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Seat swap list for s30's


gvincent

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Hi everyone, this is my first post here but just bought a 280Z and super excited!

 

Anyway, I have been doing some research and from what I know, only seats 17" or less fit without doing any modification. I was hunting through google and found this thread on a miata forum...

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/what-race-seat-for-the-miata/5514/page1/

 

The second poster informs OP that there is only 17" of clearance for aftermarket seats much like the 280Z. However if you scroll down to roughly the 10th poster, he installed a Cobra Monaco S seat in his miata without much modifying other than making a custom bracket. I did a little research on this seat and it says its width at the base is 19.5". Dont know if this seat would work, but if the miata has supposedly the same room as our 280Z then technically wouldn't this seat work?

 

Thanks,

Mike

SO 17" at the base Hmmm. I measure mine at a good safe 18" and could get 18.5 maybe without tunnel bashing. anybody know how much we gain with a tunnel bash? 19.5 maybe? a lot of seats say 20.5 but don't exactly say where they measured, most likely the top of the seat? then you have the recliner mechanism to figure in also I suppose.

What's a good safe width for shoulder wings without having door closing problems on the door or arm rest?

Keep up the good postings!

Greg

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  • 2 weeks later...

SO 17" at the base Hmmm. I measure mine at a good safe 18" and could get 18.5 maybe without tunnel bashing. anybody know how much we gain with a tunnel bash? 19.5 maybe? a lot of seats say 20.5 but don't exactly say where they measured, most likely the top of the seat? then you have the recliner mechanism to figure in also I suppose.

What's a good safe width for shoulder wings without having door closing problems on the door or arm rest?

Keep up the good postings!

Greg

 

I will mesasure my car this Sunday.  If you look at my pictures earlier in this thread you will see that I cut out the hump instead of bashing it in.  In all honesty I didn't even think of bashing it in at all.   I went straight for the cut off wheel.  Looking back at how much time I have into it, I probably should have just bashed it in.

 

 

Here is an updated picture of the floor after I sprayed on the lizard skin.

 

IMG_2581_zps39b92f3a.jpg

Edited by padam07
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  • 4 weeks later...

Finally, got the seats re-install tedious but not difficult. I am 6 ft. and weigh 200 lbs, I am wide in the shoulders. I have the Corbeau Forza seats, which are narrower than the Forza II. Second I did not utilize the sliders recommend by Corbeau for a Datsun 280z. I had the initial 280z sliders, and I modified the front to bolt in the stock location and I never like the seat height when I was driving the car before I started the engine swap.  So, I have Corbeau Forza fixed back seats, the universal 2.5 inch sliders, Highest grade 5/16- 3 inch nuts, bolts, washers. I removed front stock mounting location on the passenger side, on the driver side I removed the front and rear stock mounting locations. The angle grinder with a 4.5 inch metal cutting blade to cut through the mounts easily. Made three cuts across the top, and then across width wise. Put grinder blade back on and clean the edges. I took the “BFH†sledge hammer to the catalytic converter hump on the driver’s side. I welded in 5/16x2x 13 or 14 inches thick steel to the floor for the driver side. I only welded in a piece on the front location on the passenger’s side. I got in at like my seat height now ( Not driving yet !!!!) What would I do different?

1.       Remove the passenger rear stock mounting location. I did not realize how much of a difference it made in the tilt/height.

2.       If you use the seat sliders that are made for a 280z, cut all the stock mounts out and maybe use boxed 2 inch height x 13 to 14 inch wide steel welded in the stock location. It possibly would give you strength and a neutral seat height.

3.       Do all the seat stuff if possible, before you install carpet. I had to pull the carpet out and find seat locations, bolt in, remove seats, lay down carpet and cut X’s in the carpet to stick bolts through, put the seats back in ! This was the most tedious part.

*****IF you are bolting seats to the floor and welding on the passenger side, the fuel lines are on the passenger side****I upgraded my fuel lines and I measured twice before I drilled on the passenger side.

My dad, all 76 years old was working the angle grinder !!

 

http://forums.hybridz.org/gallery/album/1218-dudeboy-ls1-z/

 

A created a album with some of the photos that may detail what I did not  write clearly.

Edited by Dudeboy
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I went the S2000 seat route for mine. Still haven't put the passenger seat in, but the way I made the bracket for the driver's seat it just misses the cat hump, but sits a little high. My plan is to eventually try and remake the brackets to lower the seat a bit and if need be, just beat in the hump enough to make it clear. The S2000 seats, at least to me, are really nice and have a really good look. I had a guy who's redoing an old 911 asking me about my seat because he liked how good it looked for the car. He was considering putting S2K seats in his 911.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Bought a set of leather and power(driver's only) RX8 seats for $250. I hope to get them installed soon.

 

The hump is definitely gotta come out or be modified for them to work !

 

Any suggestions or anyone in Socal want to come give me a hand ?

Edited by Daz
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I think neon srt4 seats need to be added to the list if they arent already.  I sat in one for the first time the other day, and boy do they hold you in place lol.  Plus they are inexpensive from what I've seen.

I would love to see pictures and a write up on the Neon SRT4 seats in a 280Z, any specific year Neon?

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  • 1 month later...

I have a 77 280z and seats from an 89 Prelude. I'm looking at how I can install the seats, and it doesn't look easy at all. I wish JHM's pics included the brackets.

It seems that I would have to remove the Prelude's right side (driver's seat) slider/mount entirely. Then use a flat iron piece that turns up at a 90 degree to mount it. The rear piece would have to include a bolt welded to it for the back hinge I removed when discarding the original. The rear mount would have to be mounted 2 inches higher to straighten out the slope of the 280z' floor mounts. And then there is the tunnel bashing (or cutting). ..and it does seem to be a tight fit all around.

If anybody has done this, I would like to know how. Any pics of the mounts underneath? Any measurements, like how much to raise the rear of the seat, or how far to mount the 280z slider away from the Prelude's left side, outside mount?

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post-39557-0-55812400-1370190499_thumb.jpgpost-39557-0-39502200-1370190554_thumb.jpgpost-39557-0-18061900-1370190573_thumb.jpgpost-39557-0-10181200-1370190594_thumb.jpg

 

89 Honda Prelude seats in a 77 280z

Removed the sliders and fabricated mounts for the 280z sliders to bolt on. As you can see.. The rear mount had to wrap around to provide the pivot for the seat back. I also had swap positions of the sliders. Worked out well.. Tight fit, but got it as low and as far back as possible. They make me seat about an inch or so higher. The stock seat belt feed out bracket is in the way, I will have discard it and use something else.

Probably added 30 lbs to the car.

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Bought a set of leather and power(driver's only) RX8 seats for $250. I hope to get them installed soon.

 

The hump is definitely gotta come out or be modified for them to work !

 

Any suggestions or anyone in Socal want to come give me a hand ?

 

I was sitting in my friend's RX-7 FC. Her car has the RX-8 seats swapped in them and I was thinking that these could make good seats for the Z. They seem to be about the same size as the S2K seats.

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I sat in a Subaru BRZ the other day and they have narrow really nice seats. Unfortunately I didn't have a tape measure with me. Does anyone have one they can measure? They look like good candidates even though at this time they are probably impossible to find.

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