GT3 seats... - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

OklahomaBoxster · 08-30-2014, 04:09 PM

Worth the $$$? Looking for a low profile seat to gain extra head/legroom. If you've had any experience with these seats I'd love to hear. I've also heard that recaro pole positions are great seats too. Planning on bolting directly to floor with custom brackets.

RedTele58 · 08-30-2014, 07:01 PM

I have factory GT3 seats in one car and an aftermarket set for another. My problem is not height, but the width of my arse. I'm 5'9", and wear a 38 inch waist and big shoulders, and I'm sure I'm 4-5 inches bigger than the seats are designed for. I'm OK with them for laps around the track or around town, but I wouldn't want to go cross country in them.

I have no experience w/ the Pole Position or some of the other race seats, but I do know they come in various widths and sizes. Additionally, I've read discussions some of the taller guys have w/ strap placement and fitting correctly on their shoulders, but that may not be a problem for you w/ factory belts.

I've read different posts from tall guys that bolting seats to the floor like you are talking about will give you the headroom you need.

Maybe Tom or another of the racer guys can give you an idea on some of the different seats and what may work for you.

OklahomaBoxster · 08-30-2014, 07:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedTele58

I have factory GT3 seats in one car and an aftermarket set for another. My problem is not height, but the width of my arse. I'm 5'9", and wear a 38 inch waist and big shoulders, and I'm sure I'm 4-5 inches bigger than the seats are designed for. I'm OK with them for laps around the track or around town, but I wouldn't want to go cross country in them.

I have no experience w/ the Pole Position or some of the other race seats, but I do know they come in various widths and sizes. Additionally, I've read discussions some of the taller guys have w/ strap placement and fitting correctly on their shoulders, but that may not be a problem for you w/ factory belts.

I've read different posts from tall guys that bolting seats to the floor like you are talking about will give you the headroom you need.

Maybe Tom or another of the racer guys can give you an idea on some of the different seats and what may work for you.

Appreciate it! Will look into mounting stock seats to the floor before spending the cash.

Perfectlap · 08-30-2014, 07:57 PM

The GT3 is the same frame as the pole position, they just change the design for the top half.
The seat height is about an inch and a half lower than the stock seat in the lowest position. If you add the Brey Krause mount you can lower it a bit more. However as you know the seats are fixed so you won't be able to turn your upper torso like when you're parallel parking and need to swivel. And if your core is not in good shape getting in and out, especially with the top up, is going to get old fast. I used them year round for a few years but a pinched nerve meant going back to the barka loungers for a break. I actually find them more comfortable because they keep you from slouching.

For a racing seat definitely worth the money since you dont need additional hardware they bolt right into the existing holes. You just have to be careful with the wires.
If you score a good deal on a second hand pair you'll easily get your money back.

Topless · 08-30-2014, 08:27 PM

Most racing seats will get you more headroom and hold you in position better during performance driving if you bolt them to the floor instead of using sliders. I use Cobra seats in my car and love them on the track or for canyon carving. They are more confining and a lot less interesting for a daily driver. I can usually go 2-3 hrs in the seat on long drives but then have to get out to stretch my legs and re-energize my butt.

seningen · 08-30-2014, 11:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Topless

Most racing seats will get you more headroom and hold you in position better during performance driving if you bolt them to the floor instead of using sliders. I use Cobra seats in my car and love them on the track or for canyon carving. They are more confining and a lot less interesting for a daily driver. I can usually go 2-3 hrs in the seat on long drives but then have to get out to stretch my legs and re-energize my butt.

I'd sure like to find something that held me in better
But wasn't such a pita on the streets.

Love to have a 4 scroth, 5 or 6 pt that I coukd
Also use the stock 3 pt on streets.

I'll need sliders as my wife drives/tracks it too.

I find myself yanking my self back in the seat during straights
Just so I can be in the right position to heal toe
And hit the curves.

Mike

thstone · 08-31-2014, 11:42 AM

As with most things in life, performance seating is a often an exercise in tradeoff's and finding what you can live with and what you can't. Each driver and person is somewhat unique in this way and no size fits all.

Racing seats can be installed and adjusted to get the perfect fit but they can also be a PITA for everyday driving (pulling your hind end up and over the edge of the seat can get old along with fiddling with the three point belt buckle next to the tall side of a racing seat).

But on the good side, they look great and work great.

Here is my old BSX with Sparco Pro2000 Plus seats (the "Plus" seat fits us "wider" folks better!) along with 6-pt Schroth harnesses. The stock seat belts and receptacles were retained so I didn't have to use the 6-pt harness on the street.

Ingress/egress is a bit more difficult in a seat like this (note where the black fabric is worn off of the drivers left side bolster from rubbing each time I get in/out) but this setup is PERFECT for track days.

I also found the race seats to be the most comfortable seat ever. I like them 10x more than the stock Porsche seats. I can drive for 4-5 hours on the freeway without complaint.

