Momo Start seat
 

I'm thinking about pulling the trigger on one for use on the track. If it is not too uncomfortable I might just leave it in. If it is, I'll switch the stock seat back in for DD duty. I have been reading up on seats like a madman and I think the Start is the way to go without spending an obscene amount.

So, the question is, where to buy them? The going rate on ebay, the MomoUSA site, and elsewhere seems to be about $300 + shipping. The bottom mount ones are still available, as well as the side mounts. Anyone seen them elsewhere significantly cheaper?

I've been keeping an eye on craigslist. I thought I found a deal on a pair of used Bride Vios III seats locally in good condition, then figured out they were fakes :loser:

MOMO START

but they're $365+shipping, and side mount only.

I found mine for $80. 6'3" SM driver put it in once, decided he needed an aluminum seat bolted to the floor for head clearance, and the Start sat in his garage for 3 years. I replied less than an hour after he posted it on craigslist though, so I was pretty lucky.

Edit: forgot to say: granted there are other uncomfortable factors to deal with while driving in my car, but I wouldn't DD a Start.

I DD my MOMO T-Club's

Attachment 204750

/\/\/\
hot as fuck.

OK I pulled the trigger on two Momo Start seats, the bottom mount style. I could not find anything cheaper that I liked in a fiberglass bucket model. It will take some time to get them installed (lots of other stuff to do) but I'll post picts.

Though it is a less important feature, I like the (relatively) understated graphics and overall look to the Starts. If I had my way, the stitching on the Momo logo would be blacked out. In fact if I decide to keep the seats long-term I might dye the logo black.

I've had my Momo start in for almost a week now and have not become uncomfortable in it yet. My commute is about 45 minutes with traffic. I'm going to leave it in and drive from Atlanta to the gap which is 3+ hours. I'll report back as weather or not I was able to walk after.
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^^ Awesome, good to know, thanks. What is your height and waist size? I am 5'7", 170 lb, 34in waist, stocky build.

That's just because you are OLD.:fawk:I'd do the same. Big fan of "no logos". If they want me to advertise for them, they can pay me.

In for pics.

5'8", 205, 38" waist, stocky also
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Thanks for the info y'all. I'll put up some picts when I have them ready.

I agree, I am old, and I do not like logos. What possible purpose do they serve?
Free advertising for the company? Ghey.
I wantz ta rephuzent 2 da peepz I has Momoz awesomez in da haouse? Ghey.

Whenever I buy a new part and it comes with logo stickers, I give them to my daughter. She gets more of a kick out of them than I ever will.

LOL, I like the shops that actually make you PAY EXTRA for stickers. WTF?

I need to adjust it a little but it fits pretty good. IIRC Savington ran these seats also. And the logo on this seat isn't that bad
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I am concerned about the door bars working but based on what I have read/seen and your picture I think I can make it work. How much space do you have (if any) between the outside surface of the side bolster and the door panel? I'm only concerned about the area at about waist level.

None, the section above the label sits UNDER the door handle. I'll see if I can get a good pic.

Edit: You have MAYBE a 1/2 inch. That green thing is a pac of gum for reference.
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Not good. Can the seat be shifted to the right or is it already up against the trans tunnel? Will the sides flex a bit? I Gotta make it work; I do not want to give up my door bars.

Thanks for the fast response BTW.

You wont get it any closer to the tunnel without it being crooked. The sides might flex a little but I doubt enough to fit a bar.
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This is going to be interesting :facepalm: :)

Keep us posted. Id like to know if I could fit door bars.
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Dibs on ZX's seats when he gets them and they don't fit. For the right price, of course.:laugh:

lmao.
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I never bought door bars because I couldn't see a way to fit them with those seats.

Yeah I was already thinking about resale LOL. They will cost you more than the plug wires though.

Too late to cancel the order, no returns. I'll make them work one way or the other and already have some ideas. I live for this shit, and it is what I do at work anyway in a generic sense, though on a much more expensive scale.

Stay tuned.

If you happen to resale sometime around mid-September would be preferred since that's my birthday and I'll be able to call local dibs.


Seriously, I was almost dead set on Corbeau Forzas, but these look to be worth the price difference.

First dibs > local dibs.:magna: But, if they come up mid-Sept, you can have them as I will be in Canada for my favorite time of year, muskie fishing for 10 days and won't be able to respond to the ad. Already can hardly stand the wait.

BTW, who was the genius that thought leather seats belong in a sports car? I'm sick of trying to hold myself in place around any reasonable bend in the road.

Now that this thread has drifted from purchase to install, how did you guys install them. I was under the impression they can mount directly to the stock rails by drilling two holes.

