Seat Mount

[supermac]

My cage fabricator removed the original seat mount (the stamped piece that goes from the tunnel to the rocker box) in order as he put it "to get the seat as low as possible" for my big ass. Is this legal or am I screwed and if it is legal does it hurt the stuctural rigidity of the car?

 

Also is bolting the seat to directly to the floor a good idea, cause that is my only option now. These are the seats I am considering using are they OK?

 

http://www.sparcousa.com/pseats_comp.asp?id=177

 

By the way its is a 4th gen Camaro.

 

Thanks Cody

[King Matt1548534716]

8.9.8. Other than the stock dash, all other interior parts and panels, including all passenger seats may be removed. Undercoating may be removed. Floor mats, spare tire, tools, jacks, etc. must be removed. There must be no remaining sharp edges that could come in contact with the driver. Other than to provide for the installation of required safety equipment or other authorized modifications, no other driver/passenger compartment alterations or gutting is permitted.

A racing seat is required safety equipment, and it could be argued that installing the seat as low as possible is a safety enhancement because it allows the driver to sit lower in the car and keeps his or her head away from the upper side bar that runs along the top of the window without lowering the seat. In my car, my helmet is pressed up against that bar when I'm belted in, but to lower my seat to clear it, I would need to modify the equivalent structure in the Mustang. A taller driver could move the seat farther back and drop it lower without cutting the support out, but since we have rules that limit the advantage of a light driver, why should height be an advantage?

[bsim]

That "mount" (braket really) is gone in my car too, to fit my 6' 4" head under the cage line. To offset weight (and mount the seat), there's a bar running from the bottom door bar across to the trans tunnel (where it's welded). There are tabs with bolt holes that are used to secure the bottom of the seat. The seat back is mounted to an arm coming off the rear cross bar. This is with an aluminum seat (Kirkey intermediate RR).

 

There are less options with a flexible seat (lal platic, fiberglass, etc.), since they're meant to be secured via the bottom mounts. I know it's not the most productive way to research it, but you should look into the FIA requirements for seat mounting, that may help some for that seat.

[Glenn]

we now take some 1" square tube (1 on the left side and 1 on the right side) and run it from the front seat mount channel to the rear seat mount channel. we make it long enough to span from the front channel leading edge to the rear channel trailing edge. we then notch the channles (1" wide) and weld the square tube into place. the square tube gets 3/8" weld in threaded inserts (minimum of 4) and bolt the seat to the square tube. gets the seat plenty low, and leaves room for the sub belt(s) to be mounted.

to me, the removal of those seat mount channels (driver side and passenger side) is a bad idea. 4th gens have been known to start popping the spot welds in the floorpan in these areas, and the removal of these channels will only make that area more prone to flex and cause more problems. 4th gens can be made light enough w/out removing these parts. my car is @ 2950 or so w/ no fuel or driver.

[tacovini]

Removing the factory seat mounts and mounting race seats directly to the floor using supplied raceseat mounts or/fabricated mounts per manufacturer's recommendations has been done by many cars past and present and is legal provided it meets the CCR and passes NASA Annual Tech.

 

You should be fine provided he mounted it correctly.

[supermac]

Thanks for the info.

 

I did not remove them for weight, my fabricator said he did it for clearance. I am very concerned about safety, flex and legality.

 

He only cut the tops off of them, should I weld some plate on top of what is left and possibly mount the seats to that or remove them completely? They are kind of haggard the way they are now.

[Al F.]

I'd make sure to avoid having sheet metal edges that you can cut yourself on when wrenching on the car. As per Glenn's statements, fixing these would be good from a long term durability of the chassis, though probably not critical in the short term. Also, as Todd said, make sure that seat is solidly mounted. Bolted to the floor sheet metal with those oem seat mounts gone would sound pretty flimsy to me (not that thats what you have entirely)

[Alien]

we now take some 1" square tube (1 on the left side and 1 on the right side) and run it from the front seat mount channel to the rear seat mount channel ... we then notch the channles (1" wide) and weld the square tube into place. the square tube gets 3/8" weld in threaded inserts (minimum of 4).

This is the best / easiest idea I've seen, so I think I'm going to borrow it. Weld in 8 to give a bit of adjustability.

 

Where do you get the inserts? Everyplace I've asked around me had showed me things similar to Timesert for thread repair that are not intended to be welded in.

[Glenn]

the inserts came from Colman and, the first one we did, we put inserts every 2" for a total of 16" of adjustment (4" back and the rest forward from where i we set the seat for a 6' driver).

there are some picks out there. i'll see if i can find them.

[Glenn]

http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/index.php?showtopic=8820

 

this ones not adjustable.