The lower pic shows the mounting system: Racing seat to Brey-Krause side mounts which attach to the stock slider which attaches to a custom floor mount.

At that time I was adjusting my head height via stacks of towels under my bum - more towels (taller) for street driving with no helmet and better visibility and no towels (lower) for track days with the helmet. A more sophisticated approach would be to have an upholstery shop make a removable pad that could be swapped in/out and look nicer than a stack of towels (will anyone be mad if I say that the towel setup looks a bit ghetto? I hope not.

)

I happily lived with this setup for more than two years which included driving it every day to work and taking clients and co-workers out in the car. The tradeoff was acceptable to me but my wife would have never found this acceptable in a daily driver.

Your mileage may vary.

itsnotanova · 12-14-2015, 06:45 PM

Tom, How hard is it to get to the front engine cover with those fixed seats?

DWBOX2000 · 12-14-2015, 07:24 PM

What kind of weight savings can you have with racing seats?

steved0x · 12-14-2015, 07:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by itsnotanova

Tom, How hard is it to get to the front engine cover with those fixed seats?

With sliders about the same as with the stock seats, maybe a touch less room but doable.

With seats bolted to the floor (like my driver seat) the seat has to come out, unless it is way forward and even then probably. Mine is all the way back.

My passenger seat is Recaro Profi (not xl version like driver side) on sliders. Last time I needed to get to the panel behind the seats (oil temp and pressure gauge wiring) I took out the driver side (4 bolts and unclip the seat belt wire), and was able to just slide the pax seat forward.

Even when I had my stock seats (when I did UDP and WP) I took out the pax seat so I could kneel and have more to work.

Steve

itsnotanova · 12-14-2015, 07:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DWBOX2000

What kind of weight savings can you have with racing seats?

50-60lbs

Thanks Steve. Not sure if I want to bolt the seats down or not. I would think it would be better having the pass seat bolted down almost as far back as you can and having the driver on sliders?

steved0x · 12-14-2015, 08:03 PM

Mine ended up that way because on my driver side, the extra height of the slider (3/4" to 1") meant the tippy top of my seat hit the bk bar extension mounting point and cost me about 1" of legroom that I really needed... It is perfect now.

Pax seat... I guess they can sit wherever we put them

I went slider there because I didn't want to have to take both seats out if I had to get to the panel behind the seats.

If a slider fits the driver side, fixed mounting sounds good on the pax side.

I have a 2nd Profi XL inbound, unsure if I am going to floor mount it or put on sliders. I've already had a few folks slide my current pax seat back and squash my bk roll bar padding and make a dent... (luckily it went away....

)

thstone · 12-14-2015, 08:26 PM

Great responses!

I have both seats on sliders so it was easy to get to the front engine cover. Also, its very easy to remove a seat (4 bolts) if needed - 10 mins.

steved0x · 12-15-2015, 06:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by itsnotanova

50-60lbs

That is for dang sure, the stock seats are heavy, especially if they have the full power option.

Quote:

Originally Posted by thstone

Also, its very easy to remove a seat (4 bolts) if needed - 10 mins.

It gets easier each time, for me the first few times were a !@#$%. What really helped me was the following two tools:

GearWrench 9221 E10 x E12 Torx Double Box Ratcheting Wrench - Box End Wrenches - Amazon.com

I love this thing! I don't use it for final tightening or for breaking the bolt loose, but once I start the bolt, then I put this bad boy on and ratchet it down. Especially for my driver seat that is floor mounted, there is a tiny amount of space back there to work. This was a lifesaver.

For final tightening (where I can't reach with a torque wrench, and also for breaking loose where I can't reach a torque wrench) is the smallest "10" wrench from this set.

7 Pc Metric Universal Combination Wrench Set

I guess I could order the exact wrench from Amazon but when I needed a wrench that day, Harbor freight was it.

When I using a torque wrench, I have the socket from this set:
17 Piece 1/4 in. & 3/8 in. Drive Star Bit Socket Set

Which also has a nice little selection of security torx bits, like for the MAF (I can't confirm this set fits the MAF since I already had a set before this that I used when I did my MAF and I am too lazy to look up the sizes)

Tip: make *dang* sure your bolts are lined up correctly before you start to tighten them down as you don't want to cross thread these. I like to start all 4 loosely, and then got back and tighten them down once I am sure all 4 are in there. There is a *tiny* amount of wiggle room and if you tighten one all the way before starting another, it might not start straight and could introduce a cross threading situation.

Steve

The Radium King · 12-15-2015, 07:23 AM

second that - very easy to cross thread. and don't try and cheap out and use a 10mm socket - I broke two sockets doing that.

ianacole · 12-15-2015, 12:18 PM

As referenced above, make sure the harness pockets are at the correct height in reference to your shoulders if you plan on using harnesses. You DO NOT want the pockets to be below the horizontal line of your shoulders (ask me how I broke my back), ideally somewhat above (I believe you shouldn't exceed a belt angle of 10 degrees above the horizontal shoulder line).