joezero

I just got my racing seats today, and was all excited to put them in. I took a look at the "universal" sliders that came with the seats, but instead of having the section that bolts to the car facing flat, it's facing vertical. What I mean is, when the sliders are on the seats, the mounting holes face the front and back of the car, not the top and bottom. So I pulled the sliders off the stock seat, and tried to bolt them onto the new ones. The problem is two fold. One, the bolt holes are closer together on the seat than they are on the factory slider. Two, the bolt holes on the new seats are wider than the factory. So when I tried to set the racing seat in with the factory sliders, one side lined up and the other one was an inch too far over. Can I make some sort of bracket that would adapt the factory sliders, or am I not using the universal ones that came with the seats right? Any help would be appreciated as there are no seats in my car right now, and I have to go to work tomorrow. Thanks, Joe

BAK12484

i'd suggest simply drilling through your stock brackets to get the holes to line up...that's what i did on my sparco. You might also have to add a few washers as spacers depending on the shape of the floor/seat.

joezero

thanks for the response. any idea on how to correct the width problem? Thanks, Joe

BAK12484

is there any way you could possibly bend the universal slider as to fit a veritical mounting?? Other than that, the only thing I can think of would be to drill new mounting holes for the seat...probably not something you would want do, but thats all i can think of...and if you do drill holes, make sure to put a steel plate or washer underneath the floor pan as to keep the bolt from pulling thru in the event of an accident.

joezero

After a lot of calling around, I found that I'm going to have to get these custom made brackets from a company in San Diego, and that it has to use their sliders and won't work with the ones that came with the seats. Total including shipping is gonna be $320. Plus the $500 for the seats, should I be looking to return these and get something that will bolt right in, or am I still getting a better deal than buying a pair of Sparcos (I think it's probably around 1K for a pair isn't it?)? Damn, I'm pissed that I'm having to put down 2/3 of what I paid for the seats just to get them to bolt in. And naturally, my parents won't let me make my own brackets, cause they think I'm incompitent when it comes to stuff like that Damn, now it's gonna be another 3 weeks for the brackets to get here.

BAK12484

before you shell out that much money, lemme suggest this... I saw it on another message board but can't find it now for some reason...

You said that the universal slider has the bolt holes going vertical...well go to Home Depot and look for those long L shaped steel brackets - - I don't know the name of them, but its just a long piece of steel in the shape of an 'L' and has holes throughout it... sometimes used for shelving or bracing.

Depending on the shape of your slider, you should be able to bolt that to the seat then the 'L' to the slider. Definitely something to look into instead of spending all that money.

*edit*
found the pic... just make sure you use thick enough steel and u should be good



*2nd edit*
just read about how your parents won't let you build your own brackets....tell them that if they want to pay for the custom made ones, go ahead, or else you'll make your own

joezero

What I told them was that for the cost of custom brackets I could go out and buy a welder and make my own brackets. My mom doesn't believe that I could learn how to weld in enough time to make the brackets. She gave me some crap about how welders have to go through an apprenticeship and journeyman and all that. I said yeah you have to do that, if you want to build bridges. But I'll have to see if I can find some of those brackets that are thick enough. Cause if I can get something to work in the next day or two, then I can call and cancel the order for the custom brackets. Oh wait, there is one problem. The back mounting bolts (from the floor pan) are a lot lower than the front ones. So I don't know how I'd get the bracket that low. Thanks for the pic though, it's a really good idea I'll have to see if I can get it to work. The funny thing is I almost bought the seat in that pic, then I decided to go for Tenzo seats instead.

In all fairness though, my parents have already put a lot of money into my car for me. I don't really mind paying for the piece of mind that professionally made brackets will provide, I just was hoping that that $300 would go to new door panels. Oh well, another day another dollar.