I drilled two holes in the stock seat rail and the seat mounted on the stock rail fine. I went to put it in my '94 and discovered the width of the MOMO Start mounting holes were slightly narrower than stock. While the seat mounted on the stock rail fine, the rail would now not align with the bolt holes on the floor of the car.

That was how I originally did it (see pic below) but the seat was way to high, higher than stock. So I had to pretty much mount it to the floor.

Attachment 204719

Note the height compared to the roll bar
Attachment 204720

These 2 are without the factory rail.

Attachment 204721

Edit: I've been looking for those keys. lol

Attachment 204722


When I get back from the Gap I'm going to play with it some more, I think I can get it 1/2 to 1" lower.
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Glad I found this thread.. Don't want to start another seat thread but do have question about DD race seats.

Just picked up a pair of Corbeau Forza's.. Whats the rule of thumb about street driving with 5 point harnesses? I've heard stories that they're illegal, unsafe for street driving, just not a good idea overall? Have no clue myself so thats why I ask, and the car is very very far from a daily driver but I do drive on the street often...

I wouldn't want to do it. It is illegal and uncomfortable, not to mention incredibly hard to check your blind spot while merging or passing. I do it occasionally and it's a huge pain, take forever to buckle, then you go to close the door and you can't reach. Never use a stock belt with a race seat or a 5-pt. harness with a stock seat.

I think the part that will interfere most with the door bar is going to be the flared portion on the front vertical edge. If I can deal with that I think it will work.

I think if you remove the cover you should be able to cut away the flared part. I was feeling up on it when I left work and it basically comes up and then curls out. I see no reason why you couldn't cut out a 2-3" section of it without hurting the seat.
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Well I'm using the stock belts on the Forza seats right now. Routed the top belt through the back opening on the seat. With my roll bar's belt mount it was in the perfect position to route. Then the lap belt door location I ran it thorugh the hole in the side, then just wrap around and back to the rear right hand side for the drivers buckle.

I don't see anything wrong with it, but like I said... I honestly don't know any better.

Are you also saying don't use 5 point harnesses with racing seats on the street?

Yes.

I've done it, but it's not the smartest thing. A race car is incredibly safe, but only with all safety systems included. These include full cage, fia rated seat and harness, and helmet. That being said I have all of that except the helmet and only a hdhcdd, and like I said, I drive on the street occasionally. I don't want to say much more because it could be argued by some forever. Bottom line is: I suggest stock with stock, and race seat with race harness, but only on the track.

That being said, although I offer this opinion repeatedly, I won't piss and moan if you do use it on the street. No one's going to stop you but the cops and your sore ass.

I do also have the HDHCDHHT (LOL!) roll bar with harness tabs.

Been thinking about getting some Corbeau 5pt harnesses and just use them for the minimal I drive on the street with my Forza seats.. Its just such a huge pain in the ass to take those seats out and put the factory seats back in, and if I ever wanted to go auto-x I can't trailer the car there so I'd have to use them anyway.. I dunno.. *shrug* Fuck it, I'll just wear the helmet while I'm street driving, that won't get me pulled over quickly or anything. ;)

I do also have the HDHCDHHT (LOL!) roll bar with harness tabs.

Been thinking about getting some Corbeau 5pt harnesses and just use them for the minimal I drive on the street with my Forza seats.. Its just such a huge pain in the ass to take those seats out and put the factory seats back in, and if I ever wanted to go auto-x I can't trailer the car there so I'd have to use them anyway.. I dunno.. *shrug* Fuck it, I'll just wear the helmet while I'm street driving, that won't get me pulled over quickly or anything. ;)

exactly, my only hope is that people keep the unsafe driving to a minimum. I drive to to the track, whilst tuning of course, and a couple dozen beer/grocery runs a year, just for fun and to see people's reactions to a race car on the street, in Hicville Oregon.

I forgot to mention, I have more like 2" between the side bolster and door card. That's without any compression of the door car, or bending of the seat. Who has door bars and can measure from door card to inside edge of the bar for us? My Start is mounted to the stock sliding rails.

That is exactly what I am thinking I will try.

There are so many things wrong with your seatbelts it makes me sick. :vash:

But some people like severely catastrophic spinal compression...

Got the seats in today. For sure I will need to trim those lips on the sides to get them to fit. It looks like removing the cover will be easy enough, at least for the part I need to access. I also need to figure out what thread the mount holes in the bottom of the seat are tapped for.

Other than that I really like the seat. It fits me well, and seems comfortable enough. The shoulder belt holes are in a good spot for my torso.

In for second local dibs!

