Hello Folks,
I'm running into an issue that is common for large guy in a small car situation and I've read a couple threads that were a bit out of a date. I'm attempting to find a preferably FIA certified seat (for track day requirements) for my Mazda Miata that is daily friendly. I have the Garage Star mounts which are supposed to be one of the lower mounts available, and I have attempted to fit a Corbeau Forza Sport into my car.
Sans some needed transmission tunnel massaging, it fit nicely. The problem is it didn't lower me much more than the stock seat. I'm not sure if this is a measure of padding within the seat, or the location of the side mount holes on the seat.
I'm curious if there are any other seats that are padded and daily friendly, but also provide a significant drop when paired with the Garage Star Mounts. I would like to retain the factory mounting locations and not have to install a drop pan/remove the mounting locations. Any help would be greatly appreciated and I have no problem answering whatever questions you have.
Edit: I forgot to add I did a foamectomy on the stock seat and I would really like something with a bit more bracing than the stock seat.
Corbeaus seem to sit high. You can gain some room by replacing the foam in the bottom cushion with 1" of <a href="http://www.craggyaero.com/confor_foam.htm">Confor blue</a> or Backsaver foam from Pegasus Racing. That'll help with comfort as well.
If you have sliders, consider taking them out. If you're not willing to modify anything below the Garage Star parts, then you don't really have a lot of other options. There are a lot of seats on the market that claim to be lower than everything else, but have a look at where the bottom of your seat is relative to anything below it. There's a limit to how low you can go.
I've had Recaro SPGs on the GS mounts and they do provide a drop over the stock seats. Still had to take out the bottom cushion on the track.
There just isn't a lot of room to drop the seat much unless you drop the floor pan.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
No sliders on the GS mounts - they're bolt in replacements for the OEM sliders for mounting side mount seats.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
From what I see there are a lot of Corbeaus in FM cars. I'm curious what your views are on seats like the Sparco Sprint V and if they sit lower?
hhaase
HalfDork
7/6/18 12:19 p.m.
Pretty good topic for me too, same issue with old MR2's as well, and I've been trying to find a similar solution. Don't care about keeping the sliders at all, main concern is FIA and able to run 5 or 6pt harnesses.
Is it even possible to make the ultra-shields comfortable for long drives? They look like dimensionally perfect for my needs but I'd be nervous about committing to one-lap with a seat that has confort issues.
I know racing-seats-usa has an option to trim seat foam & put all back together nicely before they even ship it to you. Might be worth a look
I just sold a set of ultrashield rally sports on this site. Very comfortable and sturdy. I especially like the shoulder wings. I would say they are pretty comfortable for distances for a race seat. Foam can be easily added or removed for track Duty and street use by us napping 3 snaps. Let me know if you want me to take detail pics before I ship them. Some pics in a Miata and a 944 . on Miata sliders they are very low
s0n1cm0nk3y said:
In reply to Keith Tanner :
From what I see there are a lot of Corbeaus in FM cars. I'm curious what your views are on seats like the Sparco Sprint V and if they sit lower?
There is one car in the FM family with Corbeaus, and they were heavily modified - bolted straight through the floor, modified feet and the aforementioned Confor foam. We use the Sprint V for any builds in house as well as a number of our fleet cars. I don't think they have the same removable cushion so you pretty much have to use them as-is.
In reply to hhaase :
Ultrashields are more comfortable than you would expect. You can also add foam padding where needed to make a perfect fit. A pour in insert is also an option.
After I had added additional padding in my ultrashield, I would have no hesitation driving cross country in one.
hhaase
HalfDork
7/6/18 2:39 p.m.
NordicSaab said:
In reply to hhaase :
Ultrashields are more comfortable than you would expect. You can also add foam padding where needed to make a perfect fit. A poor in insert is also an option.
After I had added additional padding in my ultrashield, I would have no hesitation driving cross country in one.
Perfect to hear, as that's exactly what I'd be doing with them. And back again. Essentially non-stop. Are they side mount or bottom mount? Would need to figure out an AW11 mounting.
-Hans
hhaase said:
NordicSaab said:
In reply to hhaase :
Ultrashields are more comfortable than you would expect. You can also add foam padding where needed to make a perfect fit. A poor in insert is also an option.
After I had added additional padding in my ultrashield, I would have no hesitation driving cross country in one.
