]

some old pics....

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Let me take some more current ones.......

 

[gsxitement]

Yes, sidemounts. That's the way to go.

Pics would be cool. It's nice to see another car get involved in road racing.

How do I mount them to the floor? The floor pan is all uneven. The seat is bottom or side mount. Thats one thing I'm having trouble with. how do get this seat in the car? I'm not worried about being on sliders or anything. Also my A-bars seem to be short and tight in the foot well. I'll have to get some pics up here to show you.

 

[97 4G63]

Rollcage looks nice sofar..
Keep up the good work.

 

[drivemusicnow]

As ridiculous as this sounds, mounting a race seat is seriously one of the hardest things to do.

I'm not kidding. I'm taking mine to a shop to do. The problems you run into is that A) the seat can be larger than stock, and is just bulky in general. B) you can't see through it, so when you're positioning it, it's really hard to locate features under the seat and C) It all has to be very precise. Such a PITA.

I was just working swapping a new seat into mine tonight and I think I'm just going to take it to a race fabricator. So sick of trying to get this thing in.

 

[90laserRSfwd]

Some ducting to cool the front brakes and some aero work on the front of the car will go a long... long... way in road racing. Keep us updated. Looks good so far though man Oh, and what model OMP's do you have? I though every 2g'r used Sparco seats haha...

 

[gsxitement]

Thanks for all the positive feedback folks. It's helping give me some motivation, All the details like brake coolers and downforce makers will have to happen later. I had wanted to have the car done for a TT event at Lime Rock, but obviously not gonna happen.

Oh, and what model OMP's do you have? I though every 2g'r used Sparco seats haha...

......Right? I just can't afford them. this seat was like 339 through Pegasus and is FIA approved for the no-bolt-the-back-of-the-seat-to-cage deal.


Thanks guys

More pics soon.

 

[asian312]

Currently in the same situation myself. I'm waiting on my Wedge Engineering floor bracket to come in, but some rough measurements show that my Sparco Circuit Pro seat should just snug in the cabin. The seat uses the lowest setting on the side mount rails and is 36.5" tall for comparison.

PS: Ditch the cross drilled rotors

 

[gsxitement]

PS: Ditch the cross drilled rotors

Why? I understand the whole cracking thing, but I can't find 12.5" solid rotors to fit the car. These power slot two piece rotors should be o.k. for what I'm planning on doing. I don't think these will crack. and with the bigger rotors, I have the surface area that is needed to get the car slowed.

 

[gsxitement]

heres another pic of the brakes.....

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[talonTSIDriver]

Why? I understand the whole cracking thing, but I can't find 12.5" solid rotors to fit the car. These power slot two piece rotors should be o.k. for what I'm planning on doing. I don't think these will crack. and with the bigger rotors, I have the surface area that is needed to get the car slowed.

With those brake rotors, you'll be chewing up brake pads much faster.

 

[bane3d]

I'd rather eat through brake pads and have consistant clean braking than a mushy brake and suspension damage by going off course. As for the cracking, those are some pretty thick rotors and as long as they are properly cross drilled (as they appear to be from the photos), they should be fine for a season. IMO, rotors, pads, and tires are all considered office supplies for SCCA.

d

 

[drivemusicnow]

First off, you cant tell how they are drilled in the pictures. Secondly, drilled rotors crack. They do, and you always want to have an extra set handy anyway, so pick up another set of solid rotors, and have them just in case. Solid rotors crack too, but they don't have holes drilled in them that act as stress risers, soo it takes much longer for them to crack.

They're not going to crack under braking causing a safety issues, brake rotors crack while cooling.. YOu'll typically hear a loud ping, which means there is a radial crack on your rotor. Just be sure to check them out before each track session and you'll be fine. and when they do go (maybe after 1 session, maybe after 50) you should have spares to throw on.

Also, slotted and drilled rotors are not there to increase friction, they are there to increase cooling. which has debatable benefits. Here is your clue though. Look at race cars. REAL race cars... What type of rotors do NASCAR, F1, IndyCar, Champ car, ALMS, WC, Etc use? Well, none of them are drilled. some are slotted (typically for increased performance in wet conditions actually)


Call up power slot and get some spares that are unmolested. They'll be cheaper, and provide better wear characteristics and performance.

 

[Zmann42087]

As ridiculous as this sounds, mounting a race seat is seriously one of the hardest things to do.

I'm not kidding. I'm taking mine to a shop to do. The problems you run into is that A) the seat can be larger than stock, and is just bulky in general. B) you can't see through it, so when you're positioning it, it's really hard to locate features under the seat and C) It all has to be very precise. Such a PITA.

