Silvia Club of NSW
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Can you mount a seat without rails?
https://forum.silviansw.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=33931		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Vitty [ Mon Nov 09, 2009 11:37 am ]
Post subject:  Can you mount a seat without rails?
Is it possible to mount a seat to the floor without using the rails? and if so would it be worth it?, reason I ask is because if it's true that guys stop growing when they're 25 then i'll be approx 6'8 by the time i'm done and i can foresee issues with fitting into my silvia with a helmet on.
Author:  Leif [ Mon Nov 09, 2009 11:46 am ]
Post subject: 
Hi mate, I know what you're saying. I'm 6'6" and it's tight in my S13 - should have bought one without a sunroof in the first place :lol:

You certainly can bolt your seat to the floor, it just means that others won't be able to drive the car with your seat in place. In my car, the points which normally bolt to the rail have been welded so that they line up with the four factory floor mounting points.

It all depends on whether you have long legs or a long torso too. Personally I don't have as much trouble with headroom, becuase i've got quite long legs. The problem I have is that my knees foul against a normal steering wheel. A steering wheel spacer or dished steering wheel can help with that - which is what i've done - it lets the knees get in behind the steering wheel and is much more comfortable.
Author:  Vitty [ Tue Nov 10, 2009 6:20 am ]
Post subject: 
Yeh i made the mistake of buying one with a sunroof, bad idea for guys like us, and i had about an inch or two of room from the roof and I was 6'4 at the time, I'm now like you at 6'6 so I'm guesssing that space I had free is now gone, so I'd assume my torso is relatively long, I know my legs are, so im kinda screwed both ways :x once I can find a shell i'm replacing the roof with one without a sunroof so that can hopefully help.

If i keep growing for another 3 yrs its only going to get worse :(
Author:  hokkaido [ Thu Nov 12, 2009 3:10 pm ]
Post subject: 
you could theoretically build a custom rail which would be lower than any adjustable rail...

also space the steering wheel closer, so u can get more recline on.
Author:  Vitty [ Thu Nov 12, 2009 5:24 pm ]
Post subject: 
Alright cheers for that, I might take your advice and go down the road of the custom built rails.
Author:  DumHed [ Thu Nov 12, 2009 5:37 pm ]
Post subject: 
I've always mounted my race seats with fixed rails - using the usual side brackets from RPM racegear or similar, with added mounting tabs.
You can sit the seat against the crossmember on the floor, but if you want to go lower than that you'll need to move it back further and use a steering wheel spacer / dished wheel.
Author:  Vitty [ Thu Nov 12, 2009 5:41 pm ]
Post subject: 
seems like every reply is more work lol, I'll put the seat in tomorrow and check out how much head/leg room I have then I'll go from there
Author:  CraZeeE [ Fri Nov 13, 2009 12:13 am ]
Post subject: 
Im not 6"4, 6"1 maybe, but with long legs. With my bride rail I took about an inch out of the back of it by removing the 1"x1" square bar that forms the base and replaced it with a flat 1"x3mm flat steel bar. Also redid the front one so the damn seat is better centralised to the steering wheel.

I also use a 5cm Steering spacer too.....
Author:  hokkaido [ Fri Nov 13, 2009 8:58 pm ]
Post subject: 
found this on zilvia....

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Author:  Vitty [ Fri Nov 13, 2009 9:11 pm ]
Post subject: 
Couldn't work out why the steering wheel was on the left.. took me a second to realise he's a yank :oops: .. but yeh that'd be helpful for alot of us tall buggers
Author:  fergo308 [ Sat Nov 14, 2009 8:02 am ]
Post subject: 
You'd obviously have to engineer something like that,and that design would be unlikely to get through without some spacing plates to spread the load over a wider area.

the floor is pretty thin,and won't take your weight on two narrow points for very long before it starts cracking. if you add a wide piece of flat bar at the rear that runs across the floor and is joined back into the original rails and attached the new mounts to that it might be enough to be considered roadworthy.


Justin...
Author:  hokkaido [ Sat Nov 14, 2009 10:33 am ]
Post subject: 
looks pretty strong, considering the bit they replaced is alot thinner and just spot welded.
Author:  Vitty [ Sat Nov 14, 2009 11:59 am ]
Post subject: 
I doubt I'd do that amount of work just to get abit more room, I just tested out my new seat in the car, if i bolt it straight to the floor I have about an inch of room between my noggin and the roof, once the sunroof is finally gone I should hopefully be able to get in there with a helmet on.
Author:  fergo308 [ Mon Nov 16, 2009 5:14 pm ]
Post subject: 
hokkaido wrote:
looks pretty strong, considering the bit they replaced is alot thinner and just spot welded.


yeah,the original bracket is just spot welded,like the whole car is,but I was more referring to the difference in the way the bars run along the floor and how the load has now been concentrated on one point with the new design,where the original bracket spreads it over a much larger area.

rather than have the bars sit on the floor and then box their sides in,it would be better IMHO to put a wide plate across the floor beneath the end of the bars to increase the load bearing area before boxing it all up.

the way it is there's a chance the bars will eventually punch through the floor as the majority of the driver's weight is on 2 sections of the floor skin that're about 2" square...


Justin...
Author:  hokkaido [ Mon Nov 16, 2009 6:16 pm ]
Post subject: 
ah ok, I get ya. valid point
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