Recaro Seats

[Scooby]

Hi there;

I have two Recaro seats with sliders. I need the base frame adapters that go under the seat/sliders so I can bolt the whole thing to the floor of an R32 GTR.

Ideal Seat Co, the Recaro agents, tell me that you can only buy the combined slider/adapter units for $300 each as Recaro no longer supply just the car-specific base frames.

This doesn't sound right to me. That would mean that if you want to keep your Recaro seats and move them to another car you're immediately up for $600; buying them second hand is hard, ever tried to find used base frame adapters for Recaros in Australia? The ones in Japan end up being as expensive as buying them here. It also means that all of those Recaro seats floating around that have sliders attached but no base frame adapter need to have an extra $300 each spent on them.

Last enquiry I made suggested that to get base frames made was going to cost $300 plus $400 for an engineer's cert.

Anyone else faced this problem?

Regards

[blind_elk]

My past experience was to make an adapter out of flat steel to adapt the Recaro to the car's mounting system. All you need to do is get the runners / frame off the Skyline seat.

[Scooby]

i know what you mean but the problem is that the base frame on the GTR seat is one peice with the sliders and the seat base itself ie the part the cushion sits in. i can't really remove the seat base without wrecking it.

[blind_elk]

i can't really remove the seat base without wrecking it.

Which you clearly don't want to do. (And I do remember now that I had the same dilemma)

I was able to get hold of a Bride sub-frame. They can be modified (drill 2 new holes) to take the Recaro.

[armbrusb]

Be careful using the stock runners in an R32 - once you bolt it to a plate or similar, which can be difficult due to the shape of the floor and the inconsistent heights of the runners - you may find that the seats sit very high which is nerdy.

[Duncan]

Well I can get hold of aftermarket seats nice and cheap and have been looking for a cheaper option for ages.

But simply.....the rails are going to cost you more than the seat.

Your only bolt in option for a skyline is a Bride rail min price $220.

You can have a compentant workshop chop and modify the stock rails, but that means you cant sell the original seat to make some cash back since it has been butchered.

Sorry but thats how it goes

[GTR32]

Bride have a different bolt pattern to Recaro so I'd pref the Recaro base frame. It does seem a crappy situation but I'm still not convinced that what Ideal Seat told me is true. I'll keep loooking.

[Duncan]

I can assure you that drilling 2 holes on the top of the frame to fit a bride v recaro pattern will be a *lot* easier than the cutting and welding you will have to do to get the lower rails to match.

BTW I'm checking the compression tomorrow, I'll give you a shout

[predator]

there is no easy solution.. they're an expensive proposition.. and conveniently most of the people that sell these sorts of seats aren't too straight up about the mods to get them to fit... and the words 'universal rail' to many mean just that.

this is why GTR seats command such high prices.. You'd be best off buying a pair of shagged ones, and getting them completely redone with new boulstering and trim. You'd still come out ontop.

[Scooby]

Duncan;

Thanks mate I'm keen to know.

Predator;

They sure are an expensive proposition when you add everything up. And to think that of you want to keep them when you sell the car you're up for another $600 outlay each time. I agree with you about the 'universal rails' and with Duncan about using the orginal rails -not going there.

Have been looking at retrim options for my original GTR seats but have come across a very cheap set of leather Recaros so considering using them. Didn't really believe what Ideal Seat told me (see above) but if it's true then either people are prepared to pay a hell of a lot for Recaros or they're not selling many.

Cheers guys

Edited September 26, 2005 by Scooby

[DarKZer0]

me and dad insatlled the passenger side leather recaro yesterday in the 34 GTT. Wat we realised best way to do it was to simply break apart the base frame from original rails (its bolted on 2 positions and welded so takes a fair bit of f**kein around to detach). Its just practiacally a metal adapter that bolts onto the chasis. Then we bolted thse 2 adapters (on ea h side at the back) onto the recaro silder rail and used 2 pieces of metal plates/sheets to hold the seats as the width of original rails is different to the seats. Took us about 6 hours! but took us over 2 just to figure out best way to go about it. it fits nicely and seems strong enough. Still need to do the driver side now.

Edited September 26, 2005 by DarKZer0

[Scooby]

Thanks, good job. I know it can be done but...as you said...a fair bit of f**kein around'.

Edited September 26, 2005 by Scooby