I was just working swapping a new seat into mine tonight and I think I'm just going to take it to a race fabricator. So sick of trying to get this thing in.

Totally agree. For my Sparco Torino II seat, I bought a seat base from Sparco that was specifically made for the 2g DSM. It was expensive (cost me like $120) but I wanted to avoid installation trouble.

Well, it certainly didn't pay off. The fit was absolutely horrible! First off, the seat sat too far left so the butterfly would rub against the driver side door. Honestly, it was so far off that when you were sitting in the seat, you could tell it was off center from the steering wheel. Second, it sat too high so I couldn't really fit very well (and I'm only 5'7"). It worked okay for daily driving, but with my helmet on for road racing and autocrossing I couldn't fit at all.

I ended up having to completely cut up and reweld the whole damn thing. And man it was a PITA. Honestly, it would of been easier to just fabricate a seat base from scratch but I spent so much money on the thing I was hell-bent on making it work.

OMP one piece FIA approved, Simpson 5 point ands some other things. I was able to get the main bar installed. pretty straight forward. I'm having some problems getting my seat mounted in the car. I have a seat bracket. I just can't seem to get the right clearances for my head. Do you guys know of any tricks to getting the seat in place well. I was thinking of the OMP sidemounts, that way I have kind of adjustibility.

How do I mount them to the floor? The floor pan is all uneven. The seat is bottom or side mount. Thats one thing I'm having trouble with. how do get this seat in the car? I'm not worried about being on sliders or anything. Also my A-bars seem to be short and tight in the foot well. I'll have to get some pics up here to show you.

Yes, when head room clearance is a concern, sidemount seat brackets are a great choice. You're lucky because you went with a true bucket seat so sidemounts will work. I went with a Sparco seat that you can adjust/recline (not a bucket seat) so sidemount brackets wouldn't work.

Like you mentioned, mounting to the floorpan can be tricky. The four mounting points where the stock seat goes aren't even on a level plane. The front two mounting points are just studs sticking up from the floor if I remember correctly, while in the back there are threaded holes for bolts. Making things even more difficult is the fact that the two mounting point on the right side (one stud & one threaded hole) sit slightly higher than their corresponding mounting points on the left. What I would at least try to do initially is mount the seat using sidemount brackets to the stock mounting locations using shims to even things out as needed. This really is your best option because a) you don't have to go drilling holes through your floor pan which is always a plus; and b) some sanctioning bodies/events (e.g. SCCA Solo II) only allow aftermarket seats when the factory mounting location is used.

If there really seems no way to use the factory mounting location, the only other option I see is drilling holes through the floorpan and using bolts and backing plates to mount everything. I have no personal experience using this method so I can't really offer any solid advice, but I read an issue of Sport Compact Car earlier this year where they used this method to mount a seat (or 5-pt. safety harness in their case) in an EVO. There were some great pictures that showed the process really well. I'll see if I can find that issue so I can post up some pictures for you.

 

[DGajre777]

I use slotted and cross drilled Brembo (core) rotors for daily street use, but I'd never use them on a road course.

 

[gsxitement]

Like you mentioned, mounting to the floorpan can be tricky. The four mounting points where the stock seat goes aren't even on a level plane. The front two mounting points are just studs sticking up from the floor if I remember correctly, while in the back there are threaded holes for bolts. Making things even more difficult is the fact that the two mounting point on the right side (one stud & one threaded hole) sit slightly higher than their corresponding mounting points on the left. What I would at least try to do initially is mount the seat using sidemount brackets to the stock mounting locations using shims to even things out as needed.

Yes...exactly....but not only are they not on the same plane vertically, the left rear bolt hole is actually closer to the right rear bolt hole. I actually had purchased a similar seat bracket to the one you mentioned...and no way it would work. As for bolts through the floor pan, I suppose that would work if done right. I'm going to go work on the car right now. I'll take some pics.



Oh and Drivemusicnow. I wasn't saying that cross drills increase friction. I do understand the principals of brakes and the effects of slots and drills. I've also heard that aside from cracks and the such, an issue with losing actual surface for the pad to create friction with becomes apparent. Now, I'm agreeing with you on the racecar thing (except NASCAR does use crossdrills on the superspeedways...but it's a weight thing since they never really hit the brakes at Daytona/Talledega).


I bought these rotors because they're all I can afford at the moment, and they use the stock caliper. I figured the increase in rotor size was more important at this point. Then I can upgrade to nicer caliper later. I appreciate your willingness to inform and teach. Thank you.

Pics coming soon.

 

[gsxitement]

just a few more pics.....