Hi,
I have a 97 GSR that we're putting together for some club racing. For our seat, we're making a custom bracket using some "salvage yard" stock seat rails.

For the 94-01 Integra, as well as some other older Honda's I believe, the driver's seat isn't centered between the rails. It's actually centered inboard slightly, like maybe 1" or so.

Does anyone know what this offset is off hand? Or if someone has an aftermarket or pre-fabbed set of seat rails or bracket would you mind measuring the distance from the seat mounting bolts to the frame bolts? Or if bolted directly to the floor the distance from a common measuring point. Maybe a better question is what offset is needed to center the seat behind the steering wheel, since some brackets or seats aren't centered exactly behind the steering wheel.

Eyeballing is a possibility, but I'd trust a tape measure more than my sight any day. And there isn't an easy way to measure the stock seat by the way it's attached to the rails.



The seat support bars haven't been welded on yet, but we acquired them off a custom seat bracket for a 90-91 Civic/CRX. You might not be able to tell through the picture, but the holes already drilled in the flat stock are inboard slightly as well. I don't know if the same offset applies or the original bracket was correct to begin with. The front bar is bent down slightly at the ends in order to clear the slider hardware.

Thanks.

 

Looks like you are on the right track here...Using those factory mounts... Mock it up including the seat to see how you feel in the seat itself. If you are too far over to one side to the other , you will know by how the seat position feels. Mark the area where you feel the most neutral while sitting in the seat.(use marking chalk) in case you dont like the position. It will wipe off and you dont have to worry about mistakenly securing the parts to the wrong mark because you used a sharpie.

Method number 2. Scrap the stock seat mounts.
Make your own seat frame using metal that would be an adequate thickness. The metal you have creating the cross pieces looks to be about the right thickness. ( I cant really see just how thick it is.)
From what I see in your pic your racing seat pretty much has the Sparco type mount pattern. 4 bolts correct?
A set of sparco sliders will set you back about 50 -60 bux for one. You will be able to make your frame so it bolts on to your seat and the and to the floor.

IMO the bottom seat mounted seats are easier to install and fabricate parts for them.
Try installing a side mounted seat.. it gets tricky, you have to fight with seat height alot and then find a way to secure it to the floor. That was my nightmare for my Cobra Sebring.
I consulted with an inspector from the series I plan to run to see if my ideas would pass tech before begining.

 

I pushed my seat as far toward the exhaust tunnel as possible...


I don't see why you would want it closer to the door, and closer to some one T-boning you..

 

I see your point on safety, couldn't disagree with you there. :-)

You obviously haven't driven an early model Dodge Viper before. The pedals are so offset in that car that it gets annoying to drive even after 10 minutes. You have to sit at an angle to work the pedals successfully.

 

Good Point Jimmy... I secured my seat as close to the tunnel as I could get too.

 

Nope i haven't.


But every Honda/Acura i have driven (and that is about 98% of them), pushing the seat towards the exhaust tunnel is a good thing IMO.

Every honda/acura i have built we have pushed the seat over as far as possible. Never had a driver complain.

Side Note- I'd place the seat on there and sit in the car with your helmet on and make sure it is going to be low enough.

 

Thanks for the tips. I just started using a makeshift plumb bob this morning to roughly get a center point.



The steel plate is 1/4", so I don't think I'll have any problems with it. The CRX/Civic seat brackets I pulled the plates off of was used in IT, so that method passed tech once before. I don't know if the bolt hole pattern originated from Sparco, but the plates and previous bracket had the spacing 11 3/8" wide and 13" deep. Which I understand is pretty standard.



I went with a Corbeau FX1 Pro seat. I'm not going for any FIA rating since I'm using sliders (don't know if that's allowed for FIA) and due to the dollar amount. And with the price it's still cheaper if I purchased seat rails and a back brace with it for an equivalently "padded" FIA seat. I've sat in a Sparco Evo and Evo2 seat, and I find it comparable comfort wise. Everything in red is removable for cleaning, which is nice. It's quite a step up from the Corbeau Forza that installed in my CRX for AutoX – for its use it's a nice inexpensive seat.

It does come with holes and bolts for both bottom mounting and side bracket mounting. (it also has one in the back to secure a back brace) I tried a set of OMP side brackets I had quickly, but it puts the seat up another 1/2" up in the air than if I go with the just the bottom mounts. Washers are an easy height adjustment.

Hopefully my head won't hit the ceiling with a helmet on, I would like to keep sliders under the seat. I had to hard mount the seat in my CRX, and that kind of stinks if other people can't take it for a spin...

 

Yeah, doing some initial measurements it looks like the seat will be moving over quite a bit. And I should clear the old moonroof support bends with the seat scooted over.

I'll check everything before finalizing and welding though. Thanks for the comments.

 

How many cars have you built buy the way?

This is a family project, so this is our first. For the price I couldn't resist buying it. $2100 for a 97 GSR with 130k, everything worked in it except the passenger door electrical. Traced down to a bent over pin in the harness plug. (it had some cosmetic damage and other mechanical problems which have all been fixed since) The aftermarket hood, bumper, and growling front wheel bearings drove most people away. :-)

 

mostly i just help a buddy out when i am bored. But personally i have done it to 4 hondas.

My civic, 2 TSX's, a 06 civic SI.

My buddy has done it on probably 20 to 30 cars.

 

like mentioned above .. move the seat as close to the tunnel as you can.
from what i remember, the steering column is mounted in slots so you can move it over as well .. you won't notice the pedals