New custom seats for my 911

TheEasyLife · Post by **TheEasyLife** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 9:57 am

shoestring7 wrote:Can anyone tell me; do later (SC or 3.2) seats drop straight into the earlier (73) mounts and runners without modification?

thanks

Charles

Charles,

No they don't. You need some adapters/rails/call them what you want. My 73 came with some 964 seats which were on adapters. Be aware that these seats then sit higher in the car as I think early 911's have their seat rails higher than in impact bumpered cars.

As a part of this project I also need to fabricate some new adapters. Do a search on here for a post by Mick Cliff re his Desers and there are some other examples of adapters there made by Alan at Canford Classics which should give you a few ideas...

Edit: http://www.ddk-online.com/phpBB2/viewto ... =2&t=32242& is the thread I was thinking of.

HTH

James

Lightweight_911 · Post by **Lightweight_911** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 9:59 am

The (side-to-side) distance between the runners is less on the later seats so you would need to fit a pair of adapter plates (I have the dimensions if you need them).

Oops

- too slow !

shoestring7 · Post by **shoestring7** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 10:32 am

Thanks. I'll need to do some more research. The car I've bought has some nasty 90's generic sports seats fitted. Apart from looking gash they are far too high. I'm over 6ft so need to sit lower - in any case I much prefer stitting low in any car.

Charles

Lightweight_911 · Post by **Lightweight_911** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 4:53 pm

According to Marco @ TLG these seats in the RS replica for sale on Pelican were made from later 'tombstone' seats in a similar way:

TheEasyLife · Post by **TheEasyLife** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 5:28 pm

Thanks for sharing the pic Andy.

I was certain that I wasn't the first to have done this but its nice to see what mine will look like soon. I have had some funny responses from people in the trade when I tell them I'm putting SC seats in an Early 911.

I'm hoping to have all the bits so that the the trimmers can start next week. I can't wait..

Cheers

James

TheEasyLife · Post by **TheEasyLife** » Fri Feb 24, 2012 9:20 pm

I come bearing good and bad news. The good news is I arrived at the trimmers this afternoon just as they were closing and the seat is almost complete and looks good. The bad news is that we've discovered that the left hinge is not original, probably from a 72 or 73 standard seat and as such the connecting bar location at the back is out in relation to the right hand side one by circa 0.5CM and the hinge sits proud of the seat at the back unlike the original which is flush. Aargh!!! Gutted. Is this why they were so cheap? It is too late to replace both hinges with standard seat ones as the back has been trimmed with a hole for the recline knob and the standard seat ones don't fit the connecting bar. The chances of finding a spare left hand hinge for a 74-79 sports seat are very slim to none. They sell them in the US but for $600 each then plus shipping and import taxes and postal charges makes this not an option. I do have an offer of another pair of identical seats from within the trade but thats spending more hundreds of pounds to buy another set of seats in order to only use the hinges from the drivers one. Anyone with a LHD early or IB 911 want to buy a nice drivers seat that is in need of retrimming and can easily look like mine? I'll do you a good deal and I have over-ordered on material for the centres so can do you a good deal on 73 style corduroy too.. I can't believe I'm probably going to buy another pair of seats...... Do'h! Do'h! Do'h!

Anyway, you want to see pictures of the almost finished article so here they are:

The back isn't bolted onto the base but you get the general idea of how they look and I think they look exactly like what I was trying to acheive. I'm really chuffed despite their ever increasing costs. The recline knob isn't fitted, I've sourced the correct one for these seats when they were new in '74 from the US at a very reasonable cost rather than have a 80's/90's one. Once I've got these new hinges fitted then I need some adapters to fit the thing to my car. Hopefully that should be less fraught and lots cheaper than replacement hinges. The headrests are of the same material but look a different colour in the pics. I'll get the new hinges repainted as per original and the rechromed screws are on backorder. I'll probably rechrome the other bolts too.

My original planned budget has been increased by circa 50% due to the above problems but my mindset is that I'm in this deep and I am not going back and am not prepared to compromise. It will be done once and done properly. The moral of the story is to start with a known good rather than a cheap unknown! If I was to compare the amount both will eventually cost me against a pair of replica Recaro Sports seats then I'm still circa £600 better off by having done this. If I can sell the passenger seat and the cord then this difference increases and my costs go down slightly. Despite the increased costs I'm still chuffed with how good they look and I'm really happy with the work done to them. Due to work schedules I can't get to pick them up for a few weeks so will post pics of them in the car when I have had mounting adapters made up. I should get the pics of when they were being built then too next week.

Do you think they look good?

Cheers

James

sladey · Post by **sladey** » Fri Feb 24, 2012 9:46 pm

Look very cool

Darren65 · Post by **Darren65** » Fri Feb 24, 2012 9:53 pm

Damned good

Bertroex · Post by **Bertroex** » Fri Feb 24, 2012 11:31 pm

James, I have a spare uk passengers side, so Lhd drivers side sport seat spare. Wasn't planning on ripping it to pieces but fook it for good plans and intentions eh. Give us a call and pick it up to get the hinges: I'd like the remains back at point for my stash of spares if that is ok.

Bert

TheEasyLife · Post by **TheEasyLife** » Sat Feb 25, 2012 8:10 am

Bertroex wrote:James, I have a spare uk passengers side, so Lhd drivers side sport seat spare. Wasn't planning on ripping it to pieces but fook it for good plans and intentions eh. Give us a call and pick it up to get the hinges: I'd like the remains back at point for my stash of spares if that is ok.

Bert

Thanks for the offer Bert but its the left hinge on the RHD Drivers seat thats wrong and causing me problems. The RHD passenger seat (LHD Drivers) is fine so I don't need yours. Hang on to it as they are getting hard to find in decent condition. I'm going to buy another set of these seats for the RHD drivers hinges. This leaves me with a spare passenger seat (LHD Drivers) which I really don't need and a drivers seat with the wrong hinges from the seat I'm having trimmed currently. If I can sell this (LHD Drivers) seat for what it cost me to another DDK/IBer with/without some of my excess corduroy then that makes the cost of this additional pair of seats an easier pill to swallow. If not, then I need a Carerra 3 to fit them in (in my dreams) along with a 964 for the tombstones still in my loft (but not before I've got the Carerra 3.0!!)

See you soon

James

johnM · Post by **johnM** » Sat Feb 25, 2012 8:49 am

Hi James seats look great. Bit of a dissapointment about the hinge. Were the headrests ok for your trimmer.

Bertroex · Post by **Bertroex** » Sat Feb 25, 2012 10:57 am

James, I wouldnt mind buying your spare Lhd seat: I'll have them recovered as a matching pair.

Cheers,

Bert

trimblitz · Post by **trimblitz** » Mon Feb 27, 2012 9:51 pm

James,

Here are some pics of my seat mounts

TheEasyLife · Post by **TheEasyLife** » Mon Feb 27, 2012 10:29 pm

Many thanks for showing how your similar seats are mounted and how the seatbelt is too.

Cheers

James

74rsman · Post by **74rsman** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 8:04 am

Excellent stuff, they look great

DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker