Warning for those buying seats

[Roy]

So after having gone thru the heartache of getting a fixed seat in my R32 in just the position i wanted...a word of warning for those looking to do the same in the future.

ONLY buy Recaro runners. Buy whatever side brackets and seats you like, but dont buy anything but Recaro rails. I have had probs with my MOMO rails, and looked at two other sets of generic rails, and the design of them all suck compared to the Recaro jobbies. I was told one of those two were Bride but i dont know, i hope it wasnt as the design sucked.

So in January i will have my near new MOMO rails for sale to get some Recaro ones.

I post this as it turns out the MOMO rails happened to be more expensive then the $100 Recaro rails and i relied on the name MOMO, but i was wrong.

Essentially my prob with the MOMO rail is the design, imagine two c-sections of steel running inside one another, just as the rails do. The MOMO and others have two large bearings in the middle so that they can slide realitive to one another, one at each end. They are not captive meaning that a bearing does not always stay at either end of the rail. And then because the large bearing seperates the two c-sections, they also pivot with respect to one another. So once installed in the car it is possible to rock the seat:(

The Recaro are a different design in that where the smaller c-section sits in the larger ones, it has two smaller captive bearings seperating the c-sections at each end. Being captive they are always equally spaced, and the fact that there is a bearing on each side means there is no rocking.

And on a side note, is it illegal to use 4 point harnesses on the street?

Anway, in case soemone else was about to buy MOMO or another brand of rails. maek sure they are Recaros or at least a similar design

[Duncan]

not illegal AFAIK, just a pain in the arse for daily driving

Interesting post, do you have pics as well as drawings?

How did you mount the generic rail to the very unflat floor? And how high is the top of the rail above the highest point of the floor?

[51jay]

When I enquired a few months ago Recaro didn't make rails to suit the Skylines,or at least the R33. Had to make up brackets to fix the rail on the seat to the car,....a whole day of fiddeling and a bit of welding

[pinoi_boi_r33]

not illegal AFAIK, just a pain in the arse for daily driving

Interesting post, do you have pics as well as drawings?

How did you mount the generic rail to the very unflat floor?  And how high is the top of the rail above the highest point of the floor?

it is illegal in vic. Must be a retractable seatbelt i'm pretty sure. Also a non reclinable is illegal in vic. for a four seater. unless u take the rear seats out.

[Roy]

Since im at work and waiting for a fax form OS, ill do a quick CAD Drawing of the rails, can get photos over the weekend.

[Roy]

Basically the rails are not on each side of the seat, The rail is in the normal spot on the driver door side, but the rail that normally goes against the tran tunnel is actually towards the centre of the seat. You then need some tabs off it to pick up the bracket that bolts to the seat...woops i didnt draw that bit:(

Bugger cant upload it the CAD pic is 2,2meg:(...have to wait for pics

[usuckpoo]

Word is for japanese cars, bride rails perform best in terms of design and quality.

The problem with recaro rails is that the seats often end up too high.

[Roy]

Yeh, thing is yuou can get two kinds of Recaro rails and brackets. Standard and low, the low has to be ordered in.

As for quality, if indeed it was a Bride rail i was looking at, then quality isnt the word id use. Didnt slide smoothly, had a fair bit of slack/play in the rail just like my MOMO rail:(

...and the quality of the welding was woeful, sure it would probably be ok in an accident, but you pay that sort of money you want more then crappy stick welds:(

But i dont know how old the BRIDE rail and i dont know 100% that it was a BRIDE rail, no decal / serial no etc.

But for jap cars though im thinking custom frame/bracket with Recaro rails/sliders is the way to go. Especially with race seats as they are oftern very wide and hit the door/window if the position isnt 100%

[armbrusb]

Did you end up getting any pics Roy?

[Roy]

Seat is in car, i just need batteries for camera. The rails are comin gout in a week or two, ( i never have enough time these days:() so i can gusset it up some more to make it even more rigid. After the tune il;l get the Recaro rails, but for the time being close enough is good enough:(

[=premo=]

question. do your seats screw in from the side (brackets mount to side of seats)?? because i have 2 cobra dayton series 2 reclining bucket seats that screw in from underneath like a stock seat. has anyone seen a good rail set-up for these (i havnt looked yet so could be plenty) for an R32??

cheers

[Roy]

Side mount as its fixed race seat.

[Duncan]

question. do your seats screw in from the side (brackets mount to side of seats)?? because i have 2 cobra dayton series 2 reclining bucket seats that screw in from underneath like a stock seat. has anyone seen a good rail set-up for these (i havnt looked yet so could be plenty) for an R32??

cheers

Im using the bride rails in the race car, they are bottom mount. And some fixed race seats are bottom mount too