What if seats don't fit? (trimmed and done!)

[facultyofmusic]

I got myself a nice pair of bucket seats. I thought they were quite narrow, but after putting it in the chassis I realized the shoulder tabs may not fit:
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My question is what are my options if my seats don't fit? I know that people modify their doors to give extra room for steering wheel, maybe I can do the same for seats? Maybe I can modify the seats so they protrude less on the outside?

[Jeff Kleiner]

You’ll need to put the body on before you can position the seats.

Jeff

[GoDadGo]

You’ll need to put the body on before you can position the seats.

Jeff

Or at least the doors & latch assemblies, but Sir Jeffski is right as he normally is.

[Jeff Kleiner]

Or at least the doors & latch assemblies, but Sir Jeffski is right as he normally is.

Really need the entire body on. Although there can be conflict with the doors and latches the usual area of interference with high back seats…especially ones with the wings like these Sparcos have…is with the body where it curves around aft of the doors.

Jeff

[facultyofmusic]

I'm aware that I need the body on to fit the seats. What I'm asking through this thread is what if they don't? What can one do?

[Papa]

I'm aware that I need the body on to fit the seats. What I'm asking through this thread is what if they don't? What can one do?

I've seen some re-shape the wings to get similar seats to fit. That involves removing the cover and modifying the seat structure and padding and cover, which can be done by any good custom upholstery shop. Another option, although I'll defer to the body guys, would be to modify the body to accept the wider portions of the seats. Of course, you can always switch to different seats.

Dave

Edit: I found the video I recalled seeing:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDv1JsipJ68

[facultyofmusic]

I've seen some re-shape the wings to get similar seats to fit. That involves removing the cover and modifying the seat structure and padding and cover, which can be done by any good custom upholstery shop. Another option, although I'll defer to the body guys, would be to modify the body to accept the wider portions of the seats. Of course, you can always switch to different seats.

Dave

Edit: I found the video I recalled seeing:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDv1JsipJ68

That's the exact kind of mod I'm looking for! Thanks Dave! Great find!

[Hoooper]

Those pictures look like they oughta fit no problem. Specs on that seat look a little bit smaller than a corbeau fx1 pro, which is what I have in mine. My shoulder wings overhang the body slightly but have an inch or so of extra room if I wanted to tilt more, with the rear bottom of the seat sitting on the floor and the front tilted to the max on floor mount brackets.

[facultyofmusic]

Those pictures look like they oughta fit no problem. Specs on that seat look a little bit smaller than a corbeau fx1 pro, which is what I have in mine. My shoulder wings overhang the body slightly but have an inch or so of extra room if I wanted to tilt more, with the rear bottom of the seat sitting on the floor and the front tilted to the max on floor mount brackets.

Thanks! Your post of one of the first search results that showed up. By eye-ball they looked similar but might as well be prepared for the worst :p

[Dave 53]

You can sell them to me for a fair price for my 818S. Seriously, if you do give up on them, hit me up. I'm in the East Bay.

[facultyofmusic]

You can sell them to me for a fair price for my 818S. Seriously, if you do give up on them, hit me up. I'm in the East Bay.

Thanks Dave! I'll keep this in mind.

[facultyofmusic]

Ok so the seat don't fit. The shoulder wings that flare out on the side is at the same height as the body panels. For it to be bolted onto the floor it has to tilt at an extremely awkward angle:
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The shoulder wings overlap about an inch.
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Before I modify the seats, how bad of an idea is it to modify the BODY to accommodate the seats? I know that some folks modify the driver side door so their hands don't hit the door when they're gripping on the old style large steering wheels.

[Jeff Kleiner]

…how bad of an idea is it to modify the BODY to accommodate the seats?…

Well, since you asked………it’s a pretty bad idea.

Jeff

[rthomas98]

Ok so the seat don't fit. The shoulder wings that flare out on the side is at the same height as the body panels. For it to be bolted onto the floor it has to tilt at an extremely awkward angle:
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The shoulder wings overlap about an inch.
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Before I modify the seats, how bad of an idea is it to modify the BODY to accommodate the seats? I know that some folks modify the driver side door so their hands don't hit the door when they're gripping on the old style large steering wheels.

