What's with the Street Performer seats?

[steno]

I'm having a bit of trouble getting the seats straight and far enough back so I can keep my knees out of my field of view. Man has got to see the road ahead! Any suggestions?

Sten [img]graemlins/red.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/red.gif[/img]

[schukar]

This issue, in my estimation, is F5R's biggest failure. Who would have thought that they would sell you seats that don't fit in the car. Also, the seats quickly fade to a not-so-pretty pink color.

I pulled back the covering and cut out a section of the tubular frame to get the seat narrow enough in front to mount square with the car. Now I'm restricted to only skinny passengers. It's embarrassing to have to tell people that they are too fat to ride in my car.

If I were in your situation, I would take a look at the Kirkey's. I still plan to do this sometime even though I have effectively ruined the Street Performers.

[jdcbr]

Look at how the drivers seat in a Viper fits. Slighlty twisted and your right foot while on the gas is in line with the middle to left side of your body.

[ October 05, 2006, 06:45 PM: Message edited by: Jim DeQuattro ]

[289FIA_Cobra]

Can't get them straight unfortunately. Both of mine are at an angle that conforms to the transmission tunnel. The price you pay for one of these things.

[Curtis]

Check out this link. This is how I got my seats to sit straight in the cockpit by narrowing the front portion of the seat.

http://www.ffcars.com/cgi-bin/ultima...t/017832.html?

[Sanford]

I pulled in the trans tunnel to the diagonal braces of the center tunnel for room. I then squeezed the front of the seat to set it straight. Then I squeezed the top to clear the body by the door. Then I unsqueezed the middle for my butt to fit better (being careful not to unsqueeze the top and front bottom). I also have Breeze's seat mounts with the seats against the back wall.

[Galla4]

Not to steal the thread. I saw the post on how to narrow the seats a long time ago. I can't find one place that sells those wire rope clamps that are in the picture. Alternative is to use the clamp but the tool is $40. Anybody help?

tim

[Bob McLaughlin]

Steno,
I just sent you a PM that describes the process w/pics I used to get my seats straight in the cockpit.
Bob Mac
FFR3981

[chestnut]

My first car had a slider for
the drivers seat and the passenger
seat was installed to fit the angle
of the drivers seat.
The car I am almost finished with
has modified Mustang sliders on
both sides. My next car is already
fitted for the same seats. I didn't
modify the trans tunnel or the seats.
I'm glad I didn't know how much
trouble it would be to install
these seats, or I would never
have been able to accomplish this
impossible task.

[99atlantic]

Originally posted by Mojo:
This issue, in my estimation, is F5R's biggest failure. Who would have thought that they would sell you seats that don't fit in the car.

They don't fit at all w/o serious modification? That's weird; I was goign to go w/ them just because the stock 'half' seats don't look very neck-safety condusive if you get rear-ended.....

[USMC]

It's probably not the worst design flaw. That would have to go to the door locks.

But, to narrow them, I used one hydraulic jack under the front of my truck to narrow the frame in the front while simultaneously using another hydraulic jack where my but goes to keep that section from getting too narrow.

Also, you will have to move the parking brake forward about 2" if you haven't already moved it somewhere else. Oh, add that to the list of contenders for greatest design flaw.

[Wolverine]

If you raise the front of the seats about 2" and the back about 1", they will sit in straight. You also don't have to move the e-brake. And as a bonus, it's more a comfortable position with the seat tipped back slightly. I did this with modified donor sliders. Works perfectly.

I am a little worried about that "fade to pink" comment, though. Didn't know that one...

[Landscaper]

I follow Bob Mac instructions on cutting the frame. I place a copper tube inside but did not fasten it. I collapsed the seat with straps and then with the straps still in place I positionned the seat. Once I had it aligned and supported on the inside I released the straps and allowed it to expand towards the outside. Seat gained back some of the width and the alignment is fairly accurate. fastened the 2 sections of the seat with the copper tube.
Have to admit one of the most annoying parts of the build.
Jimmy

[Rick Cadogan]

I used a carpenters pipe clamp to squeeze my seats, I protected the seat with a rag and counted the revolutions so they were even. Then I gave them two coats of high tech fabric guard #303 from summit, 1 year and 3500 miles in so cal and all is well ! I also added another 2 inches in the front of Breeze's seat brackets and I am very comfortable.

