wishboneracing

Anyone tried modifying stock seats??

I'm thinking of removing padding at bottom to help helmet clearance, and have a shop add bolster padding to help hold my slim (32" waist) torso.

For occasional track days only. Well, more bolster for always, to stay in place. Can only get slim-guy race seats in pricier range, and this is only a fun street car anyway.

I need to get it to an upholstery shop and report back.

wishboneracing

Well tonight I started on my quest to modify stock seats for more helmet clearance and slim-bod bolstering. I pulled out the drivers seat and briefly started taking it apart. Note - I'm a newbie to upholstery.

Stock seats (power heated leather) weigh a ton -- 52 or 53 lbs from my bathroom scale.

Here is pic of seat-less floor showing the crossmember mentioned elsewhere which gives challenges to installing race seat low enough.



Seat bottom starting to unhook bottom seat cover - butt foam revealed.

wishboneracing

Well if anyone's interested, I finally got back to this and started modifying my stock seat. Was quite easy.

I pulled up the lower seat cover and sliced a thick section of foam out of the bottom (for foam use a rounded knife edge and avoid sharp tip). The seat heater is bonded to the foam bottom and I stayed clear of it.

This went well so I went on to the side bolsters. The sides of the silver rear plastic panel are held with typical little plastic clips - pulling the panel 'rearwards' worked for me to slide them off the clips. Then the seatback cover is held by a zipper all the way up the backside. Was a pain reaching up far enough to reach the zipper, but once you've got it, just pull it down and off you go. I stuffed two "seat belt pads" I already had into each side bolster (you could stuff any foam or whatever in there) to make them bigger. Re-zipping required a helper and some pulling, and of course has the seatback cover stretched in back. The whole thing doesn't look perfect for aesthetics but I don't care, and think I will be able to reverse all and put it all back together looking as good as it did.

Note that this seat had already been pulled apart by a stealership to replace faulty lumbar adjustment under warranty. And they didn't get it back together perfectly - so I didn't feel so bad pulling it apart.

I haven't put it back in the car yet but it feels great, sit lower and bolsters holding much better. Of course won't be as cushy under-butt but no big deal, won't be anything like rally car butt/back abuse. Will see if it's going to give enough helmet clearance and bolster support for upcoming Laguna Seca track play day.

Pics-






Note buffed side bolsters too:

kersh4w

iTrader: (3)

looks good. pics of the back?

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

well you'll get head clearance, but you'll still have a heavy, flimsy seat

wishboneracing

hey thanks Captain Negative

as i said, its just for fun track days in a street car. So who cares.
(At least I hope it'll be fun. Slow cars on fast race tracks isn't that exciting to me. But its something.)

BTW, the seat is heavy and flimsy ... and has an airbag too. And is comfy, and durable, adjustable....even heated! hey it is what it is. And did I mention I saved hundreds of dollars and all the PITA of installing a race seat?

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

Well I'll switch hats and become Captain Obvious now.

This thread is titled and about "Race Seats". You can save yourself the negative by opening your own thread rather than hijacking this one, which BTW you did all on your own starting with thread post #27 onward with no consideration to the OP and people interested in the actual subject.

sheesh ...

expo1

I was able to get extra headroom, great lateral support and save about 30 lbs per seat. Those are Kirkey's, paid about about $200 each counting the mounting bracket. It also takes about 10 minutes to swap one out. Just wanted to mention another way to do it.

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

I wonder what will happen if I swap my seats out and tell my insurance about it.

Senna

Wishbone, those pics (reply 29) are not showing for me-did you pull them?

Anyway, I was at Laguna Seca this past weekend for the ALMS event and asked to sit in the Rx8 safety car which they were happy to do for me. I wanted to see what the head clearance would be like and overall fit with the roll cage.

The seat (sparco 2000) was a tad narrow for me but there was surprisingly plenty of head/helmet clearance room. And that was in more of an upright position than I would have my seat. Although I didn't get a real good look at the mounting bracket etc. it looked like it was simply bolted into the floor.

So it answered one of the questions I had-would the AWR roll cage and a race seat work for my 6'0" height.

wishboneracing

re-posted pics, hope this works

BTW re pics of the back of the seat, there is not much to see - just regular back cover. I'll post a pic once seat is back in the car, and confirm it actually feels ok when driving.

