aftermarket race seat

[heyjae]

I found that the BK bracket plus my Cobra seats were about the same height than the stock seats. I drilled an extra hole in the bracket to lower them by 1/2" or so.

[Perfectlap]

you sit lower in the GT3 seat. Put the stock seat in the lowest position and its about an inch lower than that. Witht the tock seat in the lowest position I can see all of the hood. With the GT3 seat I'm more "street level".

Go for the GT3 seat if you can swing it. You don't need to deal with any aftermarket brackets or rails and you switch out the GT3 in a matter of like 7 minutes with just one socket wrench. Although my friend is 6-2 and he would not pass the broom stick test, so he would definitely need the Brey Krause set up.

I put my seats in just for summer use during track/autox season and I ended using them year round. Which reminds me I'm planning on having the seat cushions redone. RUF in Texas did some great custom work with these seats so I'm thinking of giving them a call to find out who they use.

[ChrisZang]

Hi,

I hope that someone went through this already and can help me out with his experiences.

In all these questions I am taking Sparco seats only as an example

Question 1:
Is it generally safe to assume that seats with side mounted mounting brackets allow you to sit lower that with brackets which attach to the bottom of the seat?
Example:
side mounted: http://www.saferacer.com/sparco-sprint-5-seat.html?productid=768
bottom mounted: http://www.saferacer.com/sparco-fighter-seat.html?productid=784

Question 2:
In order to put the seats into a Boxster (where the bottom is NOT level) do I need all three of those:
a) the side mounts: http://www.racing-seats-usa.com/490nr.html
b) the slider: http://www.racing-seats-usa.com/493.html
c) the "base" a.k.a. "seat bracket" http://www.racing-seats-usa.com/sp.html

Correct?

Thanks

[rob76turbo]

Chris,

I am on the same quest as you. I want to add seats / harnesses and the BK extension. It looks like the Corbeau Forza seats would be perfect, but they have no certification...so they are OUT!

The Momo Start looks like a great seat, but because it is side mount, I am wondering how to mount it.

Ed, Would you mind taking a picture of the mount so Chris and I can get an idea of what other people have done?

Thanks,
rlt

[j.fro]

Hey Perfectlap,
Did the GT3 seats have electrical connections for the seatbelt sensors? How about the side airbags? I've heard that the side airbags should be deactivated when you install GT3 seats.

[heyjae]

One of the biggest PITA projects for me was installing the seats, so I understand. The main issue is the bolt pattern of the sliders to the seat/side mount and on the other side to the car itself. Basically, there are 3 ways to do it from my research.

Easy, sit low but expensive:
Get the Porsche GT3 seats. Bolts directly to your existing Porsche sliders (you save some money there). If you want it super low, you can get BK adapters to bolt them to the floor directly, but you lose fwd/aft adjustment.

Cheap and easy, but seat height is not (much) lower than stock:
Buy your aftermarket seat of choice, get BK side mounts that bolt directly to your Porsche sliders. You can drill a lower hole to reduce height about 1/2", but it's not ideal. The good thing about these BK mounts is that they have an inboard seat belt mounting point on the bracket. Some race orgs don't allow this, since the lap belt should be mounted to the chassis separately in case the seat comes loose. (FWIW, the stock inboard mounting point is on the seat.) I'm using the BK mounts with extra hole, but I'm only 5' 8" and have a cage so I pass the broomstick test easily. My inboard belt is bolted to the tunnel though and backed w/ the proper plate.

More difficult and more expensive (but not as expensive as GT3 seats), but you'll sit lower:
Buy your aftermarket seat of choice, get universal/Sparco side mounts, use Sparco sliders (they are lower profile than Porsche sliders), and use BK Sparco slider to Porsche floor pan adapter. This costs more since you need to buy side mounts, sliders, and the BK slider adapter. There are other adapters as well (like the one in your post. You can try speedwaremotorsports.com. Just be sure to get the flat and not tabbed adapters.). You might need the BK Sparco slider actuating tube since the rails are 16" wide on Porsches and the Sparco sliders are set for 15" or something like that. This is on my to do list as I want to sit lower.

Avoid the height adjustable Recaro sliders. They are really tall.

I hope this helps.

[Sboxin]

Rob asked for pics of our DIY seat mounting frame/base ---





The seats are about sold, but the BK Rollbar extension is available...

Take care,

Ed
(or Roy or Arizona-Ed, etc...)