steve g

If my wife (Family Financial Officer) doesnt beat me to it (its my birthday tomorrow) I am planning to purchase 2 Recaro SPG XL seats and 2 6pt Schroth harnesses for my 89 944 Turbo and a partial (or someday full) rollcage or a rollbar that I will hopefully be able to DIY before my next birthday.

EDIT - The car is rarely street driven (<1000 miles/yr) except for maybe some fun runs in the IL mountains. I would classify it as a street legal / smog legal / DE fun car that will someday graduate to Club Racing when I become a more skilled track driver.

The question is ... what specific hardware (Recaro and/or other manufacturers) do I actually need to mount the seats into the car.

I am 6ft tall and wearing a helmet for DEs - I do not need or want seat height adjustment.

I understand the need for side brackets - either a steel or aluminum L shaped bracket that mounts to the side of the seat and (I assume) directly to the slider track mechanism. I also want to be able to slide the seat back and forth to accommodate different drivers or passengers so I understand that I would need a 'non height adjustable slider'.

My initial assumption was that the side brackets would mount to the slider track mechanism but after speaking with several suppliers - some suppliers are say that I need another seat mount in between the slider and the seat.

The other component that has been recommended by one vendor is a Porsche part - a GT3 bracket that goes under the seat to hold the lower 2 or 3 harness belts which makes sense, otherwise what should anchor the harness lower belts ?

M758

First thing.

Is the car street driven? A roll cage is not good for street driven cars. Problem is risk of unhelmeted head contact with the forward and side upper bars on the cage.

A roll bar is ok for the street, but you still want to pad it.

Seat mounting. Get the Aluminum side mounts. These can be mounted to the floor or to sliders.

Now if this is a track only car I suggest bolting the side rails or slider down to the floor using very large backing plates under the floor pan. You will need to drill 4 holes per seat.

Now harness mounting. Shoulder harness to the cage/bar. For a 6pt harness I suggest outer lap belt to the factory lap belt hole on the outside. On the inside lap belt drill a hole through the tunnel area and back up with a very large washer or backing plate. You want use the vertical surface of the tunnel to provide loading in shear as this is the strongest way to mount to the floor pan. Sub straps should be almost directyl under the seat with each end near the edge of the seat side rails. Again back up with large backing plates.

Now if you don't want to drill all those holes then the stuff can still be mounted, but both the seat and the harness will be compromised.

The above is what I have done in my race car.

steve g

Thanks Joe. My assumption is/was that the Recaro seats would simply mount to the side brackets, the side brackets would mount to the sliders, and that the sliders would mount to the existing holes in the floor, without drilling new holes. As I read your answer - I think we are saying the same thing.

I am considering which rollbar/partial or full rollcage would be best based on my progressing track experience. Initally I am considering the Redline Rennsport rollbar (until I 'graduate' from DE to Club Racing driver status) and then replacing that with a Safety Devices (or equivalent) full roll cage (which seems to be available as a partial roll cage with the option to add the rear full roll cage section)

Thanks again for your advice.

M758

Given your goals with car make sure you mound the seats and harness very well. Like you would if you where to race the car. If in doubt do a search in the racer forum and you will find a number of threads on proper seat mounting.

With respect to the cage vs bar thing.

Well If I were going to street drive the for a couple years doing DE only then I would look into a Redline roll bar. Not good in a roll over as roll bar, but still very nice.

Benfit is that it can be sold probably for 90% of what you buy it for new when you decide to race and go with full cage. At that time put in a full cage and limit street driving to the absolute minimum.

You can also go with a roll bar where you can add a cage later, but I am more a fan of custom cages due to their superior fit. I have sat in cars with autopower cages and felt very close to the upper bars. IN my custom cage I feel I have 10x the space. Reason is a well done custom cage can have the bars much closer to the edges of the car.

