Click on the link in my sig, and go to mods, then to interior...or click on the News & Updates button, it's linked there too. Enjoy, i appreciate any comments (about stuff i did wrong, or right etc., tips tricks, and so on and so forth.)

 

Woohoo! Seems like you've been busy--I gotta check out your new stuffz d00d!

 

I feel your pain man.. I went through all this with my Sparco seats/rails/sliders.. before i finally gave up, bought a Kirkey Aluminum Road Race seat, and made my own seat rails. I'll post some pics when I have time.

 

Aleph.....Can you tell me the seating position on the Sparco EVO is higher or lower than the stock seat ? It looks like the all the mounting componets together will add some height to the seat postion.

Thanks

 

as it stands now, i'd say it's probably about 2-3 cm lower than stock, not that dramatic a drop. With the slider installed, you'd be at stock height i think, or very close to it. If you went all out and fabricated your own brackets, you could probably go another 2 cm lower...i'm 6"3ish and have room for my helmet no problem.

 

you are my hero! now i can get the evo 2 chair.
some questions:
-the civic seat buckle you bolted on seems pointed in an odd direction. why did you point the seat buckle cable towards the rear of the car only to have it loop back around to your seat? it seems that method creates unneccessary slack that will be quite noticeable in an accident.
-what length were the 4 x 10.9grade (8mm x 1.25) and 8 x 8grade bolts? maybe i'm dumb and the grade denotes the bolts length and strength.
-do the rails allow you to choose the angle (recline) of the seat? it looks like there are multiple vertical holes on the rails allowing you to raise/lower the chair's front independently of the rear.
-do you feel safe and secure utilizing the stock seatbelt?

 

The bolts that go into the seat are 8x1.25 mm 10.9 grade (strength, equal to SAE Grade 8) and 16mm long. I started with 20 mms because the little manual made a cryptic reference to this length, but they were too deep, the 16s seemed great. The smaller bolts hold the rails to the base, i started with 1/4 inch long ones that ended up pretty flush, but when i had to drill stuff out to 1/2 inch holes to get things to line up i went with 1/2 inch long bolts and washers. I'd recommend figuring out how you're going to put things together, and then getting the appropriate bolts/washers etc.

The seatbelt cable from the civic is pretty long, and was obviously designed to mount to the side of the exhaust tunnel (as i would have assumed our seatbelt did until it came off with the chair and i noticed it for the first time, doh.) It's looping backwards because that's the way it fits best, obviously it's kinda jury rigged. When belted in, it feels as secure as the stock belt...i understand there would be some deflection in the cable in an impact, but not more than 2 or 3 inches i think. I got a longer bolt than stock, to make up for the depth lost to the cable's eyelet, and according to a bolt strenght calculator, the bolt can support more than 9500 lbs. static pressure along its axis. Shear strength is even greater. It's not optimal, indeed it's an impatient fix so i can try my new seat out with some measure of safety...i'll put the stock seat back in before doing any real miles, until i get the rollbar and can do things properly with a harness etc. I feel more secure than i would with a harness and no rollbar...in a frontal of any force the airbag would take over should the seatbelt fail...but again, i don't recommend everyone go out and do this Thanks for the concern though guys!
As Topper says in Hot Shots, "I'll be JUST FINE!" <BZZZT!!!>

 

Nice install.

Hrmm... are you sure that shear is greater?

Will
-who is a ***

 

Not sure actually, but hypothesized since the belts are mounted by honda in shear. I'm no engineer though, and my common sense is minimal

 

Thanks BIG TIME for doing this little tutorial! It should be of big help when I go through the same struggle with a pair of Corsa's.

One suggestion...

In order to get the Civic seat belt mounted at a little safer angle to a little safer mounting point, what about drilling a new hole with a back-up plate and running an eye bolt through the Civic bolt hole? That way, you could also use that location to clip in your harness. Just an idea.

 

Indeed, when mike ancas gave me the belt buckle, we felt around it could feel something on the ehxaust tunnel wall that felt like a bolt location that wasn't used...when i put the bar in, the interior will be stripped for the install, the carpet will be out, and i'll have access to welding goodness etc, will probably do just that for the variety (and more guarenteed safety). You ruined the surprise! (actually, i forgot to mention this on the page, i may go back and do so).

 

thanks, aleph! i thought of some more ?
-any thoughts on the seat recline angle adjustability?
-do you think you could relocate the civic buckle attachment point? i don't know if there are points on the floor that would be strong enough to pass a bolt through. it will probably be easier to find a seat buckle with a shorter cable. i would think you'll want to use the stock belt for daily driving even after you get the rollbar/harness. the harness will make simple things a bit more challenging, ie you'll have to loosen the harness for changing cds, adjusting the temperature, etc.

 

oh, forgot to answer the reclineability question (i just answered your other one monkey )

There are 5 holes in the front and 4 in the back, theoretically you can use any combination (although more extreeme ones might require a little drilling knowing what i now know of sparcos)...i put mine at 4 up on the front and 2 up on the rear...I don't think you can go any lower on the rear with the base mount the way it is, but i'm considering putting the front down a tick just to see how it feels. If you were 4 foot, you could put it on the top holes...that would be bad for me tho

 

thanks, aleph! great work! i will be ordering up an evo 2 whenever i happen to have money.
please keep us posted with any changes you make on the seatbelt buckle.

 

I just put 2 washers each on the left-side bolts between the base and the rails, to raise that side about 1/3 cm...seat looks more level now, still feels about the same...no longer touching the side of the door ever so slightly (about 1/3 cm space, go figure)