Seat mounting question...

porschenut66 · 05-30-2006, 12:57 PM

I bought a really nice set of BMW E30 series black leather Recaro sport seats since I cannot afford the crazy prices early Porsche Recaro sport seats are bringing. My question is this: I plan on putting them in my '67 912 coupe. Has anyone here done the same/similar, and if so was it a simple bolt in operation or did you need to modify the mounts? I think the track width is the same...Car is not in my possesion yet or I would simply measure myself. Thanks for your input. Dan

porschenut66 · 06-01-2006, 04:01 PM

bump

DW SD · 06-01-2006, 04:19 PM

Maybe try posting in the technical section, as opposed to classifieds?

porschenut66 · 06-01-2006, 06:18 PM

Wasn't thinking...thanks.

rick2 · 06-01-2006, 06:23 PM

This has been discussed on the Early S Registry. I don't remember the specifics but I think those seats are wider or something and the tracks will not just bolt up. Some fabrication???
Rick

jim72911t · 06-01-2006, 10:47 PM

I just mounted these seats in my '72 about a month ago, and no, it was not easy, and no, I'm not very pleased with the results.

First thing: No, they will not bolt up. To make them work, I first tried these adapters which I made from 1/2 x 1-1/2 aluminum bar stock:

These mounted to the stock seat bases in the car. One per side per seat (the extra holes are so I could just make four identical adapters which would work for either side, in either position). Long story short: I couldn't even fit in the car with this configuration; the seats were way too high.

Next step: Remove the stock seat bases (they bolt in), and make some new mounts that lowered the seat by about 1-1/2 inches.

This did the trick but the seats still sit too high, and I doubt I would fit with a helmet. It just doesn't feel right.

The other issue is that, with the brackets I made, the seat sits really far to the outside of the car, so the steering wheel is pretty far to the right of the driver.

IMO, it wouldn't even be possible to mount these seats directly to the floor, as the width of the seat is actually wider than the "channel" that the seats are supposed to fit into.

All in all, this experiment was a huge disappointment. The seats were leftovers from my E30 (found a near mint set locally for $200, so I decided to replace the seats in the E30) so there wasn't any out of pocket cost, just time in the machine shop and garage. I was planning on having the seats recovered with early Porsche sport seat looking vinyl, and offering the mounting brackets here on Pelican. Too bad they didn't work.

I think I'll go with some fixed back Corbeau Classic II seats in the near future.

(And please, no comments on the surface rust on everything. The car had a hard winter/spring, and had to sit outside for a while. It is being taken care of. After all, this car is a labor of love, and a work in progress

)

Good luck,
Jim

Mods: You might want to put this in the tech forum.

porschenut66 · 06-02-2006, 03:23 AM

Wow, what a disappointment for me (and I'm sure you too)! I really appreciate the pix showing the install. That's a bummer about how far left the seat sits vs the steering wheel...who'da'thunk!!! Looks like I'll be leaving the stock seats in for a while until I find something better. Thanks again! Dan