Guest zfan Posted December 28, 2005 Share Posted December 28, 2005 I drive a 1971 240Z and recently was given a pair of racing seats. I pulled the stock seats out and test fitted the new seats. The seats fit even with my 6 point cage but due to my not so short self (6' 1") I am damn near at the roof of the car and thats not using the sliders, just dead mounting it. How important are the original floor mounts as they look to help maintain the ridgedness of the car..joking though! My thought was to delete as much of the original mounts on the floor and concoct something that would lower the seat. I can probably lower the seat 2" that way. Has anyone tried altering/deleting the seat mounts in the floor on the drivers side? Any help or imput would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueovalz Posted December 28, 2005 Share Posted December 28, 2005 I considered this same issue and chose NOT to remove any significant material on the two parallel braces for the seats. These distribute the weight of the driver more evenly on what I would call 'marginal' sheet floor pan. The type of seat will make a difference as well. Most racing seats have little padding in the seat bottom, which allows the driver to sit lower. Some of the fancier seats (and heavier) push the driver up higher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David K Posted December 28, 2005 Share Posted December 28, 2005 Ive removed the original floor mounts in my 79 on the drivers side. Im 6'2"-6'3" and by mounting the seat directly to the floor ive gained much headroom and i sit lower in the car. I put studs in the seat, drilled the floorpan where the studs would go through, and used 4 1/2" steel plates w/large washer and 2 nuts on the underside of the car to prevent the seat being ripped out of the floorboard in the event of an impact or rollover. The plates measure 1/2" thick, 5" length, 5" width. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jolane Posted December 28, 2005 Share Posted December 28, 2005 When I replaced the floorpans in my 72, I built new seat mounts to accomodate my Corbeau CR1's. I used rectangular tubing and cut one edge off and welded that cut edge to the floor. It runs across the floorpan just like the original seat mounts. It lowered the seat enough for me as well (the CR1's have thicker bottoms thatn the A4's). I used the Corbeau seat slides, but no adapter (since I made my mounts work with the slides themselves. Depending on your fabrication abilities (tools, time, skills), this was not very hard to do. Joshua Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted December 28, 2005 Share Posted December 28, 2005 My solution is pictured in this thread: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=103817 It's kind of particular to the Recaro sliders, but it might give you some ideas. If you're going to bolt straight down the trick is to weld a nut to a plate, then cut a hole into the 1x1 tube and weld the plate to the tube. Despite the lower profile of the racing seat I think the solid bottom meant less sag meant my head was closer to the roof. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky Posted December 28, 2005 Share Posted December 28, 2005 Ive removed the original floor mounts in my 79 on the drivers side. Im 6'2"-6'3" and by mounting the seat directly to the floor ive gained much headroom and i sit lower in the car. I put studs in the seat' date=' drilled the floorpan where the studs would go through, and used 4 1/2" steel plates w/large washer and 2 nuts on the underside of the car to prevent the seat being ripped out of the floorboard in the event of an impact or rollover. The plates measure 1/2" thick, 5" length, 5" width. [img']http://got-z.com/ghost/seatplate.jpg[/img] If I may offer some constructive criticism here...having anything protrude from the bottom of the car is dangerous, especially something that has a square or flat edge. The steel plate may offer you some protection but if you run over something and it catches squarely on those plate you are going to have a bad day. You could mount 1/2 plate of the strongest material in the world to the floor...but its still mounted to thin sheet metal. the steel plate might just increase the chances of the seat being ripped out of the floor...at least with a small bolt you have less surface area for something to catch on. Sure the chances are slim, but there is still a chance. One way to lessen the potential damage would be to grind the forward facing edge down into a wedge shape, this will greatly reduce the chance of them catching on something, of course in the event of a spin, any edge my be forward facing so its probably best to grind or mill all the edges down into a trapezoidal shape. jmortensen has the right idea, I did something similar on my ex 73 but used 3/4 square tubing stitch welded to the floor and trans tunnel. this gave me much more headroom and a lower CG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David K Posted January 2, 2006 Share Posted January 2, 2006 Those are some nice points and suggestions Sparky. Ill try to snap some shots next time i have the car in the air. The nuts and end of the stud come nowhere near being closer to the ground than the bottom of the frame rail. If anything i would think the frame rail and rocker panel would hit the ground before the hardware would. I was concerned about things getting caught on road debris when i first put everything together. zfan, did you decide on a solution? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
240hoke Posted January 2, 2006 Share Posted January 2, 2006 Hey, It depends on what type of seat you have as to how they are mounted. I am using corbeau A4's with the corbeau slider. I just used some steel angle i believe 1.5x1.5 its about 1/8" thick. I tied it into the subframe connectors, tranny tunnel, and rocker panel. i trimed them up so i have plenty of room under the seat and made it more aesthetic. I was also able to lower the seat more then an 1" closer to 2". It's cheap, easy and works very well. Its also PLENTY strong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted January 2, 2006 Share Posted January 2, 2006 Austin, I'm gonna copy the way you did those braces. I want to get the new seats as low and far back as possible. I think I have my Corbeau A4s sold and hope to order my Kirkey Intermediate seats this week. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dosquattro Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 I too had/have a problem with my 280z. I'm using a buddy club seat and with my roll cage I have to mount to directly to the stock mounts with no sliders otherwise it's too close to the main hoop. I'm thinking of making some new mounts since the steering wheel is sitting quite close to the family jewels and is a pain in the arse getting in and out of the car. Keep in mind I'm only 5'6" and it feels pretty cramped for me even. Not the best picture but I already have the seat mounted as low as possible. I just need for it to clear with me and my helmet on and have the 6" of clearance from the main hoop to be scca legal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest speedmon Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 I have a 72 240 now with a Cobra Imola II GT, which is a pretty wide seat. I am 6'3" and am always looking for leg room and headroom(especially with a helmet) What I did ..... and this may be the el cheapo way....was to weld a cross member (flat bar) across those two rear humps in the seat bay where I bolted back of the seat bracket (std Cobra) in its furthest position.(1st hole on the back set). Then, since the front of the seat bracket would not reach that front rail, I made two bracket extenders for the front of the bracket and bolted the extender to the front rail. There is a good lip across the top of the rail so I just drilled two holes and the seat fit great. Believe it or not I made the extention tabs from a flat steel bar from .....the Home Depot......$4. I have full leg extention under the pedals and comfort room from knee to steering wheel during pedaling and steering. And if I take the bottom seat foam out, which connects my butt to the suspension, I have a good 2 inches from the top of my head to the ceiling of the car. With my helmet on its about an inch, I think. But it works, and thats good as its hard to drive fast when you are all scrunched up. If you would like to see pictures let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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