Like the title says. Does anyone know of a legitimate no-way-around-it physics of safety reason to NOT do it? Provided the stock sliders are mounted as square and as securely as they are on the OEM seat? And using a harness bar-mounted adjustable seat back brace?
I did something similar in my DSM. However, I did weld on side mounts.
The hardware holding the seat to the OEM sliders were tiny. Maybe M6? I just made sure everything I built was more robust than the weakest OEM point.
If your car happens to be a power adjustable seat, the sliders could be incorporated to the electric motor more than a manual one.
We ran our Lemons seat on factory Civic sliders with a adjustable back brace with no problems.
Alot will depend on what seat you use. In my last1 RX7 the seat I bought was too tall to use the factory sliders. The car I am building now I used a seat with a thinner base (Ultrashield) and was able to use the factory slider with some additional brackets welded on for precaution. Ask other people with the same car what they have used.
I remember reading on how to "Baja" your bug.. people would use the stock sliders, but use U-bolts over the slides, bolted to the floor, to keep the seat in place incase the welds or bolts broke
Toyman01 wrote: We ran our Lemons seat on factory Civic sliders with a adjustable back brace with no problems.
Does this imply that this configuration will pass SCCA IT class tech?
In reply to WildScotsRacing:
From the SCCA GCR 9.3.41. SEATS The driver’s seat shall be a one-piece bucket-type seat and shall be securely mounted. The back of the seat shall be firmly attached to the main roll hoop, or its cross bracing, so as to provide aft and lateral support. Seats homologated to and mounted in accordance with FIA standard 8855-1999, or FIA.Standard.8862-2009 or higher need not have the seat back attached to the roll structure. Seats with a back not attached to the main roll hoop or its cross bracing may be mounted on runners only if they were part of the FIA homologated seats assembly specified in an FIA homologated race car.
The way I read the above, is seats on sliders are required to have a seat back brace. So, with a seat back brace they are legal.
I've installed several seats on sliders, with a sliding back brace and pin. I'd rather not, but in Chumpy situations, unless you build your team based on inseam, its unavoidable.
Make sure both slides latch. Some 80's vintage only latch on one rail, and I don't think that's up to requirement. Sparco makes a slide kit too, if the ones from the car are inadequate.
In reply to Toyman01:
And to StreetWise:
That is they way I read the reg, too. Just wanted make sure it wasn't wishfull thinking. I DO want to be able to adjust the seat, in order to get some car setup and technique coaching from other drivers, when I reach that point. The sliders are OEM Ford Escort units that came with the car, and they do latch on both rails.
Thanks guys!
Sliders are fine as long as you use good hardware and use a back brace to a real cage.
Of course the sliders are negated by the back brace, so the real solution is an interchangeable seat bolster.
Stefan (Not Bruce) wrote: Sliders are fine as long as you use good hardware and use a back brace to a real cage. Of course the sliders are negated by the back brace, so the real solution is an interchangeable seat bolster.
Can you elaborate on the interchangeable seat bolster? Being a tall guy i'm always interested in solutions for different size drivers.
Think like formula car-style seat inserts. I've seen people go as low tech as poured foam in trash bags.
I have a Sparco seat on factory sliders in the FX16. It works great, but the car is only used on the street and for autocross.
NordicSaab wrote:Stefan (Not Bruce) wrote: Sliders are fine as long as you use good hardware and use a back brace to a real cage. Of course the sliders are negated by the back brace, so the real solution is an interchangeable seat bolster.Can you elaborate on the interchangeable seat bolster? Being a tall guy i'm always interested in solutions for different size drivers.
The back brace I want to use is a jackscrew adjustable like the one Autopower offers: SCCA approved. And, about these interchangeable seat bolsters you speak of? Who, Where, Which seats available for?
Both of my team's Lemons Benzes use the stock sliders. Both have passed tech fine. There's no way our 6'2" driver and our 4'11" driver could both drive otherwise.
In reply to WildScotsRacing:
Make your own bolsters using expanding foam and your, um, less statuesque drivers.
My miata runs a Sparco Sprint seat on stock sliders, using a 1/4" steel adapter plate.
well, here is a question.. could you make the seatback/rollcage attachment also adjustable?
mad_machine wrote: well, here is a question.. could you make the seatback/rollcage attachment also adjustable?
SCCA requires a 1-piece seat for big track competition. And, I haven't noticed any 2-piece, adjustable back competition seats; all the adjust back "sport" seats don't seem to have slots for anti-sub straps in the bottom part.
mad_machine wrote: well, here is a question.. could you make the seatback/rollcage attachment also adjustable?
Yes. They actually sell adjustable seat back braces. Ours was a clamp arrangement that worked pretty well.
This one.
mad_machine wrote: well, here is a question.. could you make the seatback/rollcage attachment also adjustable?
DOHH! I mis-read your question 
WildScotsRacing wrote: In reply to Toyman01: And to StreetWise: That is they way I read the reg, too. Just wanted make sure it wasn't wishfull thinking. I DO want to be able to adjust the seat, in order to get some car setup and technique coaching from other drivers, when I reach that point. The sliders are OEM Ford Escort units that came with the car, and they do latch on both rails. Thanks guys!
When I was building my race car I went to the pick-n-pull to find sliders to use as the stock VW ones used a central runner only. (Mk I). I found the Escort seat runners on a early 90's model to work fine. I attached the FIA racing seat by welding mounts to the moving rails in the sliders and then bolted side plates to the mounts with the seat bolting to the side plates.
Toyman01 wrote:mad_machine wrote: well, here is a question.. could you make the seatback/rollcage attachment also adjustable?Yes. They actually sell adjustable seat back braces. Ours was a clamp arrangement that worked pretty well. This one.
I like this style of seat back brace as in a "big" crash the back brace won't punch through the seat back and into your back as the tube can't be held in place well enough with only a set screw holding it in place versus the tube with multiple holes and a removable pin which won't give at all.
I have used both. My first IT car had a fixed seat, we used a foam spacer when we switched drivers. The next car had factory sliders on a fixed back FIA seat. We made an adjustable back brace out of a small roll bar tube that fit inside of a larger tube. We had a hole drilled all the way through both pipes at my driving position as well as my shorter co-drivers. We used a pin through both pipes to secure the seat in each position.
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