Removing lower seat cushion for the back seat
 

Does anyone ever tried to take that out of the back seat? They seem pretty secured to the car and I don't want to really rip that out by force. :(

Back seats comes out quite easy. Grab the seat bottom’s cushion in the front / middle and pull up fairly hard & quick. Then you will see two 12mm bolts that keep the seat back in. They are very light so don’t do this for any weight savings. I only do this to make more room for tires on track weekends.

You won't break anything, actually you'll be surprised with how little force it takes to get them to pop out.

>Grab the seat bottom’s cushion in the front ..............
So you really have to yank it up by force. What really fasten it down to the car as it seems very secured!?


>Then you will see two 12mm bolts that keep the seat back in.
You mean the one for your back?


>They are very light so don’t do this for any weight savings .........
Of course not. I just tried to gain access to the two seat belt anchor points. I've been talking to this Porsche guy who owns a shop in NJ and he may be able to fabricate a customized harness guide bar for me during the off season. I therefore need to attach the seat belts to the two anchor points at the back seat. But now I'm still thinking where can I attach the 5th belt (the anti-submarine belt)?!!

>.... actually you'll be surprised with how little force it takes to get them to pop out.

Hmmmmm, I don't know. I've tried it quite hard and it won't even budge!

Bottoms are 7lb each, tops a bit more ...so uuummmm ~30lbs lbs is pretty tough to remove from the car so easily as this any other way...sounds like a no brainer for track use...I mean 30lbs is 30lbs and all it takes is 5 min to remove or put back in. And I do it - why not? ;) Any advantage is just that - an advantage... I'll tell you the proof is in the results - I haven't been passed on track during recent events and esp. not by other RX-8s.... not that I may be a more important factor than 30 lbs... but doesn't hurt either! :D

Racers work on a gram scale to cut weight - so did Mazda when they designed the RX-8 and the new Miata. We can too.

This may help

Thanks and let me try that again tonight ;-)

Here's a pic where I took the seat out. Note the two "clips" where the seat snaps in to. Just grab the seat base those points and give a good yank straight up. Should snap right out. Thanks for posting this thread. I may be able to fit my bike in my car.

Your scale is a little off, using my doctors grade balance beam scale a rear seat back & cushion weighs 12 lbs so a set would save you 24. Since I also swap out the drivers seat for a Kirkey I am saving about 50 lbs on track days.

RotaryZZ please keep us informed of your project, I also would like a harness bar and also live in Jersey. I was thinking about one that attaches to the same bolts circled in the top left of the photo and would also have a straight mount point to the floor, like the rear bolts of the front seat. Another way of doing I was thinking about was a curved bar that attaches to the front seatbelt mount points in the freestyle doors and would also mount to where the rear seatbelt buckles attach. As for the crotch belt an eyebolt through the floor pan would work and also would not be seen and would not get in the way of the seat.

>I also swap out the drivers seat for a Kirkey
Can the seat back inclined or adjusted in any way? How much is it and do they require special railing brackets or hardwares?


The harness guide bar that I have in mind will look like what the Sparco is selling now. http://www.sparcousa.com/harness_bars.asp

And I'll attached the two shoulder belts to the bolts right where the back of the back seat cushion is.


>As for the crotch belt an eyebolt through the floor pan ......
I don't want to drill any hole on the floor plan though. And that's what makes it difficult!


Btw, I suppose the more people interested in the harness guide bar, the cheaper it will get to manufacture.