problem fitting new seats....

[mickmick]

ok, should maybe have put this in the interior section but i'll take the wrist slap for that later.

i have just sourced some new seats as mine a old and worn and my missus has a tiny little bum that slides around too much when i'm driving

so, i perused Ebay and found a pair of black, brand new Rage seats only 10 miles away from me and i got them for the price of 100 quid (including universal sliders)

now the problem...............

i have scoured the forum for "fitting seat" threads with some folks doing it and some not. I remember someone giving the hole dimensions (possibly SyV) but for the life of me cant find it, and i'm thinking that i'll need some sort of conversion requiremnts even tho the seat rails i have are "universal".

So, does anyone have them to hand?

Also, the seats i have are attached to the sliders from the bottom, not side mounted (or inside mounted) like i beleive the origional ones to be. Does anyone have any sugestions as to how to put this all together so my little bum'd and little leg'd lady cant drive the car too (she does leave a quality figure 11 at the odd train crossing, that chick can drive!!)

Regards

Mick

[mickmick]

right then

as i had no replies i went out in the sever inclemency , braving wind, rain and storm tossed seas (ok, maybe not the seas bit) , got on my knees and checked the measurements out myself.
what i found out was this:

the holes in the chasis floor are 340mm by 380 mm

the holes in my nw seat sliders are 291mm by 328mm

so, lo and behold they dont line up at all


hmmmmmmmmm (i thought) what can i do to sort this little problem out, as i def need the seats to be able to slide back and forth due to the differing dimensions of me and the good lady.

so, my idea hatched, and what i have now done is ordered some steel plate from a local fabricator (dimensions 70x380x5 mm times 4) with holes drilled in each so that i can mount them to the seat sliders, and then, if i have dome my measuring right!!!, mount the seats ontop of the origional spaces, bolting them down into the origional holes.

i have also had to make my own seat-belt-socket holder which i have bolted onto the seats

I get the adaptor plates on tuesday i hope, and from there i will take some pictures of everything as it is being put together, with a final picture of the new seats fitted.

I realise some folks wont be with me on this as they like the origional seats, but as per the first post, i need new seats, and preferably ones that my, and my woman's, bum sticks to when driving in the manner the car was designed for

that is all


for now.......................

Mick (with pictures to follow)

[chris.t]

it would seem that it all rests on whether you've measured every thing right - which i'm sure you have

i'm not exactly sure how the seat fits to the sliders but if the fixing protrude downwards rather than sideway, then you'll need to space off in order to allow for the nut/bolthead.

Anyway i'll be interested to see how you get cos its always been in the back of mind to change the seats. but cos i'm getting such a fat b*st*rd i'm finding that most of the race pattern seats are a touch on the tight side

[taffy]

I changed the seats in my elan. I bolted a 1'' square tube between the holes (from centre of car outwards) then bolted the seats to the tube.
This allowed me to move the seat left to right etc. If I could not move it it would be very hard to get the seat in the space allowed. The actual space is very small and if the seats are to far to the outside you will possible find that the hood may catch the back of the seat as you lift the roof (My seats are high back).
But having fitted them I am very pleased with the results, they are more supportive than the original and I feel suit the carector of the car. But there are probable a lot of people who would only have the originals.
Best of luck

[mickmick]

ALRIGHTY THEN.......

i have now fitted the new seats, and let me tell you it aint an easy job, and they are tighter than a gnats chuff to get in, but i'm sure the sliding will ease off when they have been moved a few times and the parts that rub smooth out slightly.

gonna now try and add the photos and talk thru each phase (wish me luck)

first job was to get the corect dimensions of the floor pan holes and compare them to the dimesions of the sliders i have on the seats (as i mentioned in an earlier post they were diferent.

once i had these measurements and worked out what i needed to do to get a good adaptor (not forgetting to measure twice, cut once) i drew up a sort of fabrication drawing and took it to a local steel fabricators, they made what i wanted out of 70x5 flat bar 380 long with 4 holes in each for the massive price of £25. These adaptors i attached to the sliders with M8 bolts and nylock nuts, ensureing i put a flat washer between the adaptors and the sliders to allow for the clearance between the sliders and the floor mounting bolt heads

[mickmick]

dont know how to put pics in order with wording so doing it this way, maybe someone (admin types can compress it all together one day if needed)

after adaptors were fitted to the sliders it was a simple matter of fitting them on top of the spacers and bolting them down

oh no it %^&*ing wasnt

due to the very narrow cockpit we have in our little cars i found i had to fit one bolt at a time, so, i started with the rear inboard one and got that in, making sure i had the thread started , but not fully tightened down. then i fitted the rear outboard one, using a mixture of seat twisting, gut pushing and a little bit of under the breath swearing before it slid down into the hole and i was able to get a few threads of the nut onto the bolt.

