[Rich A]

Today I finished mounting my Kirkey vintage race seats.
Everything fit like a glove.
The only holes I had to drill was the ones to mount the Kirkey brackets to seat.
The adjustable seat tracks holes lined up perfectly with the holes in the Kirkey seat brackets.
I did have to make a custom cross over bar for the seat locks. No big deal there. The one that came with the tracks was to short.
The total cost of nuts, bolts, washers and cross over bar that didn't come with the kit/seat tracks or mounting brackets $16.

 

[Hankl]

Nice work Rich!

Hank
:darkbluecoupe:

 

[Snakebit31]

Very Good Rich,

What adjustable seat tracks are you using?

Rob

 

[Rich A]

Summit Racing
They are 12.5" long x 1.5" wide tracks.

 

[rick8928]

Kirkey Adjustable Seat Mounting Copy Cat

Learned/Borrowed extensively from Rich A (thanks), and will do my share by providing part numbers:

-Seat tracks are Summit # SUM-G1153 (@$27.95 ea pair)
-Kirkey base mounts are Summit # KIR-99204 (@$42.95 ea pair)
-as Rich mentioned, stock latch cross connect wire is too short for our application, used 13" of 1/8" x 1/2" aluminum flat (@$7.47 for 8' at Lowe's)
-for mounting to chassis, purchased several 3/16" x 1.25" x 3' steel flats (@ 7.67 at Lowe's). intend to mount them fore and aft on the two tracks using the seat track bottom studs under the black round plastic hat covers, adding any additional bolts necessary to connect with the chassis steel (plate and 3/4" square tubing) under the cockpit floor
-about $6 of miscellaneous bolts, flat washers, nuts, and lock nuts out of Lowe's hardware bins to complete the job

Used a step drill bit for the first time ever, and found this to be the second most favorite tool discovered on this car project, second only to the angle grinder with cutoff wheel (which will be used to sheer off the extra lengths of the screws mounting the seats to the side brackets, once body is mounted and am sure seat orientation is good).

Went with adjustable seat tracks as I have no plans to road race, only occasional auto-cross and track days. Assuming that these strong seat mountings, plus 5 point safety harnesses, plus dual roll bars will be considered sufficiently safe.

 

[JohnPR]

Looks good, but how much did it raise your seat by? I'm concerned about headroom, so was planning to mount mine directly on the floor.

 

[Rich A]

Looks good, but how much did it raise your seat by? I'm concerned about headroom, so was planning to mount mine directly on the floor.

If you mount the seat flat on top of the rails with spacers, no tilt in the seat it will raise the seat about an 1-1/4".

 

[johnmdanskin]

My seat is on the floor and all the way back (but tilted a little).
There isn't tons of extra room overhead.

(actually, it is 3 washers high, so the crotch strap doesn't get squished.

Another thing to think about is the height of the kirkey seat sides you have to climb over to get in.

My seat bottom is bolted to frame rails with one bolt going into a hole tapped into one of the 6" tubes. When you put on the back brace, the whole thing isn't going anywhere.

Of course, it's going to be hard for anyone who isn't me to drive the thing...

 

[ChazC5ZX]

I mounted the seat tracks verticaly on the sides of the seat and only raised the seat 1/4" off the floor. You do end up with an adjust lever on each side but it worls fine.
Chaz.

 

[Cardiac]

I mounted the seat tracks verticaly on the sides of the seat and only raised the seat 1/4" off the floor. You do end up with an adjust lever on each side but it worls fine.
Chaz.

Got pics? I was thinking of doing that exact thing.

 

[ChazC5ZX]

Ok John I hope this helps[/ATTACH][/ATTACH][/ATTACH][/ATTACH] .Chaz

 

[Cardiac]

That does help. Thanks!

 

[bluehorse]

ChazC5ZX

Just my 2 cents but I don't think you will have ANY head room after you mount the red milk cartons.



could not resist
geezer Tom

 

[Spaceclam]

chaz, what seat tracks are those?

 

[ChazC5ZX]

Hay Clam I guess the are the same as everyone else is using. I got them from summit Racing for the kirkey seat.
Chaz...

 

[331sbf]

Chaz nice idea, Thanks!

 

[Rich A]

Just a heads up.

If you use a seat track/seat adjuster with dual locks (the one I used) you will need two release handles/bars per seat or you are going to have to make a custom bar that releases both locks at the same time if you mount them on the sides of the seat.

Also if you plan on using a single lock seat track/seat adjuster, the seat will have alittle play (seat twist) back and forth when braking and accelerating.

 

[kh6wz]

Kirkey Adjustable Seat Mounts - what about seat belt mounts?

UPDATE - CORRECTION -
For those coming to this step in their build, I need to add this correction - After taking a look at the way the Kirkey high back seats are sticking out above the chassis tubes, I will likely change my seat mounting to the way Chaz did it - mount the sliders to the sides. Updates to follow on this... Good thing drilling has not been done yet.... measure twice, drill once.... applies....



Rich A and rick8928 -
Big thanks to you guys for documenting this. I did some "dry-fitting" of my seats this weekend.

Here are some pictures of my version, driver seat shown - the seat seems very high - this is because the mounting bolts and plastic "hats" are still in place and the seats are NOT bolted in:

How about the seat belt mounting points? Did you use those, or did you have to do something different? Any pictures?

I think the left side belt mounting point is OK, but I am concerned about the right side of the driver seat mounting point - it is not in-line with the belt, and that's not good.

Left side of the driver seat looks like this, and I think this is OK, the belt is in-line with the mounting tab:

But this is the right side of the driver seat - it looks like the belt has to go around the back of the seat and then go through the hole on the side:

How did you solve this?

Thanks,
Wayne

 

[SeattleDad]

Any updates on this? I have all of the parts and would like to install the normal way if it all fits. Being 5'8" I am ok with losing some height but they still have to fit in the car.

UPDATE - CORRECTION -
For those coming to this step in their build, I need to add this correction - After taking a look at the way the Kirkey high back seats are sticking out above the chassis tubes, I will likely change my seat mounting to the way Chaz did it - mount the sliders to the sides. Updates to follow on this... Good thing drilling has not been done yet.... measure twice, drill once.... applies....



Rich A and rick8928 -
Big thanks to you guys for documenting this. I did some "dry-fitting" of my seats this weekend.

Here are some pictures of my version, driver seat shown - the seat seems very high - this is because the mounting bolts and plastic "hats" are still in place and the seats are NOT bolted in:

How about the seat belt mounting points? Did you use those, or did you have to do something different? Any pictures?

I think the left side belt mounting point is OK, but I am concerned about the right side of the driver seat mounting point - it is not in-line with the belt, and that's not good.

Left side of the driver seat looks like this, and I think this is OK, the belt is in-line with the mounting tab:

But this is the right side of the driver seat - it looks like the belt has to go around the back of the seat and then go through the hole on the side:

How did you solve this?

Thanks,
Wayne

 

[mustangwally]

seats

being at this step in my build I am confused about the seats, I am using the same high back seats you guys are using. does the slides come with the kit? I looked thru boxes today but didn't see any slides to mount and adjust the seats with? do I need to purchase that separate?
thanks
matt