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Thread: What's Up With These Seats

  1. #1
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    What's Up With These Seats

    Trying to remove the seats out of my GTM because they are fixed and I need to move them forward. Over the years I have removed many car seats including several sports cars, but these have me stumped. The seat seems to be bolted directly to the floor. There is no frame and therefore no bolts to get at around the perimeter of the seat. There is a vertical zipper on the back of the seat which opens from the bottom, but not enough to remove the seat cover from the bucket. Is it possible that these seats bolt directly to the floor and can only be removed by unbolting from under the car? Seems a little odd but that's the only thing I can figure. If so, where are the jacking points where I can get the car onto jack stands or do I have to find a lift?

    Thanks,

    Mark

  2. #2
    VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC's Avatar
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    Hi Mark,

    Yes, the seat is likely bolted to the floor of the car. The rear of the seat is likely bolted right to the steel floorpan with the bolts visible from under the car. The front of the seat is a different story....and unbolting them will depend on how the owner bolted them down. There should be some bolts visible under the front of the seat. If the bolts won't come out, then you will probably have to remove the aluminum panel underneath the car that's directly under the front of the seat to access the other side of the bolts.

    To jack the car up, there is a chassis tube that runs the entire width of the car right behind the front wheels and another on that is right in front of the rear wheels. We normally take a block of wood to put between the jack and chassis tube and raise the car up by jacking on that tube as close to the body as we can get without contacting the fiberglass.
    Shane Vacek
    VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC
    www.vraptorspeedworks.com
    Turn-key GTM, SL-C & Ultima GTR Built to Your Specs!
    Offering a full line of GTM Upgrades and Custom Parts

  3. #3
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    Thanks Shane. These seats are bolted through the floor. Just completed the install of my 4 Post Lift which makes the job much easier and saves my back. After having to grind off one of the nuts under the car because the bolt was turning, the seat is out. Now in the process of figuring out how to attach the seat to the slider frames.

  4. #4
    VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC's Avatar
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    If you go to the "other" forum, I think there should still be access to David Borden's old posts that detail how to install the seat tracks onto the seats....maybe in the FAQ section?
    Shane Vacek
    VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC
    www.vraptorspeedworks.com
    Turn-key GTM, SL-C & Ultima GTR Built to Your Specs!
    Offering a full line of GTM Upgrades and Custom Parts

  5. #5
    Senior Member Edgeman's Avatar
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    GTM #370
    Car was completed and I have SOLD my car
    http://edgemansgtm.weebly.com/index.html
    Doing what you like is freedom - liking what you do is happiness
    later,
    Doug

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  7. #6
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    Thanks for the help. The front bolts ended up in ports in the aluminum panel under the car, so I could get at it with a socket. No need to put in all the details but it took me a lot longer than I thought. Because the sliders elevate the seats, I used a 1/2" spacer (C Channel) for the steel bars to clear the slider hinge and provide enough space for the nuts securing the rear sear bolts. Seating position change was a big improvement from way too low, to slightly higher than perfect. Combined with the ability to slide the seat, my driver experience has improved a lot.

    Mark

  8. #7
    VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC's Avatar
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    Here's the short version:

    Buy some adjustable seat tracks...something like this:

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/JAZ-ADJUSTA...!-1:rk:91:pf:0

    The seat tracks mount TO THE SIDES OF THE SEAT....not underneath the seat like most cars. Mount them low on the seat to the "flat spots" on the sides of the seat at the rear and the front of the seat. Most seat tracks have a mounting bolt spacing of around 11-12". I would suggest biasing the seat tracks a bit forward on the seats. The seat tracks have to end up completely parallel to each other both viewing them from the side of the seat AND from the bottom of the seat, so be very, very careful in drilling your holes in the seat.....you can't un-drill them! Since the front of the fiberglass seat is narrower than the rear of the seat, in order to get the tracks parallel, you will have to add spacers between the seat track and the seat until you get the same measurement across the front of the tracks as you do across the rear. Again....this can't just be "fairly close".....they have to be completely parallel or you will not be able to adjust your seat once installed. Once you get the tracks mounted to the seat....we use our seat mount brackets:

    http://vraptorspeedworks.com/seat-mounting-brackets/

    And bolt them just snug enough to stay positioned but loose enough to move them around by hand. The "feet" on the brackets need to face toward the center of the seat. Now adjust your tracks so they are at the same fore-aft adjustment on both sides and set the seat into the car. I find it helpful to put a 2x4 block under the front lip of the seat and take a handful of shims with me, get in the car and move the seat around until you get to your desired seating position. Keep adding and removing shims from the leading edge of the seat (and I also add and remove shims (2x6's) from behind the seat..against the alum tank cover) until you get the seat at the right angle and fore-aft position. Now, without moving the seat around, take a sharpie marker or a pick and outline the foot of the front seat mount brackets onto the alum floor pan. You will also want your doors on the car at this point and make sure the door will close without hitting the seat. Same with the waterfall.