i then had a sort of rigid position for the seat so moved onto the front two bolts.
By tipping the seats back slightly i was able to get the bolts thru the adaptor plate holes and into the spaces, then it was a matter of moe pushing and twisting untill i got both bolts (at the same time) to drop/be pushed into the forward floor pan holes. Then i was able to tighten up all 4 bolts to the right torque settings (ok, thats a lie, but they are in tight) All appart from the drivers front inboard one that for some reason just will not grip the thread of the captive nut assembly, i have the other 3 on the drives side down solid, so i'm going to leave this one undone for now untill the seats have bedded in properly and i will give it another go, maybe putting a tapping cutter down it to make sure its sitting right.

as i said, the seats are a very tight fit in the car as the next few pictures will show, but, they are an improvement on my old seats, they are more modern (in an old car that looks modern, if you get that) they fit me snugly without sliding around, and my missus wont be able to moan about her little bum sliding around on them either as they arent leather and have a better "bucket" to them that the stock seats. One downside(if you can call it that) is that you have to tilt the seats forward to get the roof up and down, but thats no biggy realy IMO

i have sat in the seats, tho not driven yet, and am more than happy with the way they feel around my body, and even tho they are a tight fit to the car(as the pictures will show) i still have them in my usual driving position

I think thats all i have to add, so i'll now put some pics down. And if anyone else wants some info on fitting difrent seats to the stock ones fee free to contact me and i'll give as much help as i can and email any extra pictures that they want

Mick

[chris.t]

ru going to donington cos i would mind a sit in those

[mickmick]

work permitting i'm def gonna try and make it Chris, i read what you said about size and if you recall from when i made it to the H&C meets i'm not the smallest chap.

now the seats are in i'm already thinking of diferent ways that i could have fit them, well, not diferent really, just a few changes of dimensions for the holes that i'll be able to do with my current set up to allow a little room at the center console to allow ease of seat sliding, we are talking of elongating the adaptors floor pan holes slightly, 5-10 mm or so as there is just enough room between the seat sdge and the door frame for it. i might also remove the rear spaces (but put a 5mm packing piece in the rear outboard area) to allow the rear of the seats to sit lower. I'll know about that after i have put some decent miles on the clock to see how comfy there are.

All in all, i'm happy with the seat change, now time will tell if they are really suitable(and if they arent it looks like the kids are gonna have to find something else to sit on when they are X-boxing their little hearts out

Mick

[Monty]

Well done Mick

Hopefully i`ll be fitting Corbeau Clubman seats later on in the year, these don`t have the wings at shoulder height and think there slightly smaller in size. So u`r write up and photo`s will come in handy

Did u`r seats come with the runners already attached?

[mickmick]

Monty,

no the seats didnt come withthe runners attached, but they did come with a "universal slider kit" (that wasnt fully complete, but bear in mind that at only 100 quid and brand new i cant help thinking the seats were ever so slightly warm, god bless the anonimity of Ebay) that had not only the runners but also some feet for fitting into a normal sized car.

From the bucket seats i have seen i agree with you that they do seem to be less wide than the reclining type, so you should def not have the problems, albeit overcomable ones, tha i have had to deal with. And being honest, once i had the old seats out, took my measurements and got the adaptor plates made up, the fitment only took me about two hours tops, it'll probably take me at least that much again if i decide i need to offset the holes in the adaptor plates to give a little more room on the inboard side(we are talking about extending the 12mm floor pan holes out by 5-10mm with a rotary file thru 5mm mild steel plate.

Next big task is finding a legnth of aluminium tube to make up a rear strut brace, i'm not counting the new wheel centercaps as a job, there's not enough fidling involved, and i'm a man who likes to fidle

Mick

[taffy]

If it is of interest I purchased my seats from MACRO. They wer £100 plus vat, they even do a special which sometimes takes them down to £100 inc vat. They are available in black and red, black and blue and black and gray. Then in cloth or 'faux leather' (plastic pvc, but looks o.k).
They come with the runners but I did have to modify for the Elan.
The same as Mick's they are a very tight fit but I do not need to move seat before lifting the roof, but then my seat is not right back.
You can see the seats on this link to a web site I did. http://elanse.piczo.com/?cr=4&rfm=y
Best wishes
Nigel