Also I need to check out those Kirkey's -- especially if they come narrow enough for skinny guys? And are they *really* that easy to install? I'm used to spending forever making custom mounts...

I8U

iTrader: (1)

I am a fan of the Sparco EVO's...they fit very nice and feel amazing. Honestly with the right seat pads installed I wouldn't driving x-country in them.

expo1

The Kirkey's come in various widths. I have MINE attached to a bracket designed for the RX-8 by Wedge Engineering. It bolts to the OEM mounts and is easy to change. It talks longer to put in the 5-point belts.

wishboneracing

Cool, thanks for the links, will check out. Sounds like plug'n'play.
Meantime my hack n slash'd stock seat is back in the car and feels so so SO much better! I sit lower, helmet clears, and bolsters holding my slim lower torso much better. Ain't no proper seat but its a big step forward for little effort. I probably should have skimmed some foam out of the seatback as well, while I was at it, to get more lateral support...

ScubaSteve8

Just a question regarding racing seats. I did a search, but I couldn't really find anything.

I know that when you install a racing seat the air bag light will go on. My car is a daily driver (in the summer only), and I recently picked up a Corbeau Forza seat. What I want to know is: Does anyone put their seat in only for race days and switch it back out after to the stock seat for street driving? Does the computer need to be reset to make the airbag light go back off when I put the original seat back in the car?

I know it's a fair bit of work - but that is not the issue, I don't want to drive the car daily with the airbag light on. Unless of course both the side curtain airbags and the ones in the steering wheel still work with a racing seat installed? However I highly doubt the side impact airbag will still work as I believe the sensors are in the seat...?

If somebody could steer me in the right direction on this it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Bunique

I've never heard of anyone switching out a seat for a race day, even though it's only a matter of four bolts. I guess i just love the comfort of my racing seat for daily driving as well. Not only that but it's not necessarily hard, but it's wierd getting used to the different seat positions. I barely dropped my seat 1/4 inch one day and it felt completely different, so I would think this would put you at a slight disadvantage at a track or race day, switching from the stock seat to a racing seat. The racing seat is most likely going to set you a completely different position than your stock seat.

As far as I know, none of the airbags should work. Umm....is the airbag light the issue or are you more concerned with the issue of safety with the airbags not working?

Hope this helps some....

justjim

I have the same question, I've ordered a Corbeaux FX1 seat, still waiting for the mounting slider. I know that when I removed the OEM seat in my Acura the air bag light went on and I had to buy a special connector to reset the airbag light which on the Acura was separate from the OBDII system. How does one reset the airbag warning light in the Mazda RX8 when you put the OEM seat back in. I plan on switching the seats in and out for track days.

ScubaSteve8 did you gain any headroom with the Forza?

ScubaSteve8

Thank you for your reply. You are 100% right about the seating position being a disadvantage - I feel the same way. The comfort of the racing seats are just unmatched; but yes safety is the issue.

justjim: I have not installed the seat yet. I just picked it up last weekend. However from what I have searched on this forum it should increase headroom considerably. I have an issue with headroom when my helmet is on and I just can't get comfortable in the stock seat at track days with my head pinned up against the roof all day long. This was my primary reason for getting the seat.

expo1

Just scroll up to post 34. Been doing it the last four years. The extra headroom and side support makes the seats I use much better than the OEM's for track days. After I reinstall the OEM's the airbag light goes right out, no need to reset anything.

justjim

Cool, now if Corbeaux would just send me the GD mounting sliders, I'll put my seat in.

ScubaSteve8

Awesome. Just want I needed to hear.

Thanks

justjim

Not to hijack the thread but I just found out my order 9 weeks ago for the seat brackets didn't go through at Corbeaux and I'm starting all over again

lepichichi

iTrader: (10)

cool seats

justjim

After all the difficulty getting the Corbeaux seat brackets, I'm looking into have some universal brackets modified by a local race fabricator. In addition to getting them quicker my hope is to gain some of the precious headroom that seems to be so difficult to come by.

expo1

Did you try and see if http://www.wedgeengineering.net/ can help??