Forrest Posted November 17, 2003 Share Posted November 17, 2003 Hey guys, Well, I love my new seats, and here they are: Please ignore the bad paint and the chipped mirror (weight savings!) I'm trying to get to that soon. They are DAD seats - I've been told they are nearly exact Sparco copies. I haven't confirmed that because I don't really care. I got a chance to sit in them before buying them and they fit me perfectly, and are very comfortable. I didn't think that I would need anything better than stock after getting my harnesses but I was oh so wrong. The seats hold me in so well that I dont' have to buckle the harnesses down super tight all the time, and I can still pull hard g's. I've gotten some questions so I figured I mention what was involved with the install - because it was a bastard, and technically I'm not done yet. I used the stock sliders, and to mount them to the seats, I drilled out two 1.5"x13" pieces of quarter inch steel with 3 holes. I couldn't use a set of holes for the sliders and a seperate set of holes for the seat, because the driver's side sliders are 12.5" apart and the holes in the seat were 13.5" apart. So I mounted one set of sliders into the holes on the seat (the left set, actually, to move the seat as far to the right as possible) AND through the metal brackets that I made, and then mounted the other set of slider to the holes in the bracket - and then the final set of holes in the bracket went to the other two mounting points on the seats. Clear as mud? Also, the holes in the stock sliders are 12.5" apart. The holes on the seats are 11.5" apart. So I drilled new holes in the sliders, no problem. The brackets were originally too long and had to be chopped off so that there was as small a margin as possible (about .5" on each end) otherwise, they hit the transmission tunnel and the seat wouldn't fit in the car. Now, I discovered that the seats were too wide to fit on the stock mounting points near the base (they hit the transmission tunnel just at the last half inch from the base.) If I had mounted the seats so that the sliders were positioned closer to the right relative to the seat, so that the seat would be farther left, it would stop the door from closing. The previous owner had put in some wood spacers about 3/4" to raise the seat a little, and I tried using them to see if that would raise the seat enough so that the base would not hit the tunnel. It worked but I discovered that the seats sat too high to put my legs under the wheel without touching it - even if the seat was pulled back enough so that I barely had room to work the pedals. So out came the front spacers, and I left the rear ones in. I fit, and the seat fit. I am 5'11" and I have about 2" of head clearance, I think. I like it at that height but it is a squeeze getting in and out of the car around the steering wheel, I have to admit. (Planned on getting a smaller wheel anyway, we're about to see if that will make it too hard to turn the wheel.) Next trial - the passenger seat slider rails turn out to be half an inch farther apart than the driver's seat rails are. Which made it impossible to repeat my previous bracket, as there was not room to bolt both the seat and the slider to the bracket (and the holes would probably touch as well.) Did you guys know abuot that? Neither I or Sam really believed it at first, then we checked it on the rotisserie car. Anyway, that seat isn't technically in yet. I have to cut and reweld the sliders on one side, because there is no way to mount them to a bracket. In short - lots of cursing was involved with this project, but the seats rock (probably for me and no one else.) Sam was convinced to stick with stock seats. Thanks again for the help, Sam. Pros - comfortable in extremo - can be "made" to fit without bashing in the door (as I have seen done) - harness holes, kickass bolstering Cons - driver's side is annoying to install, passenger side is outright painful - if you're not 5'11" 170lbs, I make 0 guarentees If you want some, they're about half the price of new Corbeau's, and they're on ebay all the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvilRufusKay Posted November 17, 2003 Share Posted November 17, 2003 Very Nice!! The logo almost looks like DMC in the pictures because the are covered by the harness. I thought they were Delorian made seats for a second!! Delorian Motor Company They look very comfortable!! Did you get them on eBay? If so how much? I have been thinking of getting the ones from MSA but they are so expensive!!! Good Job!! Rufus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forrest Posted November 17, 2003 Author Share Posted November 17, 2003 I got lucky...a friend of mine sold them to me for 250$. I have a pair of turbo impulse seats with adjustable leg and kidney bolstering, and adjustable lumbar that I was going to put in, they were my "I can't afford to waste 400$ on a friggin seat" seats. But when I saw these I couldn't resist and I'm not sorry. