Low bucket seat and six-point harness recommendations

[Adam W]

Hi all,

I am having a great time tracking my Mk1, but since putting some sticky tyres on it (AD08R - awesome!) I am struggling to hang onto the wheel! After a day at Bedford last week my hands were like claws, and both legs were bruised from trying to brace myself into the seat. The 3SGTE I am building won't help matters either

So, I need to fit a bucket seat and a harness - after a ride in a GT3RS I am totally sold on six-points, I was totally solid in the car and very comfortable. The biggest issue I have is height - I can just about get comfortable in the standard seat with a helmet on but if I could find a seat that sat me 3-4 inches lower that would be great, the lower the better really. I don't need back and forth adjustability, so no need for a slider underneath which will help. A recommendation of a low seat that fits would be very useful though, as I don't want the expense and hassle of buying the wrong one!

PS: I know there is plenty of advice to say that you shouldn't use harnesses without a rollcage, but the car is used on the road a fair bit as well. My opinion is that harnesses without rollcage on occasional trackdays is safer, on balance, than driving on the road with a roll cage in a small cabin and no helmet on. As with all things, it's a compromise, but I think it's the right approach for me.

[kaiowas]

Fitting just about any seat is going to involve some DIY as to the best of my knowledge there are no off the shelf aftermarket brackets available to fit the mk1. I've got a pair of fairly basic base mount seats in the track car on universal runners with homemade brackets picking up from the standard mounting points, it's pretty low and the sears do a decent job of holding you in without even using the harnesses

[Adam W]

That's encouraging. Diy is no problem, I can cut weld and bash as required!

[Lauren]

Have a look at this. This is what I did back in 2004 (IIRC) to my MK1 SC:

http://www.mr2.net/trackdayqueen/seatrefit.htm

I got a bracket that would go really low. I'm not tall at 5ft 5" but I like to sit as low as possible in a car. The sidemount is good because it easily allows a good range of adjustment and I got a nice amount of tilt on the seat.

You can see the comparison with the crappy sidemount I first had that was welded onto the seat runners. This enabled the seat to move of course but it was way too high.

The difference a decent bucket seat makes is quite surprising. Don't get a metal framed seat, they are awful. Get a GRP bucket. Mine was a Corbeau Sprint (narrow) which is GRP/Carbon, though probably not much carbon. Was £228 new IIRC.

Sparco bracket was about £50.

[Adam W]

Many thanks Lauren, that is really useful. The seat you mention seems to go for around £450 now, unless I am looking at the wrong ones, which is a lot more than I was hoping to spend! One thought that had occurred to me: would it be possible to remove the transverse strengthening bar that sits above the floorpan, and weld something in it's place (to do the same job) underneath the car instead? I doubt it would sit any lower than the sill seams, and would gain a precious couple of inches to drop the seat down. The other mount could be cut off, and the seat mounts bolted straight to the flat floorpan.

[Lauren]

You could probably notch the centre bar. Might require some decent welding though.

I think I might have got my seat on special offer at Autosport 2004. Prices may have gone up! Excellent seat though.

Best thing to do is go somewhere like Demon Tweeks and try all the seats out. I wouldn't buy one without sitting in it first.

My seat was a fair bit lower than stock when sitting in it. With the right mounts you might get it okay.

I sold my seat for £160 (IIRC), so got a fair amount of the money back. A decent seat will always be worth something.