[Solennel]

After browsing around here for a few years on this subject, I thought I might like to post this up.

There're threads here and there about replacing the Spyder's stock seats with other model/make seats, what racing seats are cheapest, what will fit nicely, and so on.

So, rather than another thread on "what ____ seat should I get," how 'bout a semi-orderly compilation?

Mods, please feel free to delete if I've posted a topic already covered in such a manner (hey, I tried to search :blush.

Advance appreciation to the contributors!

• Seat(s); brand and model
  
• Side; driver and/or pass
  
• Price and/or location bought;
  
• Use; I.e. AutoX, track, daily, etc
  
• Ease of installation; I.e. needs special rails, or mounts up relatively well as-is, etc..
  
• Characteristics; I.e change in ride height? Change in cabin space or leg room? Are you using OEM seatbelts, or a harness now? Lots of bolstering, or none? In the same vein, nice and fitted, or wide and "USDM," and so on...
  
• Your opinion/ personal experience/overview, if not listed above;

 

[kfx123]

Pair of S2000 seats from a Ap1.
Prices ranges from 200-1200 depending on condition and seller...I got mines for 280 on a good used condition, no tears!
Used for DD
Installation is pretty strait forward, all you need is a drill, with cone drill bit, a vice grip, a few bolts and nuts, and maybe a dremel if you were to make a bracket.
Ride height is raised a bit, not that it affect me (5'8"), biggest downer of the whole thing is you lose the ability to slide all the way back meaning you lose a good 3-4 inches.
You have to change out the seat belt clipper to the new seats of course.

Overall it looks nicer and since its leather, it help me slide in and out of the car with more ease.
I rather have a the stock leather or redo the brackets completely, since my passenger usually require max cabin room to get in to the car.
I dont recommend this to anyone who has long legs.

 

[Solennel]

Good feedback, thanks!

Only one reply so far, though? I did mistakenly post in Performance Mods, I suppose..

 

[rcntype]

Seat(s); Bride Zeta II replica

Side; Both driver and pass but have not gotten around to installing pass.

Price and Location; Ebay ~450/pair

Use; AutoX, track and Daily

Ease of installation; Custom made by me seat brackets using universal aftermarket seat rails (which came with the seat). Some welding, cutting, drilling but mainly measuring.

Characteristics; With my seat bracket and having the height adjustment with 2 in the front of the seat and 3 adjustments in the back of the seat. You can get it to sit pretty much how you want. On lowest setting using the higher point in the front and the lowest in the back it will sit lower than stock.
- This is a bucket seat so superior bolsters on thigh, back and shoulders. Padding can be taken out if you want to sit even lower or have even more support for racing.
- Cloth cover can be taken out and washed.
- I welded the stock seat belt buckle onto my seat bracket for ease of daily but will be getting harnesses for racing in the future. It has a sub belt hole as well.
- 32 waist and under, no fatties aloud.
- also probably atleast 15lbs lighter than stock with the seat bracket.

Your opinion/ personal experience/overview, if not listed above; Been dd with it for a few months now. Its really great with holding you in. Very comfortable. PITA to get in and out of. My back has started to strain from the slight discomfort of the back shape but this one is waaaay better than some other racing seats i've dd'd. Got me a adjustable air lumber pillow thing and now I can drive in it for hours and feel fresh.

 

[rocwandrer]

Semi-serious reply:

OEM Toyota MR2 Spyder Driver's Side Seat. Foam cut with a razor (should have used a double bladed electric meat knife).

Autocross/Track/Daily Driver Duty

This is well under 1/2" from the carpet on the floor to the seat of my pants, lower than any other seat I've ever heard of. If a Sparco Evo2 could be done with sliders and still be as low, I'd do that, but this is a free solution that is better than anything else I can find. I can't find side mount seats with rails that are any where near as low as this without being too narrow for my fat butt, or needing to be mounted too far forward, or something like that.

I cut the hog rings to remove the cover. I cut the seat foam and test fit until I had a shape that is low, with lots of side bolstering in the bottom. I then re-installed the cover with little zip ties. After some use, the cover stretched to fit the new shape, more or less, and looks at a glance like a stock seat. For street use, I put some foam on top of the cover to roughly replace the foam removed. For autocross and track use, I pull the foam out and benefit from the dramatic lowering and subtle extra bolstering.

