Fixed bucket seats + fittings - options/ideas ?

[RobPhoboS]

Right straight off the bat, I'm already booked in at GSM at the end of the month to go and try a bunch out but I'm just trying to figure things out so I have a clearer idea of how I'm going to proceed, and lots of you have done this already.

(as I can order before, or on the day)

 

I currently have my sweet cheeks on the stock leather seat and use a CGlock thingy for the seatbelt, which does a fair job and I just about fit with my new lid (old one rubbed on the roof).

But you know what it's like, more track days... and I find the leather seat uncomfortable for my back.

 

I'm 6ft, around 100kg but I tend to have the seat quite forwards and upright, reclined a little bit when I've got the lid on.

 

Ben and Harry both have the Bimarco Futura's in their cars, and are quite big lads but say the seats are excellent, although GSM have warned me that ' we wouldn't expect it to fit the vehicle'.

I'm told from the guys it fits but it'll touch the door card, I guess it needs to be a bit closer to the tunnel.

 

Ben is using a OMP mount (allows for some side movement, and serveral holes for forward/back position) and a custom sub-frame. Obviously it's bolted in, so you either fit or you don't. I know someone that could do the fabrication work, or I can import one from the US (similar to the Planted Technology frame).

 

Harry is using an M2 sliding rail mount, which has a little bit of sideways adjustment I believe but doesn't have door cards, good if others are going to use the car or if you drop various crap and can move the seat

 

These are the seats that fit the budget but perhaps not the car !

 

Bimarco Futura (595mm total width)

Mirco GT 3D (590mm total width)

Sparco Rev II (585mm total width)

OMP Champ (590mm total width)

 

Tomorrow a mate should be able to measure his GT3 seats as I fit fine in those, so I may not require the larger type of bucket seat for big butts.

 

Then for the mounting I'm a bit stuck too:

 

Seat + M2 rails - possible width issues, potential height & lid issue

Seat + sub-frame + side mounts - might need some custom fab work

Seat + sub-frame + side mounts + rails - possible height issue with lid

 

 

Lastly it's the harness, I lean towards a 6 point harness but I guess it will require some meddling somewhere to get the crotch strap things in ?

 

I can't really afford to splash loads on it, so if you have any suggestions please bare that in mind

[Ekona]

Seat width is irrelevant if the seat isn't comfortable, so personally I'd find something comfy then worry about making it fit rather than the other way round: An uncomfortable seat is just going to make you hate the car. Obvious I know, but speaking from experience of getting your heart set on something and then being disappointed when it's not comfy!

 

In terms of mounting, you'll really want to go custom plates and then bolt the side mounts directly to that. Rails will likely take you far too high. Literally you just want a bit of steel that sits flat between the stock bolt holes and then drill it wherever you need it.

 

6pt is the way to go, easy to fit but you'll need to get a couple of eyelets welded to the floor or you could drill it and mount through. Welding by far the best option though.

[350Butcher]

I got as far as seeing GSM!!!! If you're just going to look/check out then all good but...

 

Their service was appalling when I dealt with them, I enquired about a set of Recaro Speeds with them and they managed to convince me that a set of Cobra seats were just as good and cheaper (there was also a month waiting list for Recaro's as they are only made to order). They arrived and were already falling apart plus you have to cut the seat fabric to expose the mounting holes (which is fine and normal apparently) so when I obviously said they can take them back they dragged their feet never returned 1 phone call or made any effort to help resolve the problem, refused a refund till the seats were back with Cobra but never arranged collection. With my 'Ring trip looming I had to drive the seats to Telford from Warwick and back to drop them off to Cobra myself at my own cost just so they would action the refund and I could order the replacement seats.

 

I rang Demon Tweeks on that Friday (who were super nice and professional) ordered the Recaro's that I wanted in the first place (with no month long waiting) and had them the next day on a Saturday delivery.......what a difference in service!

 

Please don't give the chumps at GSM your money.............hope you get some nice seats sorted though as it makes a huge difference to driving a car and especially on track

[Ekona]

I dealt with GSM, they were superb. The only company I've ever dealt with that gave me weekly email updates with no prompting. 100% would buy from them again.

[Jetpilot]

Agree with the above about Gsm, sent the wrong harness, instantly issued a returns advice slip and got the correct harness sent straight out, the lap belts turned up with the wrong mounts and they sent the correct pair the next day free of charge without the need to return the wrong lap belts.

 

The only thing that annoyed me with gsm is at the time of order (via the web) was they dont tell you if the item was made to order, as it was with my seat, i presumed it was from stock and didnt know till i was emailed to say.

[G1en]

Just to add my experience. Went through and picked a seat that fit spot on, the buddyclub racing seats. Phoned them a couple of weeks later when i had the money and asked them for the price with rails and availability. Never rung me back, left it 2 days rung again saying i wanted to order them, all i needed was the price and to make sure i could get them within 4 weeks, never rung back again, left it 2 more days and rung them a third time, the guy even remembered speaking to me and didnt even apologise for not ringing back. I asked yet again for the price and stressed i wanted to order, he said he would ring me back that day and guess what, no phone call to this day.

 

So i went on buddyclub uk website, ordered and they were with me the following day. Would never use GSM again

So it seems they realy are a mixed bag.

