As you can see, the seat is all business.
Next, we have the mounting equipment.
The Slider is a nice assembly, and has great action when you move it...but I've decided to return it, partly because not using it gives me about 2cm more headroom (I'm tall, and helmet space is valuable), and partly because it's not really necessairy, I rarely move my seat when I get it in the right position.
These are the steel rails, they make aluminum ones as well, but these are less than half as pricey...maybe someday I'll upgrade.
At this point, I was happy and dumb, and figured "let's bolt this sucker togther and put 'er in!". The little manual called for 4 metric bolts of 8mm width x 1.25 thread pitch, and they had to be strong. And i would need 8 smaller bolt & nut combos to fasten the base to the slider, and the slider to the rails. A trip to Pep-Boys yeilded four 10.9 Grade metric bolts, and 8 US Grade 8 bolts for connecting the base assembly, with some washers thrown in for good measure. I did a dry run in the appartment, and things bolted together pretty well, for some reason the siderails seemed to pinch the seat, and the sliders weren't sliding nearly as nicely as they did before I bolted it all together, but I didn't think too much of it at the time.
A rather handsome assembly, I was pleased as punch, and eager to get things installed.
The seat fit into the car, everything was clearing everything else...but the base holes didn't quite line up to the holes in the floor of the car.
Snag 1: Well, you gotta expect a snag here and there...a little 1/2 inch drill bit action and the base is good to go (drilled out the right side rear mount first, and that fit....drilled out the front right as well, fit better.) I decided to take everything apart and put it in sequentially for picture reasons. Now the base is happy, and it fits well:
Now let's add the slider and rails!
Snag 2: At this point, i put the seat in the rails, noticing again that it was a pretty snug fit between the siderails...i bolted it down, and tried the sliders...again, they had gone from buttery-smooth to impossible-to-move. Hrm...everything comes out again as one unit, and lo and behold, the tight fit of the siderails on the seat are bending the sliders on their rubber ball bearings so that they can't move. Time to put things together sans sliders and see if that fixes the problem.
Snag 3: The side rails won't fit on the baseplate...the holes on the baseplate are about 1cm too close together to fit the furthest apart holes on the side rails...Sheesh, you'd think Sparco could get their own parts to line up, but whatever...DeWalt comes out again, holes are widened where necessairy, and i'm too angry to take pics of it. Back into the car...
Okay, time for the seat to go in!
Snag 4: Or not! Guess what? The rails are too close together for the seat, by about 2cm. It won't fit between them, even with some unnecessiary forcing. Alright, gotta call OG racing tomorrow morning I figure, and see if the rails are the wrong ones or something.....
INTERMISSION
[Ring Ring], hello, I just bought a Sparco Evo and the rails are too close together, are there other rails that don't angle in as severely? Oh, only the one type huh? So I'll probably have to drill the base? Okay then, thanks! [Click]
This time, doing things a little smarter and assuming everything other than the seat was made wrong, we attack the problem. First, the rails go on the seat the way they should. Then, we put the seat and rails on the base, and mark where the holes SHOULD be. Then, drill like the wind. Then, install the seat. All done....or am I?
Snag 5: Where the hell did the seat belt buckle go? Oh, it's on the stock seat...doh! Not sure why Honda did this, but thanks to Mike Ancas of SpeedNation for donating an old Civic belt buckle to my cause, he has a ton lying around from stripped racecars...no idea what this is from exactly, but it does the trick:
Now to attach it somehow...how about we get a longer rear bolt for the seat, and put it there with some washers. (This might not be the best and safest idea in the world, indeed the seat is intended to be used with a harness, and it will be, but not before I get a rollbar...with a harness, you can't duck, so you'd better have a bar. I checked out the forces involved with this mounting on a bolt force calculator, and it should be good to support about 9000+ pounds, since the force would be part shear and part direct load....if anyone has a firm reason why this is really bad, please Email me Thanks to Matt for suggesting I put the belt through the side belt hole on the seat by removing the anchor, much better this way i think.
Which leads us to the end result. I may still fine tune the driving position, and it seems to be leaning a pinch towards the window, but it feels fantastic, fits like a bodysuit, and just all around rocks. Pics of where I am now:
Things will start looking more serious when I get the rollbar and harnesses installed.
