Long Version:
Problem: I’m 6’ tall, but because of my preferred seating angle (fairly upright), body proportions (more torso than the average 6’er), and past back injury (L4/L5 + L5/S1 disc herniation), I can’t sit in the stock seats without discomfort. If I prioritize seating angle, my skull literally pushes up against the ceiling (in my past cars, sitting upright + lumbar cushion does the trick). If I prioritize body proportion, I’m sitting like a 90’s OG w/ the seat reclined back.
Goal: I needed to gain inches between my head and ceiling at my preferred seating angle.
Measurement: Even after reviewing seat schematics, taking the seat out, etc., I found it very difficult to truly measure the distance between my butt when seated, to the highest part of the 4 mounting points. Here’s the trick: I was sitting on the corner of a park planter with my arm beside me. I realized it was up to ‘here’ where the planter and my butt aligned. Eureka, I sat in the car, made not of ‘here’ and measured to the floor! Now I got my baseline measurement.
Attempt 1: Went to an upholstery shop and we discussed a custom bracket + shaving down the foam in the stock seat. After considering the pros/cons, I decided not to go that route.
Pros: OEM look, maintain all heating + airbag, optimistically 2” gain.
Cons: Cost over $1000 (mainly because of the custom bracket), hacked up stock seat, no guarantee + difficulty to measure true height savings.
Attempt 2: Aftermarket bucket seat. I used to Recaro SPGs (fixed back racing bucket seats) in one of my cars, and I recall the possibility of a very low clearance, easily saving 2+ inches. After researching, I found that bucket seats were going to be the following issues:
As I’m waiting on my Kings Coilover EXTs, and additional 3” + 33s or 35s were going to make a bucket seat a HUGE PITA to get in and out.
Bucket seats are made of composites, unlike the stock seats with metal frames. What this led to is a shelf life. Depending on the bucket seat, the resin content degrades over about a 10 year period and loses strength. Consider my last car was about 13 years old, I didn’t want to deal with this.
Bucket seats are fixed back, no adjustability.
Attempt 3: Aftermarket non-composite seat. Ultimately, I decided on Recaros. Although I don’t have facts/figures/resources to point to, Recaro is the preferred Tier 1 supplier to many automotive brands (Porsche, BMW, etc.). I got a Porsche at home which has stock Recaros (stock, definitely not fancy looking) that I fit very comfortably. They have the budgets to do their R&D to build, IMO, the best automotive application seat out there. Any ways, within Recaro’s product line, I ended narrowing it down to a few seats (Expert S, Classic LS, Orthoped) but didn’t choose them for 1 or more reasons (price, styling, lack of ability to test fit). No showroom I could find in SoCal had these in stock. Instead, I started attending a bunch of Car and Coffee’s to look for these seats – after about 5-6 CnCs, I gave up.
Attempt 4: Aftermarket non-composite seat used in other cars as OE. Viola! I found the Recaro Sportster CS. These seats were big among both the Porsche and BMW community; they also have heating, but no airbag. There is a CS with airbags for Euro only applications – I tried getting my hands on this version, but without having a contact that you trust to ship the seat to, then ship to you, no luck in getting on in the States. There was a lot of confusing information as to which model/makes specifically came with the Sportster, but I didn’t care. I cared that it was the same seat just sold through the OEM. Now I had to figure out would it work – e.g. height savings. I contacted Planted Technologies (Ask for Dan, AWESOME guy) and they help measure exactly the stacked heigh of the seat (butt part), sliders, and low floor brackets (if you get low brackets be sure to ask spacers too $60). By calculations, I was going to save a solid 4”!
Today: The seat’s in, and I have 2+” of room on top. I’m comfortable, back doesn’t hurt. Surprises:
Although others don’t drive my car, a test with shorter people sitting in the seat, they can’t see over the hood (luckily for MTM)! Better find a tall DD .
The seat belt buckle needs its own hardware. Be sure to get a grade 8.8 (or higher) 1” M12 bolt, with 2 washers, and a nylock nut. Put those together and you’re gravy.
I mentioned you need spacers (between sliders and bracket). Otherwise you’ll run into this.
Hinge cover bumps against the seat belt buckle mounting point. Same post.
Issue 1: I’ve been searching online and can’t find the stock seat resistance. I’m trying to use the resistor method to trick the car so the airbag sensor doesn’t go off. Unconfirmed, I found that you could use a 2.4 or 3.3 ohm resistor. Anyone have insight on this?
Issue 2: The seat has its own variable power for the heat – so the stock won’t do. Can anyone link me to how to connect power from the car to the seat? I haven’t done a super deep dive on it yet, but based on my prelim review, looks like my electrical knowledge is insufficient.
