finally got my sparco seat mounted nicely - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

mr_sinister · 09-02-2003, 03:03 PM

thought i'd share my experience because i know a few people who've battled with how to mount a side-mount bucket seat nice and low and retain fore-aft adjustability.

my initial attempt was (like many others who have tried) to cut the rails off of an oem driver's seat and mount the seat to the original sliders. The problem with this idea is the seat winds up sitting over top of the sliders, and you wind up feeling like you're driving a mini-van.

my second attempt was to use the sliders off of a passenger seat. These rails are mirror images of the driver's side rails, and as such, the seat can now sit in between the rails as opposed to above them. So now my seat is basically as low as it can get.

here is a pic of a professionally made version, using the same idea (sliders beside the seat, not under it):

Anyways, I'm happy with the result. I had to do some grinding to make sure everything fit properly. Also, you have to use one hand to unlock each slider before adjusting the seat, it's now impossible to see the front of the car and my sunvisors aren't as effective, but it's all worth it

. I can definitely "feel" the car better being a little lower.

project trueno · 09-02-2003, 03:44 PM

if you used the driver's rails, the seat would sit on top of rails, whereas passenger rails, the seat sits between the rails?

But what did you mean by the passenger rails being mirror images of driver's rails...? They're the same? or...

mr_sinister · 09-02-2003, 04:17 PM

well you kind of have to look at the rails to understand..

lets see if i can make an ascii drawing to illustrate

driver's side left side rail:

[code]
[*]
|
|
|
|[*]

[/code]

whereas the passenger's right side rail is like this:

[code]
[*]
|
|
|
|[*]

[/code]

(see, they are mirror images of each other)

the[*] represents the little feet/brackets that bolt to the holes in the floor.. so as you can see, the slider part of the rail is on the opposite side of the feet, so if you use the passenger side rails (passenger right on left and passenger left on the right), you wind up with more space between the actual sliders..

hope i did a decent job at explaining that haha

project trueno · 09-02-2003, 06:27 PM

yeah i get what you're saying now

good diagrams

guess i should keep passenger rails as well..

what seat do you have? and approx. how wide is the hip? "bum to bum"

Flashmn · 09-03-2003, 01:56 AM

Heh, my seats are very low aswell. I cut the rails off from the seats and installed my own rails ontop of the OEM rails where the sparco mounted from the bottom mounts. Ended up being low and nice.

boroEF · 09-03-2003, 09:43 AM

u guys are lucky because i have a sparco seat with no base to mount it into my car :cry:

Flashmn · 09-03-2003, 09:56 AM

Well... you can always fabricate the base

boroEF · 09-03-2003, 09:59 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Flashmn
Well... you can always fabricate the base

i lack the tools =(

how did u remove the seat base from the sliders on the stock seat?

they are like...rivited to each other

mr_sinister · 09-03-2003, 10:40 AM

it seems that mounting the seat low is easier on bottom mounted seats rather than side moutned ones (its counter intuitive, weird..)

but martiniracing's seat is a bottom mount and he had no problems mounting it pretty low..

myself, nick and cyril, however, had side mount seats and we all had problems with it being too high..

anyway, i have a sparco rev.. i wear pants with waist size from 28-30, so i'm pretty skinny.. and the seat fits me very nicely. it's a great seat for slim people , cause its snug. .i bought it specifically becasue other seats i tried were too wide for me (if I was going to get a bucket, i figured it should be damned snug)

to get the rails off the seat, i had to use a drill and a big bit. I think there are two large rivet type things and one small tack weld holding each slider onto the oem seat.

I just discovered that there is room to move my seat even lower, but I'm not going to do that.. my eye level is already at the same height as the top of the side view mirrors

Flashmn · 09-03-2003, 11:05 AM

Quote:

how did u remove the seat base from the sliders on the stock seat? they are like...rivited to each other

Spotwelded. I took an acetylene torch and cut them off

Then welded the Bars for the seats to mount on. Works like a charm

boroEF · 09-03-2003, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Flashmn

Spotwelded. I took an acetylene torch and cut them off
Then welded the Bars for the seats to mount on. Works like a charm

]

i wish i had an axxxxxxxx torch and a welder

***Chris Corolla S*** · 09-03-2003, 12:45 PM

Kinda OT but,
My old neighbor back home (he's a dentist) bought a brand new Range Rover ($55,000+ US) and proceded to cut out the driver's seat with a torch and re-intall it lower and farther back to make more room for him (he's tall)..

He's crazy