 

[NitroMidgets]

Just picked up a pair of seats from a Celica. They can be found for around $200-$325. My Spyder is my daily driver so I wasn't planning on going with anything too pricey for now.

 

[SuperWhiteGT4]

Here's mine:

Cipher Racing "Euro" seats.

Both seats match.

Bought direct at a "Group buy" price that was unbeatable.

I use them for autocross and DD purposes

You can order wedge brackets to fit these, they come with sliders. I custom built my brackets using 5mm thick steel and added seat belt attachment points to the brackets as well. Everything else is stock hardware.

Ride height is down ~1/2" No way to get lower without a skinny ass and side mount buckets. Had to reposition the seats once as any seat with shoulder bolsters will have an issue with where the plastic curves around the outside of the interior Seats have tons of bolstering, but not so much in the legs that the car is any harder to get into, which is the reason I bought this model in the first place. The seat hugs both my hips and sides (I'm a lanky 33" waist) without feeling tight. Seats weight 27.6lbs each and still recline, which makes them extremely comfortable for DD purposes. Also, the padding is just slightly softer than the stock seats, which is very nice. Frame on the seats is fantastic for a "cheap" aftermarket seat- it doesn't flex or twist in any direction, and the manufacturer of the seats has had several seats subjected to Australian Design Rules, which determine the safety of the seats, and has had them pass without issue. (ADR rules are more stringent than DOT rules, but I don't know how they compare to SAE rules)

Couldn't be happier.

 

[NitroMidgets]

I wanted the Cipher seats but once I heard the brackets they offered raised the seating position I had to go another route. They were my first choice.

 

[Im_In_San_Fran]

Pair of S2000 seats ...
biggest downer of the whole thing is you lose the ability to slide all the way back meaning you lose a good 3-4 inches...

6'2" and no issues with how far is slides back...I actually slide it forward for two-hand highway driving. The down side I found was that they don't fold as far forward for rear compartment access (acceptable). I really love them.

Here's my install thread: http://spyderchat.com/forums/showthread.php?48917-How-to-install-S2000-seats-using-S2000-rails&highlight=

Key excerpts are the two ways to do the S2000 brackets.

• I bolted the rear interior location through floor with reinforced metal plate on the bottom (through the Corky B.Plate): http://i1097.photobucket.com/albums/g358/alexTestTT1/PRE_2011-10-08-122341Large.jpg
  
• Zeppelinman took part of the OEM rail and bolted it to the S2000 rail, keeping the OEM bolt location:http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n152/zeppelinman1979/Bphoto.jpg

 

[SuperWhiteGT4]

I wanted the Cipher seats but once I heard the brackets they offered raised the seating position I had to go another route. They were my first choice.

They really surprised me with the quality. I was expecting a cheap seat, and these are that only in the price tag.

Something to consider though- Head to home depot and get a big long piece of 3/16" thick x 3" wide steel. You can bend the front end with a bench vise and any old hammer, like this:

the only piece you need to weld is at the back inside mount, where it bolts to the tunnel. It looks like this (and you can see OKSpyder's seat belt attachment- mine looks very similar.)

If you run down to the local muffler shop, the welds will take less than half an hour and cost maybe $30.

 

[NitroMidgets]

S2000 seats in case you are looking for a set.
http://www.43auto.com
Forty Three Auto USA-MO(Joplin) 1-888-704-7904
They have both seats in excellent condition.
In fact they have a red set and a black set.
$175 per seat.

There is also the guys at Big Leroy's Auto Parts - KOLT USA-TX(Houston) 1-800-288-6725
They are a massive wrecking yard. They have multiple seats of Celica and S2000 seats on hand.

 

[OKSpyder]

I see SuperWhiteGT4 has already shown my bracket pics!

•Seat(s); brand and model - Cipher 9019 in black cloth with suede inserts

•Side; driver and/or pass - both sides

•Price and/or location bought; -$340 delivered with an extra yard of material for speaker panel and door panel. Black Friday special!

•Use; I.e. AutoX, track, daily, etc - Daily Driver and weekend twisty monster.