Perfect to hear, as that's exactly what I'd be doing with them. And back again. Essentially non-stop. Are they side mount or bottom mount? Would need to figure out an AW11 mounting.
-Hated
i mounted mine to bottom
i did a poor man pour in solution for my ultrashield. Place heavy duty black plastic bag on aluminum seat base. Shot it full of expanding spray foam. Immediately put seat cover on top Sat my wide arse in seat and wriggled around a bit. Sat there for 10-15 minutes. Once foam set, trimmed excess plastic from bag. VOILA! Form fitted seat bottom to my big arse. YMMV
In reply to Keith Tanner :
Do they sit lower than the corbeaus? I have one readily available via the same shop and other methods. I'm a fan of how they sit, just curious on the notion of sitting lower before committing to getting in and out of them.
In reply to Ovid_and_Flem :
Awesome idea! I see you mounted yours on the bottom but do they have a side mount option? I dont see it on the ultra shield site but I might be missing something.
Stefan
MegaDork
7/6/18 8:25 p.m.
Aren’t there floor lowering kits for the meotters?
That could solve some seat figment issues.
Woody
MegaDork
7/6/18 8:28 p.m.
TR8Todd told me about Triumph TR7 sliders. They are very low and easy to adapt to a lot of floors.
In reply to s0n1cm0nk3y :
Certainly would be very easy to side mount if you wanted. The side of the seat is very flat so all you would need would be the actual angle aluminum and drill it and bolt it.
nice aluminum weld beads
nicely contoured thigh bolsters
I'll echo what everyone else has said - ultrashields are probably the easy button, though I don't think they're FIA approved.
Lotus seats are the easy button for something closer to the daily driver end of the spectrum.
In reply to Ovid_and_Flem :
How is it sitting in the seat with little thigh support. My concern is if that creates cramping issues oe anything after a while .
In reply to cmcgregor :
I would love to find one but it's been a nightmare for me to even find one for sale.
Stefan said:
Aren’t there floor lowering kits for the meotters?
That could solve some seat figment issues.
Not if you’re not willing to change anything on the floor as seen here.
s0n1cm0nk3y said:
In reply to Keith Tanner :
Do they sit lower than the corbeaus? I have one readily available via the same shop and other methods. I'm a fan of how they sit, just curious on the notion of sitting lower before committing to getting in and out of them.
Before you change the Corbeau cushion, probably. Afterwards, I’m not sure. Probably not much. Seats are one of those things where Miata people are always looking for a millimeter, but in reality there simply isn’t anything else available as seats cannot have negative thickness. A good foamectomy will get you 80% there, and pulling the rear seat mounts and bolting the factory sliders to the floor in the back will get you another 15%
s0n1cm0nk3y said:
In reply to Ovid_and_Flem :
How is it sitting in the seat with little thigh support. My concern is if that creates cramping issues oe anything after a while .
Thigh support is a good 3 to 4 in if you look at the bottom picture I posted
s0n1cm0nk3y said:
In reply to cmcgregor :
I would love to find one but it's been a nightmare for me to even find one for sale.
It's not easy. Took me about a year to find a set. I've seen one set of Elise and 2 sets of exige seats for sale recently - just have to be actively looking and ready when they come up.
So to update things, I've pulled the trigger on a Kirkey model 55 (pro street drag 16'). I love the way it feels and testing fitting it in the car it seems to drop me a lot! I've hit one snag though. With the Garagestar seat mounts I could drill the side of the seat, but it looks like the bolt placements could cause some rigidity issues to the rear mounts (see picture, black dots are proposed locations of mounts that will result in the most low). I also noticed I'm not truly centered and surprisingly this is due to the rear right hump next to the mounting humps (feels kinda squared). Installation with these mounts would require me to knock out that hump.
I'm looking for a way to keep some of the lowness but possibly go the bottom mount method (unless you have valid suggestions). I understand that will eat some height and I'm okay with that, as the drop is significant as is with the side mounts. I'm looking for some words of wisdom from you folks at how to go about this mounting solution. I've considered the static bottom mount solutions, but how do you bolt down all 4 points to the frame without the capability to slide (I don't have the contortion skills to do this...)?
Options:
Bottom mounts:
Stock mounts with "adapters"
Corbeau seat mount (looks low)
Rtheory static bottom mounts
Side mounts:
Garagestar side mounts (current posession: Test fit shows rear right bump is in the way)
Kirkey side mounts
Any of the other generic side mount solutions.
