What seats are you running?

[sheizasosay]

It sounds like you have your seats and harness figured out, but if I may throw a couple of quick things in for others.

Schroth makes an ASM 4pt belt (Anti-SubMarine) that helps keep the driver in the seat and lessen the need for a 5th or 6th lower point. We install them in customer cars that don't want to run a fixed bucket seat (Recaro option cars), or only do occasional track days.

The Sparco Fighter seat is only meant to be bottom mounted like most street cars. It's not intended to be a full race seat, which would use a side mount. It's a VERY nice seat. It's perfect for someone in the situation above that isn't going to be racing the car, but wants all the benefits of a fixed bucket seat. Sparco has 2 seats like this, the Fighter and the Speed (currently Speed2).

If anyone has anymore specific questions, feel free to email us. We have been a Sparco dealer for over 15 years. We also are a stocking WD for Schroth harnesses. (Sales pitch over)

You talking about this guy http://www.schrothracing.com/tuning/rallye/rallye-3

 

[chilema]

I just installed my Sparco Evo II US setup for the driver's side last week. The Sparco Evo II US is made to be wider around the waist and shoulder area compared to the regular Sparco Evo II, but not as tall, presumably tailored for us cheeseburger eaters in the U.S of A. I'm 5'11 220lb and it fits me pretty well. I wish I could mount it a bit lower though, but I did remove the high density foam layer from the bottom of the seat cushion and that helped a bit. For racing I ghetto-fabbed a second cusion from the foam I removed, glued together with some thin memory mattress foam from Walmart, this should allow me to sit plenty low for autocross or HPDE.

I used the seat bracket and steel side mounts from Planted, paired with sliders from Sparco. The Planted S197 bracket was reasonably low profile and beefy but (and I'm not saying this this would happen to everyone), the mounting holes didn't match up to my car, I had to clamp each of the tabs in a bench vice and bend them a bit here and there to get the holes to line up.

The Planted side mounts are very nice and beefy, which is great if you want to eliminate as much flex as possible out of your mounting setup and get the most out of the additional support provided by the seats.

One thing to take note if you are buying a wide version of a particular seat like I am is that fitment may be very tight against the trasmission tunnel as the seat bottom could run wide. If you happen to get a mounting bracket setup that doesn't allow you to shift everything sideways to the left, you may have to come up with some custom fabricated solution to comfortably mount an extra wide seat. My Planted mount only had enough room to let me point the front of the seat a tiny bit further away from the tunnel but it was enough to let me slide back and forth and still have the seat aimed square with the steering wheel.

 

[Rehagen Racing]

You talking about this guy http://www.schrothracing.com/tuning/rallye/rallye-3

Actually this is the one we typically use:
Profi-II-ASM

 

[Rehagen Racing]

I used the seat bracket and steel side mounts from Planted, paired with sliders from Sparco. The Planted S197 bracket was reasonably low profile and beefy but (and I'm not saying this this would happen to everyone), the mounting holes didn't match up to my car, I had to clamp each of the tabs in a bench vice and bend them a bit here and there to get the holes to line up.

Pretty common actually. We sometimes have to do this, but typically you can assemble everything loosely and draw it in when tightening.

Just to be clear, the EVO-II-US was formerly the EVO-2. The US version does not say it is HANS compatible.

The current EVO-II, was formerly the EVO-2-PLUS. It is HANS compatible. Chilema is correct in saying that this seat is both taller and narrower than the US version.

BOTH are excellent seats.

 

[neema]

Chilema, how low do you think you can get your seat with sliders? Lower than stock? Also, do the Planted brakets bolt up to the stock sliders?

Thanks for the pics. The seat looks good in there. Can you still use the stock seat belt?

 

[chilema]

I would say the back portion of the seat bottom is about the same height as lowest setting of stock seats but if you want to get a comfortable amount of tilt in the seat the front of the cushion lifts you up a bit. It feels higher than stock to me with the Sparco cushion. I made a flat cushion that's about 5/8" thick which makes it feel lower than stock.

The problem with the wide seat is that you can't use one of those offset sidemounts where the bolt holes shifted away from the bottom of the seat. With the 90 degree side mount I'm already at the far end of the slots so I can't flip the side mounts around either. I can't use the lowest adjustment holes on the side mounts because of this.

I'm using the stock seat belt but it's not quite optimal. The stock receiver bolts up but will not come through the harness opening in the right side so I have to go over the top. If you thread the belt through the left side harness opening it is still plenty snug though.

 

[sheizasosay]

Both seats are in now. I have driven on them for 2 days. Damn...seats should be way up there on the priority list if you are doing track days. My seatbelt is routed through the side, seat slot the way SoundGuyDave mentioned and as pictured in SGDave's post and Chilema's pic. It does make a more linear pull on the belt than not going through the slot. Pretty sure it will go into the "recommended" status.

