Seat Thoughts?
 

I am in a debacle at the moment; I have an R3 with the Recaro's and they are great at holding me in--they have guides for harness so when the roll cage goes in I won't have any issues there.

The problem is whether I should pull the Recaro's and sell them, replacing them with Sparco EVO3 (I'm tall) or just have my guys modify my Recaro's to drop another inch and back an inch? The main reason for Sparco's was getting just a tad bit more room for comfort (I'm 6'4-1/2).

The Recaro's are great and I have no issues driving 4+ hours in them. I actually like them--just not sure if hacking them up is worth it. I will be autocrossing next year.

Actually; I may of just answered my own question--does anyone know if those Recaro's are FIA certified?

Thanks in advance.

Yes, sell them so I can buy them!

LOL; I about had a heart attack when I looked them up on Mazda Parts site-- $4k for one seat? Seriously?

My Sparco EVO3's are $1400 bucks plus brackets.

haha i literally just did the same thing, cause i wanted to figure out how much they were new....you can keep those seats....

LOL; there's no way I'd sell them for 4k man--if I did I'd probably sell them for cost of my EVO3's.

The problem is whether or not Recaro's are FIA certified--not sure. If they are I may just hack up the Recaro brackets and fix mount them so they are in the position I want. Nobody is driving my track car except me.

I didn't know anyone made a reclining FIA rated seat and I doubt Mazda would want to invest in that for a street seat, but I suppose with enough money and structural weight anything is possible

edit: no, it's not. Supposed Porsche got approval on a seat that would recline forward only from a certain angle position, otherwise you need a fixed back seat for FIA approval.


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Thanks RX8; looks like the R3 Recaro's will go up for sale to fund the Sparco EVO3 seats for the car.

How much would you be looking at? What part of PA are you in? (Pittsburgh?)

pm.

I'm sure the stock R3 seats are not FIA rated and would not be legal for racing. Time Trial no problem most likely. Actual head to head racing with NASA, SCCA or other sanctioning bodies would probably be a no.

Yes sir; I have decided to go for the Sparco EVO3's from front seats--got my Recaro's sold to a fellow member.

I'll be working on it over winter while the car is getting everything else prepped. I gotta get them situated so we can build the half cage for the back; then I need to clean it up some.

It's getting there though.

The EVO 3 is a tough fit. I had to modify the floor pan and transmission tunnel to fit it in my RX-8. Very wide in the shoulders also. Unless you have a big ass like me I'd recommend an EV0 2 - much easier to fit. If you were confortable in the stock R3 seats you'd probably be fine with the EV0 2 seats.

Hmm; I wear a 42 and yeah I was comfy in the Recaro's--had no issues driving. My fatness is actually my gut unfortunately; so I go forward with size and not wide LOL.

I'll look at EVO2 seats.

How bad was your modifying on the floor and tunnel? My hot rod guys can do just about anything and I'll need seat to go as low to floor and back about an extra inch than what I get out of Recaro's to be perfect.

Got any pics by chance?

I can try to send some pics later. The modification were not terrible but it was a pain to get the seat to fit - I put an EV02 in the passenger side and it was MUCH easier. We mounted the seat low and back as well. To get the EVO 3 to fit we had to cut and box part of the transmission tunnel. The shoulder wings are SUPER wide on the EVO 3 as well so we had to modify the door panels and even relocate the interior rear door handle. Definately test fit yourself in the EV0 2 before you buy an EVO 3. If you're comforable in the EVO 2 it'll make life easier.

With EVO2 you didn't need to modify anything (including door trim) but on EVO3 you did.

Pics would be awesome!

The 2-3 change is only 1-1/4" so maybe I can squeeze into EVO2 bucket. The problem between EVO and Recaro is the fact it's actually a bucket seat where as with the Recaro I sit kinda on the seat; it's like the bolsters come up around my waist as it would with skinny person.

whatever seat you decide to go with, try it out first
the EVO2s will fit no problem especially if you don't use sliders
your best bet will be a custom low mount or bolt them to the floor since you're the only driver

So any thoughts/experience on aftermarket seat mounts and driving position? I am a long torso 6'4" and need some help if I am going to fit in the car with a helmet. The stock driver seat is pretty much worn out, and becomes actively painful after about 30 minutes. So new seats are in order, but past experience has shown that the mounts are often the weak points of going to aftermarket seats.

Currently considering the OMP Style seats (recliners, but with a sub belt slot), and maybe Planted mounts.

I know no one can tell me if I will fit in a given set of seats, but maybe you can tell me if the mounts & sliders you have work well, and if they significantly lower the seating position.

there are quite a few seat threads in this forum ...

After sitting in a few seats I have made up my mind on running a racetech. For a wide/tall seat their seats were the best fit for me. Problem is the $1600 per seat cost!

Feel free to point them out. This is the only recent one that came up in a search. If you consider 2 years old recent.

links to good ones or STFU.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...780d0e1a3b.gif


sure, some old model seats may no longer be around, otherwise fitting seats in the S1 or S2 is the same deal today as it was when the RX8 first came out :squint:


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...500c73a58b.jpg

pwn3d!!!

what's impressive is how many of those you've commented on, Team, lol.