#\ *doublec4* /# Official Build Thread (Page 7/87)
HC MAR 15, 04:55 AM
Great looking car! Gotta love the notchies!

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Arizona Fiero Club

doublec4 MAR 15, 02:31 PM

quote
Originally posted by HC:

Great looking car! Gotta love the notchies!




Thanks!

I believe it was at this point that I started searching for new seats. My stock seats were in great condition but I wanted something that held me in a little better through the turns, and looked sportier. I also wanted black seats to match my interior. First I tried these seats here:



However, these seats required some welding of the seat rails to make them work. Overall, it wouldn't be too bad for an installation but I ended up changing my mind. I decided that if I was going to be sitting in these seats all the time, then I should just buy what I really wanted. Might as well spend the money and do it the way I REALLY wanted the first time.

So the next thing I did was take a trip over to the performance shop with a tape measurer. I had my stock seats uninstalled so I measured the WIDTH of the mounting holes in the bottom of a stock seat. This measurement is the most important if you want an easy installation of aftermarket seats. I wish I had taken pictures but hopefully I can describe this well enough for everyone to understand. I then went looking for aftermarket seats with the same mounting point WIDTH. I found that the Sparco Sprint seats (non reclinable) racing seats were the perfect width. They were a different LENGTH in the mounting holes at the bottom of the seats though. That was okay though.

What this meant was that I would not need to weld for these new seats to fit. All I had to do was drill ONE new hole in each seat rail so that the new seat could bolt to one of the existing holes, and then one of the new holes that were drilled. By maintaining the stock width, the seat rails would line up perfectly with the stock mounting bolts in the floor pans.

Here are some pictures of the seats I picked up. If you notice, the stiching pattern on them are slightly different. They only had one of the new style, and one of the old style in stock at different times. I picked up the old style first, used it to plan the installation, and had it as my driver seat for about a week while I waited for the newer style seat to come in. Then I switched them over so that the driver seat was the newer style. I would recommend these seats to anyone who is looking for a very aggresively bolstered seat that is light weight. They are not reclinable but really, in the fiero there is not much room for that anyways. They hold you in a proper driving position and are suprisingly comfortable for longer drives. One small stipulation is that you must have a fairly slim waist. I am a fairly muscular guy and I just fit in snug.

Pictures!





Old style seat installed in the driver position:



New style seat:
ClayTonto MAR 15, 03:01 PM
^^^ Did you use the stock Fiero rails with new holes drilled or Sparco rails with new holes drilled?
Seats look great!
BTW Not to get too personal, would someone with a 36-38" waist fit in these comfortably in your opinion?
doublec4 MAR 15, 03:16 PM
I did use the stock rails as I described. If the mounting points on the bottom of the seat are the same width, you can just drill new holes in the stock rails for the different length of the mounting holes on the bottom of the seats. I did not have to buy sparco mounting brackets. This way, the seats still sit very low to the floor, and I don't think the padding is thicker or anything. I don't feel closer to the roof at all.

To actually fit in these seats, its a tight squeeze. 36-38 waist might be pushing it. I'm probably about a 35 and its snug. I have broad shoulders and a thin waist but the shoulder area is fine as the seats flare out at the top. Your best bet is to find someone who has a line of Sparco seats in stock and then sit in them and try them out.

These are the most inexpensive Sparco seats you can buy, but they fit my needs nicely. They're very light, and narrow enough to fit in the fiero. They were about 320CDN each. You can probably get them for 215US each. If you go to a more expensive sparco seat, they will most likely fit a wider waist, however, I don't know if they will work with the stock rails. You might have to invest a little more money in custom rails.

Hope that helps!
ClayTonto MAR 16, 02:19 AM

quote
Originally posted by doublec4:

Hope that helps!



Yeah, thanks. There is a NOPI shop in town, I'll check out the Sparcos there.
doublec4 MAR 16, 01:16 PM
no problem, let me know what you find

Edit: Here is a diagram of what I'm trying to describe:

[This message has been edited by doublec4 (edited 03-16-2009).]

HC MAR 16, 04:11 PM
I had to do the exact same thing on mine.
doublec4 MAR 16, 04:43 PM
What kind of seats did you go with?
doublec4 MAR 17, 01:42 PM
Moving on with the build, there are just a few miscellaneous things that I added to the car around the same time. I don't have many pictures but a couple will suffice.

I do wish I had taken more pictures of the battery box I built though...

Anyways, first thing I did was add a fuel pressue gauge to the fuel rail in case I had to diagnose a fuel problem at some point:



I also needed some new tires, so I went with some beefy tires... I hate the rubber band look:



And lastly, I wanted to do a battery relocation for better weight distribution. I wish I had taken more pictures of the box I built, but I made one from galvanized sheet metal. I basically folded a box up and bolted it in. Works like a charm. I got some long cable from a junk yard and the proper battery connections, crimped the wires and away I went. Hot starts would be a little rough at times, I think I didn't go with a thick enough battery cable for that length.





Those aren't really the best pictures of it, but again, it will have to do for now. I mounted the box as low as I possibly could without interfering with the brake lines that run behind it.
Eau_Rouge MAR 18, 11:25 PM

quote
Originally posted by doublec4:

no problem, let me know what you find

Edit: Here is a diagram of what I'm trying to describe:







I also bought a pair of black Sparco fighter seats from JRP for my car. Adaptation to the stock slider was exactly the same as you describe. With my seats, I had a major problem though. When bolting the slider and seat to the floor, I found out that due to my seat's design, the seat belt receiver was interfering (hitting the side of the seat) due to the fact that the fighter seats don't taper in very much as you move down toward the slider. As a result, I couldn't bolt the seats down to the floor. In order for my seats to work, I'm going to have to notch the part of the seat that interferes and taper it in. Another issue that I found was that the fighter seats bolted to the stock sliders made me sit to far forward for my liking - not enough recline for my liking...I guess the moral of the story is make sure the seats are going to fit before you spend over a grand on them!