How are your seats mounted?

Jump seats?  Why not just slide the passenger's seat forward or have the ute's climb in?  Here's the seat hinges at Stoddard- 2 for $62.  I'd check out strap hinges at Lowes for $6.  It could easily be done - just makes sure you bolt to a large metal plate and don't rely on the thin VW pan.

Wolfgang, I know how to do it. Just wondering if anyone had done it.

I suspect most, if not all, our cars are done this way. My slides are mounted to a 1 1/2" angle bolted to the flimsy floor. This has caused stress cracks in the pan that will have to be welded. I got to have something better than this.

It has been covered in other threads but. on a VW pan, a piece of strap metal that goes from side to side perhaps bolted to side pan mounting bolts and even to center tunnel would be best for safety.  I think I'd have stress cracks welded with a plate welded in behind them.  With just the hinge you will get a lot of stress and movement so I'd over engineer where its bolted to pan.

HI, Jim - I used a pair of 914 seats and their floor mounts for my earlier seats.  The Porsche mounts were hinged at the rear and had a height adjuster at the front to allow pseudo-reclining of the seat back - the entire seat tilted slightly back which meant that the seat bottom under your thigh tilted slightly up on reclining, too.  The seat did not tilt forward to provide access to the back since there was no back seat in a 914, but I could easily slide them forward for better access.  Never tried getting any little kids back there (my youngest is now 39 years old.....) but it was pretty tight.  The 914 seat is all one shell - you cannot move the seat back separate from the base.

On my new seats (not Porsche - Chrysler, with reclining seat backs) I got a pair of Hot Rod sliders from Speedway Motors and mounted the seats to those for front-to-back movement .  On those seats, the seat backs tilt way forward by pulling on the recliner lever.

Speedway Motors offers a bunch of different seat mounts and sliders to fit just about anything.  I didn't use their mounts, just the sliders, because I wanted the seat cushion as low as possible.  The original Chrysler mounts held the seat up 3" off the floor - not cool in a Speedster.  

These are the sliders I used:

https://www.speedwaymotors.com...der-Tracks,7103.html

But check them out for the mounts, too - they may have something better than a hunk of Maple.  You could hinge the sliders at the front, but I don't know how you would anchor the rear of the seat - you would have to design a latch or something.  

On my car, the sliders are attached to the seat and then the floor stud locations are marked for the floor holes, then I ran two straps (one front, one back) of 1/4" thick by 2-1/2" wide steel under the floor to provide strength.  I later elevated the front of the seat 3/8" to make it more comfortable by just running a nut onto the floor stud up to the slider, then re-assembling the seat to the floor.

My seat cushions are low, like this:

Hope this helps...

Spyder floors are fiberglass so I made cross pieces out of 1.5 x 3/4-inch C-channel which I welded to the steel frame tubes and center flat plate.

Jegs universal seat sliders fit on these. More recently, on the driver's side I chopped sections out of the rear mount and welded in new C pieces in order to lower the sliders a bit. 

More elaborate than you should need with a steel pan but just to show some options.

TR and Beck Spyders use a fiberglass floor, Ed. VM uses aluminum, I believe 3/16" thick. I bolted my seats right to the floor to get them low, and tilted the front up an inch with some aluminum brackets from Jegs. They lean back just enough to be comfortable.

Jim, build something you like, you know you're going to engineer and build something nice anyway. Show us when you're done, and then the other Speedster folk can all benefit. You seem to come up with some very good solutions to most things you try.

My Vintage Spyder had an aluminum floor. It was stout and supported the seats bery well.

Danny, I'm leaning to the original Porsche set up with the maple frame (I'll likely use oak). It will raise the seats about an inch, but mine are level with the door sills anyway. If I'm going to fix it may as well use Porsche design.

As usual, I'll have photo's and drawings for anyone who wants them.

Jim Gilbert - Madison, Mississippi posted:

Is anyone using Porsche Speedster type seat mounts?

The seats were attached to a maple wood frame and hinged at the front to fold forward for access to the jump seats.

 

I did it. It’s not worth it. 

Stan, "I did it. It’s not worth it. "

Why not?

Jim Gilbert - Madison, Mississippi posted:

Stan, "I did it. It’s not worth it. "

Why not?

1. Because what we would normally think of as a "back seat" isn't useful for carrying anybody (even small children). 
2. If the "back seat" isn't carrying anybody, the front seats tilting forward don't really help with access for bags, etc.
3. For the seats to til is not just a matter of mounting some hinges on the front. If you think about it, that would be absolutely horrible even in a minor accident. do you REALLY want your seat mounted at two points, with tiny little screws? I didn't, and it created a MAJOR amount of work.
4. The work referenced in point 3 includes some sort of latch arrangement, so that the seat doesn't move around under hard cornering, etc.

In short, it's just not worth the trouble. It adds zero in the way of functionality, and it was a freak-load of work to do right.

I'm a decent fabricator, and building the rails, etc. so that the seat latched and the hinges were strong enough in a crash took about 100x longer than just welding a couple of strap hinges on the front and calling it a day.

My kids loved riding in the back of the coupe, uh, when they were rather small.  That was quite a few years ago. I think the front seat back could be tipped forward, allowing access,  Do not really recall.  For a Speedster, I'd recommend grabbing each young child (or legless midget, as the situation may demand), by the armpits and hoisting them over the side of the car and plop them in,  How hard could that be?  I mean this is only going to happen w the top down, right? Otherwise, what's the point?