Dr.Porsche

Steve G,

Hello, if you need help with mounting, so on so forth let me know. I can also show you how I did it. I know you have looked at all of the other threads on this and by now know that this is a passionate subject. I think the above is good advice.

xsboost90

i bought the recaro brakets from soloracer.com where i got the seats from. They have some with or without the stock seat belt braket welded on- i got them w/o and had to drill the floor- GET THE ONE WITH THE BRAKET!! Im 6'1" and i clear my sunroof w/ my helmet on and same seats- the sliders are mounted to a square braket w/ holes for the floor bolts so they are really low profile.

M758

If you want to race you CANNOT mount the lap belt to the same place as you mount the seat. You are required to have a seperate mounting just for the lap belts.

If you are just doing DE and don't want drill you can probaly get away with it, but it is a definite compromise.

Opeth

I have these seat brackets for sale, I believe they fit all 944s, they are for mounting aftermarket seats. Thes brakets mount to the existing floor holes, then the aftermarket seats bolt into the 4 tabs. I dont remember what I paid so make an offer!!!

steve g

Thanks to all of you who answered my questions here and via PM. I am still unclear of whether I really need to buy a separate bracket besides the slider. If any of you have installed Recaro SPG seats in a 944/924S/968, please let me know what brackets you actually used.

The Redline Rennsport rollbar is on order.

And thanks for the birthday wishes too, John and Jenn.

spazegun2213

Steve,
I find it funny that i JUST put SPG's in my 944. What you will need to mount the seats is (get a pen):
The seat (i hope you would have this)
mounts (the seat is sidemount so you will have plenty of room, I'm 6'2'' and i fit)
sliders (just in case someone else needs to drive it and for mounting)

now, my 944 is an 84 and the previous owner cut the previous seat mounts out and i think welded in some plates to the floor (4 1.5x1.5 metal plates) and then drilled and tapped them. They fit the sliders just fine.

if you want I can snap some pictures when i get the car back (which i hope is soon) I can do that. The one thing i suggest is that you try to get the seat as LOW as possible. If you put a cage in it, you are going to need all the room you can get.

I also have 4 of the 6 points of my harnesses bolted though the floor. (again i can get pictures if you want.

As for a cage/bar, if you drive the car on the street a fair amount I would say bar (and pad the car) or if you onlu drive to/from DE's I would opt for a cage. Autopowers cages and bars are bolt in's but are great (i have one in my race car) but remember you need to pad them as well. Just be careful, bone + bar of cage/bar = Broken bone, so PAD your bar/cage.

ok, i think i got my point across and if you want pics, just PM and I'll post some.

spazegun2213

Alright, here are some pics


how the seat sits in the car. I would say its like 1/2 off the tub itself, i have the seat on the lowest front setting and the middle rear setting. if you see that metal rod (for the window net) its actully covers the factory mount, that was cut, to allow these mounts.


sliding the seat back and you can see the rail is mounted to the floor.


slide the seat forward and you can see were i have the belts mounted and where the rail is mounted (near the transmission tunnel). you can also see the "plate" the rail is mounted to. I have no idea if thats factory or not (i assume its not though).


this is the mount on the drivers side and you can clearly see the plate that its mounted to.


I hope this helps!!

M758

Is this the lap belt in this picture? God I hope not!

That is a VERY BAD way to mount the lap belt.


It should be mounted on the vertical surface on the tunnel. Since this any early car you can use the stock seat belt moun hole. The late cars need to drill a hole since there is no factory mount there.

That sort of belt mounting will compromise the lap belt safety to a LARGE degree.

spazegun2213

Really?

I have the SCCA/PCA/NASA rule books and race logs to say that it has passed every tech inspection it has been on. I think they would have flagged the car if it was that unsafe. I'm not saying that it is not safe, but i have seen a ton of cars with the lap belts mounted to the floor like this.

Skip Wolfe

Wow - I am surprised that would pass tech. I have seen lap belts mounted to the floor with a eye bolt and a clip in mounts but never like this. No way I would run with belts like that. Just drill through the tunnel and use a couple big backing washers and your good to go.

spazegun2213

ok, I'm new to all of this. so what should i do on the drivers side, for that lap belt?