Fitting seats

[DrGonzoPOW]

Made a start stripping and cleaning the interior today. As mentioned previously im wanting to put some nice bucket seats in the car but dont really want to be welding or cutting anything as id like the option of putting the original interior back in if i ever come to sell it. So... what are the options for fitting bucket seats ? Ive been told now that the seats have to be adjustable for MOT purposes. At present im looking at either Cobra Monaco, or Sparco Sprint seats. Ive found this mounting kit on ebays
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UNIVERSAL-SPO ... 3a6d68bbbb
Would this do the job easy enough or am i going to find some obstacles to deal with eg the original seat mounting points being different heights.....Any guidance would be appreciated.

ps. Im told just bolting them straight to the floor is a big no-no as any strong collision will just tear the seat off?

[drjim]

I chopped out the original mounts and fitted the seats to the floor. Welded extra support plates around the mounting points as per blue book spec. You will either have to work around/use the original stuff or hack out.

I have recently got this...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/270855345821

You could use something similar with a spacer to adjust the heights underneath. It won't fit to my cobra seats directly, may be designed for sidemount brackets, but getting some bits of metal to connect the two isn't too hard.

Alternatively get some scrap E21 seats for the bases, and use then with an adaptor to fit your seats to. Suitably chunky box section with holes drilled in the right places, maybe a bit of welder action - fun!

Jim

[e21-Mark]

I just laid some angle iron across the original mounts that are welded into the car at the factory. I then drilled it and bolted the seats direct. Obviously, if you want to retain a runner, it'll be this that you're bolting on. The problem with keeping anything but e21 runners seems to be that they just sit too high compared with the original seats.

As has been said, bolting direct to the floor needs strengthening plates to stop the floor tearing in an impact.

[DrGonzoPOW]

What about the harnesses ? How do they fit in ? Never even thought about that!

[drjim]

Eyebolts fitted into the floor with reinforcement plates under them.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Harness-eye-b ... 3cb576effb

[DrGonzoPOW]

Reinforced plates ay......do you have any pics of how they go Jim ?

[drjim]

The thing I posted the ebay link to goes under the car, welded into position for full blue book, but just some sikkaflex to hold it in place would be fine. Then you screw the eyebolt in from above. Obviously having worked out where the harnesses go and drilled the hole first!

[e21-Mark]

Or just screw the eye bolts into the OE captive threads that hold the normal belts.

These are perfect for fitting race seats in an e21.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/280826972682#ht_500wt_1184

[DrGonzoPOW]

Anyone had any dealings with FK seats ? German made apparently but suspiciously cheap

[DrGonzoPOW]

Becoming very tempted at these


Can get a new pair for under 300 and i could use the original belts for the time being. Sparco R100's.....Mmmmmmm....my fingers hovering over the button

[DrGonzoPOW]

If i were to put a pair of these in, would botching some runners to the original seat mounts be a hard task d'you rekon ??

[drjim]

Should be fine mate, just need some 2mm steel strip to make an H frame out of or maybe more of a # shape.

[e21-Mark]

Only problem will be they'll probably sit a bit high, just like e30 seats do when fitted on OE mounts.

I had to chop out the metal and use Corbeau mounts to get the seats to sit at the right height. Well worth the effort though.

[DrGonzoPOW]

Thats the thing though. I dont want to be chopping anything out..

[drjim]

I've got some recaros in need of a refurb but usable if you fix the mechanisms. Either find some official seat rails, or a simple adaptor onto the existing ones. If they are a bit high it won't be a problem for you - us big lumps might bang our heads on the sunroof, but I reckon you'll fit easily.