    Once you get your scribe marks for the front brackets, you can get out of the car, pull the seat out of the car, pull the front seat brackets off the seat, position them on the floor with your scribe mark and drill thru the brackets and the floor with a 1/8" drill bit. You can now put the brackets back on the seat tracks, put the seat back in the car and cleco the front seat brackets down to hold them in position while you mark the rear brackets and repeat the same steps for them. Once you have 1/8" holes in everything, cleco the back brackets down from below the car, get the front brackets cleco'd down and make sure you can slide your seat back and forth.
    Shane Vacek
    VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC
    www.vraptorspeedworks.com
    Turn-key GTM, SL-C & Ultima GTR Built to Your Specs!
    Offering a full line of GTM Upgrades and Custom Parts

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  10. #8
    Senior Member Edgeman's Avatar
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    The link in the last post works again,


    Seat Installation Instructions



    Introduction

    These instructions are for installing a GTM seat with ‘side sliders’ and David Borden’s mounting brackets. I’m using seat sliders from FFR and only 1 side has a lock. The seat feels very good using only one locking side. I did all the work before adding the carpet and the aluminum floor in front of the seats. This allows easy access to everything for mounting. If the aluminum floor is already installed, it is a little harder to mount the front brackets to the x-bracing.



    Mounting the Sliders to the Seats

    I’m only installing sliders on the drivers side as I feel it isn’t as important for the passenger side to move.

    When installed and in the ‘all the way back’ position, the upper part of the seat will hit the fuel tank cover, but the lower portion of the seat back will be several inches away. After the seat with sliders and brackets are installed, the angle of the seat can be changed some because the brackets are slotted.

    Start by removing the seat cover and marking where to drill the mounting holes. Place some masking tape over the sides of the seat in the general area where the holes will go. For the front holes, measure back from the front of the seat 3.5” (not the padding, the fiberglass). Then measure up from the bottom of the seat 7/8”. This is the front hole.







    My sliders have mounting studs on 11” centers. Measure back that amount and then up ½” from the bottom of the seat.





    The rear hole location.

    Measure the width of the seats at points that the seat track studs go in. Mine were about ¾” wider at the back, so I added about 3/8” worth of washers at the front (see pictures)



    The FFR seat tracks that I bought, come with hardware, but not 5/16” carriage bolts that you will want to use to mount David’s brackets. The shortest bolts that my local hardware store had were 1” long, so I cut those back to ¾” long.





    I also cut about ¼” off the studs at the rear of the seat sliders so that they didn’t stick into the seat too far.



    Front slider mount.



    Rear slider mount.



    Once the sliders and brackets are attached to the seats, place the seat in the car and locate it where you want it. I moved my seat inward towards the tunnel to maximize my head to outer halo bar clearance. The front brackets should line up over the x-brace in front of the seat. The rears are easy. Because I moved the seat inwards, you may notice that where the hole is in the bottom of David’s aluminum brackets are not the same side to side. Since I didn’t have the aluminum floor panel in front of the seats in place, I was able to put vise-grips to clamp the brackets to the x-brace. I was then able to sit in the car and even slide the seat forwards and backwards.



    I then traced around the brackets with a sliver Sharpe. Then remove the seats from the car and the brackets from the sliders. Place the brackets on the floor of the car and drill the holes.



    I recommend putting the seat adjuster lock on left side of seat. It faces down for clearance reasons. In this orientation, the lock lever is pushed down to release. Notice that it would hit the floor unless it is bent.





    The pictures in the car show it after it was bent. In the picture above, it is the black cap on the rod right at the front of the seat (also, right where the blue tape ends).



    Now bolt the completed assembly to the floor and recheck all your clearances before refitting the seat cover.









    The seat angle and height can be adjusted a little because David’s seat brackets are slotted.





    Now it is time to refit the seat cover. Remove the sliders from the seat. Refit the seat cover tightly over the seat back



    Put cover on completely to make sure that it is in the correct position. Then unsnap the front panel so that you can reach your hand in through the front and back to the holes drilled in the side.



    An awl would work well to push through from the inside, but I used a mini-philips head screwdriver. I then cut a small disk shaped piece out of the seat cover with an x-acto knife to fit the stud on the slider.



    Put the sliders back into place and reach in from the front to tighten the nuts on the slider studs. Although I don’t have a picture to show it, when you slide the seat all the way back, the slider might dig into the seat cover at the front. My seat cover had enough stretch in it press the seat cover in close to the seat in the area that the seat track would contact it. I used a short ¼-20 button head to pull the seat cover out of the way. I also found a rubber isolator in my left over Corvette pieces that worked perfectly to provide a softer contact under the head of the button head bolt.




    Here are some pictures all the way back.









    And all the way forward.
    GTM #370
    Car was completed and I have SOLD my car
    http://edgemansgtm.weebly.com/index.html
    Doing what you like is freedom - liking what you do is happiness
    later,
    Doug

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