New custom seats for my 911

[TheEasyLife]

I think I have a problem with seats. I have a few pairs already in various states of repair and in my infinite wisdom have just bought a pair of SC Lux seats in very rough condition:

I have given the drivers side one to my friendly neighbourhood trimmers and told them to give it back when it looks like this:



The first pic is from a recent or current online auction website and the others shamelessly borrowed from the Early S registry 'Show us your seats' thread.

I am using Auto Trim in Leicester as my Trimmers as they are local and have a done some work for me befor. They are the UK Recaro service agents and now based a few miles from my house which helps. They have stripped the seat and reckon its an easy job to cut off the tombstone headrest frame and weld in some headrest tubes. Sounds too easy which makes me wonder why nobody else appears to have done this before...

I know what you are thinking, 'a set of Sports Seats when he's wibbled on for he last few years about how good his restored standard seats are' and you'd be correct. Now my rebuilt upgraded engine is run in I am sinking an inch or so back into the seat when booting it then returning when not accellerating. I do like recaro Sports seats and love the scheel ones and this seems like an opportunity to get the recaro sports/scheel look on some period correct(ish) seats at a very reasonable price. I'm reckoning on spending just over £400 per seat for refurb in leather and using the correct Porsche spec corduroy from Southbound trimmers and correct screws and headrest plugs from Canford classics. I also have the option of having them fitted with a 2 stage heated seat element which is very tempting.. I could have made the figure lower by using vinyl and non-porsche spec corduroy but hopefully these will be the last seats I fit in this car (famous last words).

Now all I need to do is work out how to fit some seatbelts and how to ensure they don't sit too high in the car so I can have a helmet on for the next trackday without my neck being at 45 degrees.

So what does the panel think?

Thanks,

James

[Barry]

Oh my word: another set .

Forgive my ignorance: they look like the top set, but you're looking to get them trimmed in the style of either of the two lower ones? When the car had the SC seats in before (see below), they did look a little tall in there, but were excellent seats: very comfortable and held you well.

I'd be tempted to get them to fit in the simplest way and run them for a few months before investing 'proper' money in the refurb. It would be a shame if you spent out and then found they weren't for you.

To my reckoning the car has had at least the following seats:

The original factory seats (when new).
When I first got it, it had Tombstones, to go with the flatnosed 80's look, which I think I gave away to a DDK'er?
I then fitted some very worn standard seats (briefly).
I then removed these and fitted either some Escorty Recaros and / or some Nurburgrings (can't quite remember, I was sure it was the Nurburgrings, but as I was typing remembered looking at some Recaros, and can't recall if these went into the car or not).
I then sold the car to Nigel, who fitted some 964 buckets of some sort.

I know you can add some more sets to this tally James: new record perhaps?

[Barry]

Just read your post again, properly this time, I see what you mean now, sorry .

Yes, I think it's an excellent idea, really good in fact, assuming the seats arrived at the right price. Where would the head-rests come from, or would the trimmers make them from scratch?

Would make for a very interesting 'How To' thread James, if you could get pics of the process.

[Lightweight_911]

Great thinking James !

The Recaro seats you're aiming to emulate (Ideal S) are some of the best you can have in an early 911 (in my opinion) - far better than the sport seats usually fitted.

I'll be very interested to see how these work out.

[sladey]

Excellent idea James!

I've been thinking of doing something similar for a while but had no idea who to get to do it. I've got mid 80's sport seats which I love (they are fantastic) but prefer the look of early seats.

Singer did the same thing on their 911 uber-car



I'd be interested in seeing how they turn out and also getting an idea of the cost

Cheers

Mark

[TheEasyLife]

Barry,

The headrest is a D shaped one and has come from Andy from one of his recent sales. I'd still need a pair of peanuts to be truly period correct though!
I bought the car with 964 tombstones which were very very comfortable but tombstones look wrong IMHO in an early 911. I then put the refurbed standard seats in it and they look the part and are comfortable but not firm enough now I have more power!!!!

I'll try and get them to take pictures as they go but am not holding my breath. The plan is to give the frame a wire brushing where there is surface corrosion and then hammerite it. Chop off the tombstone headrest, weld in some headrest tubes as per a spare standard seatback I've lent them for reference then trim it.

Andy,

Thanks, I'm really looking forward to getting them back and that is really good feedback. I'll bring the car into work in brum and show you once they are all done.

Mark,

I was admiring your seats at Spa with the Impact bumper crowd in 2010 but dont like the tombstones bit then after seeing a rough pair for sale that gave me the idea last year. I wasn't convinced they would look right then saw the idealsitz S in the Early S registry thread and that was it, I had the plan and had to try it hence only doing one at a time for reasons of cost. If it works then the trimmers will have patterns for both seats and will do yours in a much faster time than mine I'm sure. Would you go for a 2 stage heated seat option if you could? I can't have a modern car without heated seats. I'm very very tempted and it isn't that expensive for a pair...

Cheers

James

[sladey]

Not got money at the moment but things will change. I wouldn't go for heated seats personally as they make me feel as though I've wee'd myself. Looking forward to seeing what they look like

Cheers

Mark

[Bootsy]

I wouldn't go for heated seats personally as they make me feel as though I've wee'd myself.
Mark

That's nothing to do with heated seats, it's an age thing Mark.

[sladey]

That explains a lot. I wondered when they started putting heated seats on buses

[Barry]

[74rsman]

Odd but cool .
Like a lot
V chunky but retro

[KS]

Odd but cool .
Like a lot
V chunky but retro

Who? Bootsy?

[Bootsy]

Odd but cool .
Like a lot
V chunky but retro

Who? Bootsy?

That's perfect, I think it should go on my business cards.

[Northy]

I've got a spare pair of tombstone seats that need a re-trim if anyone is interested in them. They are early manual sports seats in brown vinyl with porsche script centres. They would be ideal for a project like this

[shoestring7]

Can anyone tell me; do later (SC or 3.2) seats drop straight into the earlier (73) mounts and runners without modification?

thanks


Charles