Sitting comfortably? (Pt 6!)

March 29, 2018

It has been so long since I started this project that I’d forgotten i’d already noted down my work FIVE times previously on seats! (See Sitting comfortably? Pt1, Pt2, Pt3, Pt4 and Pt5)But, interestingly, a whole load of the work has finally come together in a way that means I may soon actually fit the steering column, and perhaps the pedal box, for the final time – as the drivers seat is now mounted in the car!!!

I had made a frame for mounting the seats ages ago – thinking i’d use it in combination with seat runners – before I decided to instead use a length of box section to mount the front of the seat, with some separate brackets for the rear, both bolted to the seat runners. But in the end I’ve decided to ditch the runners altogether and have made some rather beefier mounts, combining various things i’ve tried. The original flimsy prototype did prove useful as it allowed me to try out the seat position a LONG time ago and more recently held the seat at the correct angle for me to measure up the final brackets.

I also took inspiration from the side mount brackets which racing cars use and the Lotus Elise seat mounts which get used for fitting Elise seats into other road cars. The obvious difference I needed to cater for has been that my seats have mounting points that go vertically down towards the floor and horizontally towards the back of the car, whereas lots of other bucket seats have mounting points which come of the seats horizontally at either side….

The end result has taken a few weekends to get together, first cutting substantial sides for the brackets from 3mm steel, then welding straight strips onto the bottom edge to form an L shape, then a section of box section to join them at the front, before offering up the seat and drilling through for the holes to bolt up the seat at the back. Then, finally, dry fitting everything into the car before drilling through the floor to bolt them in permanently.