Are the seats sitting on the floor or are they on a mount or a slider? If on the floor I would consider a mount or slider that little bit of height might be enough to get the wing over the top of the body. But also not sure of your height either if that plays a factor or not. Just a thought.

[Blitzboy54]

I honestly don't see where the conflict is. Seats look like mine did. I think they will fit fine.

[john42]

How low to the floor are they? My Kirkeys have the same shoulder wings and they are mounted up just barely enough that the wings are above the door.

[CraigS]

Why is modding the body a bad idea? I'd rather mess around w/ the body a bit than assume I am qualified to mod the structure of the seat w/o losing it's strength. I remember someone years ago who basically moved the edge of the body back maybe 1.5 inches. He did it nicely and you really couldn't notice it unless it was parked next to another FFR. I think he fudged in a little bit of extra width too. Notice that immediately at the door opening the body starts getting narrower so, if the entire edge of the body, door opening across to the other door opening, were moved straight backward you would automatically pick up a small bit of width where the seat is interfering now. How much width do you need? If you need a little more than you can get w/ just modding the body behind the door, heck mod the door too. You could easily gain an inch by modding the door and the body. You could also angle the seat looking at it from the front by leaning it toward the center of the car a bit. I don't know how the seat is built or how you will mount it but think of laying a piece of a yard stick under the right (outer) side of the seat. A 1/4 inch thick spacer would move that wing in maybe 1/2 inch. Would that angle feel weird? I don't know, but we already get used to a seat that is pointed out towards the front tires so a slight angle could be gotten used to also. And, if you pop the upholstery off that outer wing and trim the foam cushion down a bit........

[facultyofmusic]

Are the seats sitting on the floor or are they on a mount or a slider? If on the floor I would consider a mount or slider that little bit of height might be enough to get the wing over the top of the body. But also not sure of your height either if that plays a factor or not. Just a thought.

The seats are on mounting brackets which will be bolted to the floor. The brackets raise the seats off the floor by about 1/4". I specifically chose seats that sit low due to my unfortunately long torso. With the regular low-back seats my head peeks above the window. :(

[facultyofmusic]

I honestly don't see where the conflict is. Seats look like mine did. I think they will fit fine.

In one of the pictures it looks like it sits fine, but the bottom of the seat bracket is actually floating an inch above the floor. To get the seats bolted to the floor the seats have to come down (due to my body dimensions) and that won't work without trimming the wings.

[facultyofmusic]

They are very low. I did this on purpose because my torso is too long and my head sticks above everything else like a sore thumb otherwise. Looking at the Kirkeys, I think all I have to do is trim the bottom of the wings a bit. I don't have to trim the whole thing. Thanks for giving me that idea!

[rthomas98]

won't be the cheapest option. But have you talked to an upholster shop on trimming back the wing and re-upholstering the seat? Doesn't look like you got to remove a lot of material to get it to sit.

[JohnK]

I agree - if the cover slips off the seat it would be pretty straightforward to take the cover off, trim the wings back as needed, have an upholstery shop tweak the cover and slip it back on. IMO I'd definitely look at going that route vs. modifying the body.

[facultyofmusic]

Okay, sounds like modifying the seats are the way to go. :). Thanks everyone!

[Hoooper]

I would suggest placing the driver's seat where you want it first, and then fitting the passenger side to match. It looks like the passenger side is further back than the driver. If nothing else, getting them in the final location will help make sure you trim the right spot

[SJDave]

Daniel, Kevin had his Kirkey seats redone in leather by a small shop in Morgan Hill that was very reasonable for the quality of work. The shop John K. used is Top of the Line and way beyond what most of us can afford. Text me if you don't have Kevin's phone number.

[facultyofmusic]

The results were much better than I expected!

I marked the areas that were interfering with the body and trimmed it using a die-grinder and carbide router bits.
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The seat wraps hold their shape even when the hard bucket material is trimmed back. Unless you look closely you can't even tell!
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Did the same for the driver side seat. You can see the trimmed area more clearly from the back, but still not something you'd notice easily.
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Now both seats are in :p
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Now my head feels much safer!

[CraigS]

Nice work. The cover stays in it's normal position until you close the door and then it just hinges. Excellent.

[GoDadGo]

Looks Like A Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner Solution!