•Ease of installation; I.e. needs special rails, or mounts up relatively well as-is, etc.. - custom built seats brackets. Thread link--> http://spyderchat.com/forums/showthread.php?49785-Recent-Mods...
seat pics on page 1 with some bracket pics on page 1, 2 and 3

•Characteristics; I.e change in ride height? Change in cabin space or leg room? Are you using OEM seatbelts, or a harness now? Lots of bolstering, or none? In the same vein, nice and fitted, or wide and "USDM," and so on... - As low or lower then factory. Leg room about the same. OEM seatbelts. More shoulder bolster, less hip and leg bolster. Otherway around and you would NOT be able to get in and out....well not at 5' 10" and 230lbs anyway. Seats blow away the factory. Just did a trip to the dragon and back in 4 days, almost 2000 miles and no comfort issues seat related. Seats are also holding up much better then expected, so far no wear.

• Your opinion/ personal experience/overview, if not listed above; - I would do them again if I was looking for another set on the cheap....which I was at the time. They do have a little movement in the sliders and the reclining mechanism does not work the smoothest. End of this year I will probable replace them with some higher end seats.

 

[nocoolname]

I'm still on the stock seats for now, but I got to set in OKSpyder's car at the dragon run. The first thing I noticed was the seats held me a lot better than stock. they did feel like they sat up a tad higher, but the side bolster and overall comfort was a lot better than stock.

 

[u8a]

Pair of S2000 seats from a Ap1.

Ride height is raised a bit, not that it affect me (5'8"), biggest downer of the whole thing is you lose the ability to slide all the way back meaning you lose a good 3-4 inches.

I dont recommend this to anyone who has long legs.

This is good and bad news. I was seriously thinking of the S2k seats. At 6'1" I have the stock seats all the way back and am barely comfortable. Thanks for preventing me from making a costly mistake!

Mark

 

[u8a]

6'2" and no issues with how far is slides back...I actually slide it forward for two-hand highway driving. The down side I found was that they don't fold as far forward for rear compartment access (acceptable). I really love them.

[/LIST]

Whoops. I looks like I might have reacted too quickly.

Mark

 

[Duska]

S2000 seats in case you are looking for a set.
http://www.43auto.com
Forty Three Auto USA-MO(Joplin) 1-888-704-7904
They have both seats in excellent condition.
In fact they have a red set and a black set.
$175 per seat.

thank you for the tip. i went to Joplin today and bought the black set.

forget the red set they are pretty rough

 

[Im_In_San_Fran]

Whoops. I looks like I might have reacted too quickly.

Mark

Note: I have a hard top so I have access to different seating angles with he extra inch of head room.

[Update]: Here's how far back the S2000 seats go in my car. I can measure the leg room also.

 

[rcntype]

You guys welded your seat belt thing to the rear of the seat bracket and not the rail? Then wouldn't the belt be offset/loose depending on the position of where the seat is on the rail?

I welded mines onto the rail so its at the same position wherever the seat is in the rail like stock.

 

[OKSpyder]

You guys welded your seat belt thing to the rear of the seat bracket and not the rail? Then wouldn't the belt be offset/loose depending on the position of where the seat is on the rail?

I welded mines onto the rail so its at the same position wherever the seat is in the rail like stock.

Yes. There was not enough material on the sliders to be secure in case of an accident. I drive with the seat in the full rear position. You can slide the seat forward about 4 inches and still get the seat belt attached. It does not really bother me that you can not attach the seat belt any further forward as typically no one else drives my car.

Better safe then sorry in case of an accident.

 

[SuperWhiteGT4]

You guys welded your seat belt thing to the rear of the seat bracket and not the rail? Then wouldn't the belt be offset/loose depending on the position of where the seat is on the rail?

I welded mines onto the rail so its at the same position wherever the seat is in the rail like stock.

Mine is about 1.5" further forward than OKspyders, and still pivots on the bolt it's on. It sits right where it needs to through the entire travel of the seat. A lot of factory cars actually have the seat belt mounted to the floor and not the seat. In any case, I drive with the seat nearly all the way back, and my girlfriend, who is 8" shorter than I am can drive it much further up to the front.