"I did it. It’s not worth it. "

Isn't that Stan's motto?  What he means is, it will not be worth it to you, but for me, I did it because I wanted to, and I could.  Define "worth" . . .

El Frazoo posted:

For a Speedster, I'd recommend grabbing each young child (or legless midget, as the situation may demand), by the armpits and hoisting them over the side of the car and plop them in,  How hard could that be?  I mean this is only going to happen w the top down, right? Otherwise, what's the point?

Agreed. The tipping seat is mostly just a conversation piece, and it really isn't that conversation worthy.

Even with it tilting forward you would still want the seat sliders so you can adjust where seat is for actual driving?  If so just get good sliders and keep them aligned and lubricated. 

Exactly. Tilting means not really having sliders.

I have miata seats and the backs tilt forwards.....just enough. I wanted some comfortable seats.

Here is how I mounted my seats.  Just a note, my pan is a fabricated flat plate with 1 x 2 tubing around the perimeter.  The seats have to be all the way down against the floor to be the correct height in the car.  The spacers under the slides barely give them enough clearance to operate once I installed the padding and carpet.  There is not enough room for me to get my hand under the back of the seat after the upholstery was complete. 

I used Speedway adjustable seat slides, Hunt's aluminum bomber seats and I machined a piece of aluminum angle with the appropriate holes for mounting and adjusting the angle of the seats.  There are two angle positions (note the 2 holes in the side piece for the front seat bolt).  Not easy to adjust, but I found that the top hole gave the most comfortable position.

Then I punched holes in the seats:

Then I covered them in upholstery.     Idk, I have a habit of putting too much detail into things that get covered up!  lol  

Not sure if this helps, Jim, but it may give you some ideas!  

James,

Really really nice! The photo of the drivers seat with the door open is what I was looking for. My seat is about level with the top of the door sill. They need to come up.

I realize that our cars are not reproductions  or clones in any sense of the word. They are an optical illusion at best.  Some will be satisfied with their cars just as purchased. Some will want to modify everything to suite their own purpose. Some (like me) will attempt to make it better because the folks that built it were not close to being engineers.

I suspect that the quality of work varies widely. Things that are built right, look right. Poor workmanship is evident immediately upon inspection.

If there is something I see that would have been better if the builder had done it another way, I'll fix it... if I want to. If I do I will always revert to how Porsche built it originally. It won't make my car a Porsche but it will make the way I want it.

As always, it's your choice.

James wrote: "Then I punched holes in the seats:"

hmmmmm......   Did you attend the "ALB School of Car Lightening and Hole Drilling"?

The holes aren't for looks! You saved like maybe 7 ounces from each seat! Almost a whole pound! THAT's WHY WE FIGHT!

edsnova posted:

THAT's WHY WE FIGHT!

FOR THE RIGHT, to PAAAAARRR-TAY!

My Toyota Taco truck has nitrogen filled tires. I believe that nitrogen has less atomic weight (14.077) than oxygen (15.999), so, to save some weight, I am going to have the Speedster's tires filled with nitrogen. That's my next contribution to weight reduction.

I'm always looking out for you weight conscious friends of mine.....

I always get a chuckle out of those Nitrogen air fills for an extra $39.95 only to find the air we all breath is 78% nitrogen.  

edsnova posted:

The holes aren't for looks! You saved like maybe 7 ounces from each seat! Almost a whole pound! THAT's WHY WE FIGHT!

Lol.  Actually the holes were strictly for esthetics.  My original plan was to only upholster the front of the seats and leave the backs in bare aluminum with the holes.  Outlaw style with no carpet on the back of the seats. However, when I had the seats sewn, the upholstery guy could not make a neatly finished edge at the transition.  We tried snaps, but could never get the material to look neat and finished.  So, I gave up and glued the carpet to the seat backs.      

They don’t look as cool, but they are lighter!!  

Looking good, @James! Those seat brackets could use a few more holes, though...

WOLFGANG posted:

I always get a chuckle out of those Nitrogen air fills for an extra $39.95 only to find the air we all breath is 78% nitrogen.  

Greg: Our local Toyota dealer......you know who I mean........wanted to charge me $250.00 to let me refill my tires with nitrogen any time I wanted during the period that I own the truck.

I suggested that they pound sand.

I just despise dealerships for that and a host of other reasons.

Panhandle Bob posted:

WOLFGANG posted:

I always get a chuckle out of those Nitrogen air fills for an extra $39.95 only to find the air we all breath is 78% nitrogen.  

I just despise dealerships for that and a host of other reasons.

Two words, Bob: Roanoke Motors. Just a short drive for you  

FCA dealer, unfortunately— but the service department is honest, fast, and good. It’s like finding a unicorn sitting on a por of gold in the back yard. 

Stan:

Roanoke, great little town.  Survived that nasty tornado that ripped through Washingon and touched Eureka. I do miss those Illinois burgs that pop up out of the corn and soy fields. My wife hails from one of them, Aledo, Illinois outside the Quad Cities. I know of that dealership and used to have them service my company cars although they are a distance from Peoria and Brimfield. You are correct. Stand up folks.

I often thought that I might just end up retiring somewhere like that, say Eureka, and work in some way at the Ronald Reagan Center on campus.

Alas, warm weather beckoned. Unfortunately we don't have those great country roads to rip around on that you and I enjoyed!