[RobPhoboS]

Definitely a mixed bag right there !

 

Duly noted but anything to add more specific to my questions ?

Or just order the low sub-frames, and bolt directly to it and hopefully enough forward adjustment with the side mounts ?

[Ekona]

You'll have plenty of adjustment with where to put the mounts, personally I wouldn't be buying rails as they always seem to sit higher than required, best off making your own

[G1en]

I got the buddyclub sliding rails with my seats (same rails as the m2 I believe) they are very stiff to slide as the mount holes in the floor seem to not be parallel. It may just be my car but i realy had to force the rails over some holes when i had already attached to seats and measured that everything was nice and square. Anyway the only side movement you have is the brackets that attach to the seats but these only move around 15mm either side and they are mainly for accomodating different width seats.

I sit around the same height as oem seats and thats on the lowest mounting holes. The seats have about 10mm clearence from door cards and they are fairly narrow. I was told a lot of bucket seats wont fit the 350. Obviously if you get custom brackets you can overcome this.

[RobPhoboS]

Cheers guys.

I'll get sub-frames that are low (basically sitting on the floor), which accommodate for the driver side weird wedges, if they aren't good then a chap I know will be able to do something with them.

Then I'll use these side mounts which ben used:

Hopefully that'll give me enough movement to mount them close enough.

[StevoD]

Never had an issue with GSM they were super helpful when I used them in 20

13

 

They even got custom belts made up for me because the trs ones were out of stock so they got me some Luke ones made up for me in matching specs and colour

Edited April 11, 2017 by StevoD

[350Butcher]

Sorry for steering your post off topic mate.........just thought it good to give you the heads up with the company and my experience from only September!

 

I know getting a good fit in the Zed's is tricky, think it'll require a bit of fabrication to get the seat low and level too to give a decent driving position. Mine are fitted on the bride mounts and they're definitely lower than stock but could still do with going lower. Good luck with it all.

[rabbitstew]

Worth noting that if you ever need to MOT the car, the drivers seat has to be able to slide forward and back - even if its a fraction. Passenger seat can be fixed. Ive no idea why, as surely as long as the driver can reach the pedals/controls perfectly fine then who cares! But those are the rules.

[Ekona]

Worth noting that if you ever need to MOT the car, the drivers seat has to be able to slide forward and back - even if its a fraction. Passenger seat can be fixed. Ive no idea why, as surely as long as the driver can reach the pedals/controls perfectly fine then who cares! But those are the rules.

Not true: The regs simply state it must be able to be moved in two or three different places. Which you can still do with fixed buckets, it just means removing them and re-bolting them in a different place, so perfectly possible In reality it depends on the MOT tester, some are sensible and some are not. The MOT regs also make exception to things like removal of airbags along with the seat rules for significantly modified vehicles: It's aimed at the proper rally cars and road-legal race cars, but it can also happily take into account significantly modified regular road cars too.

 

This is how my old MR2 & MX5 passed MOT every year, when they were stripped out with fixed buckets.

[RobPhoboS]

Cheers for the heads up guys, I'm not worried about mot stuff anyway

I'll keep this updated with photos once I have something to fit!

[RobPhoboS]

I'm soo glad I went to the store to try out the seats, I found a winner and it wasn't even on my list!

Definitely do this if you can, you'll be surprised at how vastly different each can be.

I'll update the thread in due course with install pic's.

[RobPhoboS]

My only issue at the moment is how tight this seat is going to be against the door card at the shoulder.

I am envisioning a hole cut in the door

[Ekona]

Which seat is it then?

 

Come on man, you're dragging this out :p

[RobPhoboS]

Which seat is it then?

 

Come on man, you're dragging this out :p

 

Ah yeah.

OMP WRC-R (not XL)

2nd place was Mirco RTS 3D

I think I tried out every single seat possible

[Ekona]

I like how they let you move seats around in there, so you can literally jump from one seat to the next without having to walk around the entire shop

 

Looks a snug seat with straight sides by the hips, where do you think the door will foul?

[RobPhoboS]

Yeah I really didn't like the sides that fall away, I can't see the point for me - my legs just flop out and will rest on the transmission tunnel again.

I'm pretty sure it's going to hit the door card where the shoulder flares out, obviously I won't know until it's here which is why I'll keep this updated (fingers and bits crossed).

[RobPhoboS]

I just thought I'd say that I've ordered everything, the sub-frames arrived from the US on Monday and the other parts will arrive at some point soon.

My experience with GSM has been great, no problems, called me back when busy with customers and really helpful in the store, checked with suppliers on availability etc

[RobPhoboS]

Does anyone want me to measure and make a 3d model of the sub frame I bought?

Might help anyone making their own.

[-blade-]

Watching this with great interest to see the fitment/clearance with the OMP WRC-R as i'm currently looking at/deciding on seats too :-)

[RobPhoboS]

Watching this with great interest to see the fitment/clearance with the OMP WRC-R as i'm currently looking at/deciding on seats too :-)

 

It looks like everything arrived at my folks place yeserday, so I shall be trying my best to fit this on the weekend

 

And just another thumbs up for GSM

I've not had anything but a great experience, so I can't understand what happened with the others here ?