Handling the car is way less work.

Getting in and out of the car is definitely the downside. I wouldn't trade it though.

 

[neema]

I learned some stuff yesterday: as far as Sparco seats, go, anyone who is taller than ~6' and has a waist not much larger than a 34 should first try a regular Evo2. The Evo2 US is a shorter and wider seat. Those who are both wider and taller will probably need to find a different brand, because Sparco doesn't really have anything wide enough to handle a tall person or vice versa. The issue with the shorter seats is that the harness has to angle down behind your shoulders to slot through the holes in the seat. If you have a proper bar to mount harnesses to behind your seat, the belt will want pull straight in a head on collision, making pulling up on the seat and potentially yanking it off a mount.

I spent a lot of time testing seats and talking to some knowledgeable race people at Werks 2 yesterday about this stuff. It's amazing how many small seats there are! I sat in plenty of bucket seats with halo protection and my head stuck out completely on top of the whole bucket seat.

FYI, I'm 6'3" and 185, 34 inseam and 34 waist.

 

[Roadracer350]

Has anyone tried the Procar or Kirkley seats from Jegs? Got the new book yesterday and was going to order some rod ends and saw those.

 

[modernbeat]

Has anyone tried the Procar or Kirkley seats from Jegs? Got the new book yesterday and was going to order some rod ends and saw those.

I've used a number of Kirkey seats, and Terry has used Ultra Shield seats (made in Texas!). Once you get away from their low end models they can be fairly comfortable. They are easier to mount than composite seats and some in finely graduated sizes.

But, you should absolutely sit your butt in one before committing to purchasing it. The circle track style have rib bolsters that may not match your torso length and the road race style have shoulder supports that have to match your shoulder height. Kirkey does a good job building for the "true" average American racecar driver size, but they still might not be right for you. If you are taller, but too skinny (the usual issue) you can add padding to the inside of the bolsters for a snugger fit. If you are too short, you can add padding to the bottom of the seat. And if you want a made-to-order seat, Kirkey has built me a seat with exactly the configuration I wanted, to exactly my size.

These seats should be braced against a roll bar or cage, not just bolted in at the bottom. So keep that in mind when contemplating them.

 

[Roadracer350]

So then the Kirkley are non adj since you need them bolted to not only the floor but the cage as well. Have you ever messed with the Procar seats?

 

[jayel579]

http://shop.watsonracing.com/ROLL-BAR-MUSTANG-2005-14-p/wr-boltincage.htm

I picked up one of these this past weekend. It will get welded in, anyone have any thoughts or experiences with Watson Engineering?

 

[Roadracer350]

http://shop.watsonracing.com/ROLL-BAR-MUSTANG-2005-14-p/wr-boltincage.htm

I picked up one of these this past weekend. It will get welded in, anyone have any thoughts or experiences with Watson Engineering?

Wow that's expensive! Did you check Jegs cages out? They are weld in not bolte in but they are 1/3 the price. They want 279 for a 10pt weld in

 

[jayel579]

I never checked out Jegs. I originally looking at the cage from Maximum but I was offered this cage for a price that I couldn't refuse. A track buddy of mine traded in his Boss 302 and sold me this cage out of his car along with the rear seat delete kit for a very reasonable price.

 

[neema]

Watson has a lot more insight on the Mustang's chassis than most other manufacturers will. They're the company commissioned by Ford to assemble Cobra Jets and the 302S.

 

[modernbeat]

So then the Kirkley are non adj since you need them bolted to not only the floor but the cage as well. Have you ever messed with the Procar seats?

I have not used Procar, but then I don't have any need for aftermarket reclining seats and usually avoid tube-frame racing seats.

There are adjustable back braces for aluminum seats.

Here's one from IO port that is fairly popular.

 

[Roadracer350]

Yea I don't do the adj seats either. Here is the Procar I was talking about;

http://www.jegs.com/i/Scat/942/80-1790-61/10002/-1

 

[modernbeat]

Yea I don't do the adj seats either. Here is the Procar I was talking about;

http://www.jegs.com/i/Scat/942/80-1790-61/10002/-1

Those are a tube frame seat. Many are not put together very well. Check and see if it has fabric strap suspension or cardboard panels.

 

[Rehagen Racing]

Maximum Motorsports offers a similar bolt-in cage to the Watson Racing unit. It's a little less expensive as well. We have done several in street cars for customers. They have additional options as well, such as removable harness bars or add-on door beams for expansion.

Procar seats are inexpensive but are not FIA approved, and I believe not SFI either.

 

[modernbeat]

Vorshlag is also a proponent of the Maximum roll bar. When we needed one for our own car, the balance of quality, price and configuration sent us to Maximum. Since then we've begun installing them in customer cars.