Rick

[Raul Iglesias]

Chester/Wolverine; You guys are absolutely correct, THERE IS NO NEED TO MODIFY THE SP SEATS, they fit much better and are more confortable when tilted back slightly.

[steno]

Thanks everyone!
First, I'm going to go with the tilting method.At the present time I just have a 2x4 under the front edge and it is much more comfortable.I,m 75" tall so I'll try raising the seat a bit and see how that works out.

Again thanks,

Sten

[Chepsk8]

I used the BREEZE angled mounts, made a pocket in the trans tunnel, and got them fairly straight without having to squeeze them to sacrifice "Butt room". Very comfortable, and they held me in place during my crash.

Don't just look for faults, look for solutions. Have you ever sat in an original Cobra? THEY ARE BRUTTALY BAD & UNCOMFORTABLE!!! Badly angled, NO footbox, no tilt, I was sore after 20 minutes.

Yes, the material is not designed for direct exposure. I am looking at re-upholstering.

[img]graemlins/orange.gif[/img]

[stang8s]

I just spent a few hours redoing my drivers one, got it a bit more straight. My biggest problem is the mount for the seatbelt near the tranny tunnel. Keeps the seat from going all the way back.

[99atlantic]

Originally posted by Raul Iglesias:
Chester/Wolverine; You guys are absolutely correct, THERE IS NO NEED TO MODIFY THE SP SEATS, they fit much better and are more confortable when tilted back slightly.

How did you tilt them back? Using the Breeze streetperformer seta install kit, or some other method?

[LT1FFR]

You do not have to modify the seat!

I mounted the front of the seat to a 1" piece of square tubing going across the front of the seat. The square tubing will have an offset to the outside of the car by about 1.5" (meaning it will stick out to the outside of the seat by 1.5"). The rear of the seat attached to the seat tracks directly. Take the seat tracks and mount them parallel to the trans tunnel; kinda like this \\ //. Then mount the 1" square tubing to the front of the seat track once the seat is positioned straight ahead.
Sounds more complicated than it is, just make sure your tracks are perfectly parallel with each other, a slight "massaging" of the trans tunnel can help for the front inside edge of the seat.
This way gives you adjustable distance to the pedals, a slight rake to the seat, and the seat will travel parallel to the trans tunnel while always staying straight ahead.
I used Miata seat tracks thinking that they would fit better but, the performers are very comfy!

[Raul Iglesias]

99atlantic:
The drivers side only needed the slide tracks and shims to tilt to match the passenger side angle.

The passenger side tilt was dictated at the rear by two 1/8" flatbars and at the front by the height of the e-brake handle. The front was raised high enough to clear the e-brake (MK 1) at its highest position, tiltling the seat back so that two steel flatbars (1" X 1/8") would fit between the carpet and the rear of the seat. Extending out from either side of the seat about 1 1/2", one flatbar bolted to the floor frame braces (threaded holes into frame), the other bolted to the rear seat holes. In order to get the two bars as close as possible, I drilled out holes to accomodate the hex bolt heads to the seat and the frame bolts.

At the far end of the flatbar I drilled and tapped(3/8")the holes of the flatbar bolted to the frame and drilled a 3/8" (slightly bigger for bolt wiggle room)to the seat, in order to run a bolt down to the threaded holes.

At the front, I used aluminum 2" angles to from an S, with the upper bolted to the seat and the lower bolted to the X brace running underneath the floor. Two 3/8" holes (3/8" bolts and hardware) to join the upper and lower pieces.

As it stands now, I can remove my seats by taking out 4, easy to get to, 3/8" bolts. BTW the seats are rock solid.

Sorry about the long post, my fingers are tired. Hope I didn't miss anything.

Raul

[99atlantic]

Interesting.....*goes to print for when he installs seats*

Thx; cheers [img]graemlins/beer.gif[/img]