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Bucket seat install help!!!

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Old 01-14-2013, 08:23 PM
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Default Bucket seat install help!!!

I need some ideas on how to install my new bucket seats for my daily driver. My seats wont bolt up to the stock sliders since the brackets are a bit wider and I am considering just bolting them down some how without the sliders. Anyone have some links or pics of custom mounts before I start this project? Everything I find is someone installing their buckets but not showing how/if they modified them.

My new seats are NRG Innovations
Attached Thumbnails Bucket seat install help!!!-pict3505.jpg  
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Old 01-14-2013, 08:31 PM
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Nice seats.

What are the measurements of the mounting holes? Side mount or bottom? Adjustable?

I've seen people use angle iron for both side and bottom mounts. Keep in mind you can angle iron in staggered sizes. 3x5 for example, 'L'.
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Old 01-14-2013, 08:40 PM
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They're like any other bucket seat mounts




I have thought about just doing L shaped brackets and just mounting them to the floorboard, sliders would be nice but I don't care for them to much.
Attached Thumbnails Bucket seat install help!!!-sidemountsteel.jpg  
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Old 01-14-2013, 08:54 PM
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Measure it out before you commit to the slider idea anyway. It could be too tall and be a waste of time. How often do you move the seat?
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Old 01-14-2013, 09:01 PM
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I never move my seat that's why I feel the slider is pointless. I'm trying to figure out a good way to mount it to the floor with just brackets.
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Old 01-14-2013, 09:10 PM
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1. Locate seat
2. mark drill spots
3. drill
4. put bolts in holes
5. make sure you have some form of backing plate, as well as locking hardware
6. ??????
7. profit.
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Old 01-14-2013, 11:52 PM
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I got a metal bender off the side of the road, got some plates of steel and bent them to sit nice on the stock mounting locations. Then I drilled it out and mounted the L-bracket to it.
Massive PITA to fit and when I eventually have it taken out I will have someone with more fab skills make me a rail. But for now its pretty freaking sturdy.
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Old 01-14-2013, 11:58 PM
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And on the passenger side I just mounted the stock sliders to some L-brackets. Had to extend the holes on the L-bracket to make it fit. I only had to elongate the hole a mm or 2 so its not too dodgy.
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Old 01-14-2013, 11:59 PM
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pics of said brackets?
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Old 01-15-2013, 12:31 AM
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I made my own version of these cost about $20. If you or a friend don't have mad welding skills, order from brian.


Custom Driver's Side Miata Seat Rail for RACE SEATS. for Miata
Custom Miata Seat Rail for RACE SEATS- PASSENGER SIDE for Miata
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Old 01-15-2013, 01:45 AM
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Pics of "road side metal bender"

Attached Thumbnails Bucket seat install help!!!-bender.gif  
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Old 01-15-2013, 09:33 AM
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Ug, I hate mounting seats. I've done 2 and they've both been a pain in my ***.

My current MOMO start has two strips of metal bolted to the bottom. I use the stock front mounting holes, but the seat covers the rears. So the strips stick out behind the seat and I drilled a hole through the floor and use a bolt and a big washer. Keep that in mind if you're not going to use sliders, sliders help during install because...they slide.

Most important part to mounting a seat: Fabricate one thing at a time. Either fabricate the brackets to the car first, or the seat to the brackets. You can't get precise enough measurements to do both at the same time and have it come out in the correct spot.

However, you'll need to do some rough measurements to make sure when you bolt the brackets to the car, they're not too wide or too narrow to bolt the seat to. Get it?

Good luck.
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Old 01-15-2013, 12:32 PM
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And use grade 8 hardware, please. Not just whatever bolt from the bin at Lowes fits. Do that for mockup and assembly, sure. But once you figure out what bolts you need, get real hardware.

Grade 5 is probably fine; most OEM bolts are grade 8 as far as I can tell. Just don't use random bolts of unknown grade.
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Old 01-15-2013, 07:43 PM
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Originally Posted by curly
Ug, I hate mounting seats. I've done 2 and they've both been a pain in my ***.

My current MOMO start has two strips of metal bolted to the bottom. I use the stock front mounting holes, but the seat covers the rears. So the strips stick out behind the seat and I drilled a hole through the floor and use a bolt and a big washer. Keep that in mind if you're not going to use sliders, sliders help during install because...they slide.

Most important part to mounting a seat: Fabricate one thing at a time. Either fabricate the brackets to the car first, or the seat to the brackets. You can't get precise enough measurements to do both at the same time and have it come out in the correct spot.

However, you'll need to do some rough measurements to make sure when you bolt the brackets to the car, they're not too wide or too narrow to bolt the seat to. Get it?

Good luck.
My thought was similar to yours curly. These NRG seats are a tad bit to wide, so they either hit the trans tunnel due to my leg supports or hit the very top of my door panel where my shoulder supports are, so I am trying to work with what I got. I may need to beat in my trans tunnel to make these things works.

I am also considering saying screw the brackets they give you and go another route. The seat fits fairly nice without the brackets and I am considering adding a few strips that just weld to the floor and go straight up to the mounting holes on my seat. Bad part of that is it will be very flimsy I would assume.

Do you have pics of your seat mounting? It makes me regret buying these things, I should have just kept my MSM seats
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Old 01-15-2013, 09:55 PM
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I was just going to ask if you were selling your MSM seats. I liked those.

Feel free to borrow my welder.
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Old 01-15-2013, 10:02 PM
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I went through 3 different sets of bucket seats before I figured out that I'll never, ever, put bucket seats into a daily ever again. Live and learn
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Old 01-15-2013, 11:24 PM
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Originally Posted by hornetball
I was just going to ask if you were selling your MSM seats. I liked those.

Feel free to borrow my welder.
I like them to much to let them go, if I didn't plan to get track time I wouldn't even bother taking them out, now I am reconsidering getting out on track lol

I'v got the welder, just not the confidence of making the buckets work.

Originally Posted by 18psi
I went through 3 different sets of bucket seats before I figured out that I'll never, ever, put bucket seats into a daily ever again. Live and learn
These things are comfy. They feel like a tight fit of my MSM seats. Getting them to fit is just a royal pain in the ***. Guess I may be holding on to these buckets for my next car project I have if I can't make them fit.
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Old 01-16-2013, 12:07 AM
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Trans tunnel beatings are fairly standard, from what I've seen from other forum posts about seat fitment.
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Old 01-16-2013, 04:59 AM
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If you want a extra set of sliders to mangle shoot me a PM. I have a small box with 2 or 3 sets you can have for the low price of shipping. I just can't bring myself to through them away.

I love sitting in my Sparcos, but I don't like getting in and out.
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Old 01-16-2013, 07:35 PM
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How are your sparcos mounted? Any pics?
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