Chris

EDIT: Bad WiFi Connection Double Post fail, please delete.

Chris

No way. I am going to make these bitches fit. Really the only issue is the lip at the front of the seat. A little trimming and it will drop right in.

BTW a couple of tidbits of information on the seats:
1. The threaded inserts that are located in the bottom mount version (what I bought) have M8-1.25 threads. The vendor says a 35mm bolt is about the right length.
2. To remove the cover, there is a drawstring that goes around the bottom of the seat, like a drawstring on a pair of swim shorts. Loosen the drawstring to loosen the cover.

So do you think there is any possible way of bottom mounting these to sliders and have them not be too high?

I ask because I need new seats but cant bolt my seat to the floor or my gf will never be able to drive it again.

TBD (to be determined). I think so, not sure yet, need to do some more measuring. I want to mount them with the stock sliders.

If I were bolting to sliders:

-Get MOMO generic sliders. The OEM sliders have no hope, don't even try.
-Drill/knock out the stock seat mounts to get them out of the way.
-Use aluminum barstock and steel backing plates to bolt the sliders to the car. Angle them so the seat is at an angle you like
-Attach the seat to the sliders, install

That's the only way I can see to get sliders and a low-mounted seat.

Maybe this is specific to the start, but people have had great luck with the sparco sprints on stock sliders. The only reason i'm not sure I wanna go with the sprint is that I hear tube frame seats aren't comfy at all and part of the reason i'm in the market for a seat is that my stock seat isn't comfy at all since the foamectomy.

^^ Agreed. When I read up on it, I thought I would be able to get it to work with the stock sliders. I also passed on the Sprints for the same reasons you mentioned.

Anyway, we will see. I hope to start digging into it soon and will report back.

Did someone say sparco sprints?

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_u_Fa91MHhi4/Sm...0/DSC_0056.jpg

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_u_Fa91MHhi4/Sm...0/DSC_0055.jpg

Sprint junior seats installed on my car. The passenger seat utilizes the stock redrilled rails while the drivers seat is bolted to the floor. I would like to install sliders on my drivers side but I am in the process of figuring the cheapest way to do it.

Thread Jack:

I can't believe this deal. Two new in the box Sparco Sprints, WITH sliders WITH shipping for $249?

2x sprint bucket seats Sparco Type free sliders & deliv:eBay Motors (item 140334618739 end time Jul-23-09 18:42:18 PDT)

That is a smoking deal, too bad they are yellow.

It's shipping from the distributor, so I emailed him to see if it was the yellow only or if other colors are available. I'm guessing yellow only.

Yeah that is a smoking deal. I like yellow in some contexts, but in my dark green mica car? :barf:
Black dye could fix that though. I might have been tempted despite the complaints about steel frame comfort. Oh well, cest la vie.

Those are NOT sparco sprints. They are chinamen seats.

I just really wish there were more local dealers that you could go visit and sit in seats to try them out.

+1

to see what real sprints look like, look at my pictures in this thread

OK these next two images are dedicated to all you butt-vultures who thought I would bail on these Momos because of the door bars causing fitment problems...

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_jh2HiMm4nKQ/Sm...6/P7210137.JPG

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_jh2HiMm4nKQ/Sm...2/P7210141.JPG

All you bolt-on m.netters can gawk at the manly awesomeness of my fabrication skills.

:fawk: :giggle:

Seriously though they are going to fit fine after I trimmed some fiberglass off of the lip area at the front of the seat. I just removed the hog rings, loosened the draw string, peeled off the cover (that sounded pretty ghey so far), fit the seat in the car, marked off the offending portion, cut it off with a hack saw, smoothed it up with the palm sander, reinstalled cover. Probably spent 30 minutes on it.

Seat rails to follow. I think I can make the stock ones work.

Do you think the cutting you've done does any thing to the structural strength of the seat making it unsafe? Otherwise it looks great

Good deal. After the pile of stuffs that my wife saw the other day, new seats (which she would even recongize as "not stock") wouldn't have been in the cards anyway.:hustler:

I think they will be fine structurally. The part I removed is more cosmetic than anything IMO. But I am sure someone will be along soon to tell me how I am going to give cute kittens (and innocent babies) fatal cancer by doing this.

you're going to give cute kittens and innocent babies fatal cancer.

If those are the '1st gen' bottom mount Starts, you can use the stock sliders. There's a write up on m.net about it. Don't be alarmed since I think it's for an NB, it worked perfectly on my NA. The holes in the stock seat aren't quite parallel, while the momo's are. So as the write up says, you'll have to auger out one of the holes a bit.

here, I barfed a little but I found the link:
Racing Seat & Harness Installation