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33701&item=2442553743 Those are not much more. Shipping is a killer though. Their weight on the seats (25lbs)seems a little high. When I took off the universal rails that they came with, they weighed a lOT less. I didn't weigh them yet (might do it when I take out the passenger seat for bracket welding) but they felt lighter than the stock seats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drax240z Posted November 18, 2003 Share Posted November 18, 2003 Damn, I really like those impulse seats too... too bad its so far to ship. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zguy95135 Posted November 21, 2003 Share Posted November 21, 2003 nice looking seats. are you having any trouble with the shoulder wings hitting the door panels? i still have to bend in the wings a 1/2 an in on my corbeaus, and its REALLY hard!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forrest Posted December 10, 2003 Author Share Posted December 10, 2003 I didn't have trouble after the seats were mounted as far towards the transmission tunnel as possible on the stock rails. The wings barely touch the door, but they don't stop it from closing in any way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rc's240z Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 Forrest, you can install a quick disconnect steering wheel adapter that will give you more room getting in and out of your car!! Sparco makes a really cool bolt-on, indexed, splined adapter but it is $$. High coolness factor though. Hey How 'bout some cool photos of your PDK strutbrace!! lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forrest Posted December 10, 2003 Author Share Posted December 10, 2003 Hey man, I'm really sorry I haven't gotten back to you yet. We still haven't installed the A bars. I think at this point, since I will be swapping the turbo motor in in a few weeks, that I will hold off until then. Since I made this post I installed a 13" Pilot wheel. It is very nice, no wheel problems now. I was afraid it was going to be harder to turn the wheel (which made stock Z steering feel like power steering already) but surprisingly the added room for manuverability made it seem much easier, not harder (although percieved aspect ratio change technically did make it require more effort.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rc's240z Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 no worries!! cant wait to hear how that new motor does for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 Quick disconnect wheels aren't street legal, at least in CA. I had the same experience with wheel diameter though. I switched from a 14 to a 13, and love it despite the 9.5" slicks I run at autox. Leverage is worse, but it is easier to manage just due to smaller diameter. Jon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kc6wfs Posted December 12, 2003 Share Posted December 12, 2003 Sweet seats!!!! Thanks for the install info! Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted December 12, 2003 Share Posted December 12, 2003 I thought those looked pretty wide in the pictures, I got the simulated leather 3A Racing seats from PepBoys at $230 each, cloth ones were $160 each. They were wide at the shoulders and hit the door panels, tho I could still close the doors. But the simulated leather seat rubbing against the simulated leather door panel made these awful squeaking noises! I'm currently making new door panels out of fiberglass which have a little indentation right where the shoulder of the door is. Also using a quick disconnect steering wheel but that's more for security reasons. Owen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forrest Posted December 12, 2003 Author Share Posted December 12, 2003 Owen - These seats are literally as wide as they can possibly be without the wings hitting the door. They just barely touch the door when it is fully closed. This is actually narrower than several of the racing seats I've seen, though. You can't mount the seat any farther to the right without either cutting into the base of the seat or cutting into the transmission tunnel. As I mentioned, I cheated to get the seat as far right as possible by using spacers to raise it up .75" in the rear so that it doesn't hit the transmission tunnel for another fraction of an inch. I measured the 3A seats after I met Mark at the Peck Nissan Z Day in Mobile, AL - he had them in his 240. But he did have to smash in the wing of the seat almost an inch to get the door to close, as well. I think the DAD seats are either a tiny bit narrower on the base or a tiny bit narrower on the wings. Either way, they are pretty close. I liked those too, seemed like good seats for the money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted December 13, 2003 Share Posted December 13, 2003 Another thing is, mine are pretty tall. The seats are mounted right to the floor with no mounts, just the sliders they came with. I'm lucky my wing just barely hit, but I still made new panels. Just wanted an excuse to do it I guess! Owen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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