Rob Edwards

The wife and kids circulate on Halloween and I hand out candy, so in between doorbell rings I decided to mount my birthday present, a Stable Energies FEM2 on the passenger seat of my '90. I thought I'd post this 'cause there are a few points worth mentioning and things that the instructions are a bit shaky about.

#1. Pull the seat out of the car. This would be a major PITA without good space to work.

Here are the four holes that the bracket mounts to. Each pair of black screw-head bolts holds a plastic box of some sort on the top side of the seat frame:


And here is where the bracket, as shipped, interferes with the seat frame:


There are several comments in the archives about having to modify the bracket, which took about 5 minutes with a Dremel cutoff tool, but you'd think the fabricator would have gotten this right. Perhaps there's an earlier shark that this fits on without modification. Anyway, here's the cut I made on each side:



Oh, and for those of you who haven't seen the underside of a 928 power seat, rest assured that the engineers overdid it on the wiring here too:



Another issue with the instructions is that they supply 4 M8 x 25 cap screws, which they want you to place through the 4 holes shown in the first picture, running through the seat base and then FE bracket. Well, this would mean that the aforementioned black boxes will be hanging in the breeze, and it's just about impossible to get these big bolts mounted in the frame this way.

So: I busted out the collection of metric hardware. The next shot shows the black screw-head bolts from the seat (on the left), the too-big cap screws that were supplied with the bracket (on the right) and the M5 - 0.8 x 25 mm capscrews that I used (middle) :



These M5 screws go thru the bracket, thru the seat frame, and tie into the threaded holes on the black boxes. Perfect.

Remember to re-install the plastic motor cover before bolting up the FE release bracket.

The final product:



All in all a nice product, but not a perfect fit right out of the box, at least for my 1990 model.

Shane

Thanks for the write up Rob! I have the same bracket, which although might have fit my '86 seats won't fit the '89 seats that I have in there now.

PorKen

The bracket must have been designed for 911 power seats, with manual fore/aft, not for a 'fat-n-lazy-nine-two-eight'.

Jim bailey - 928 International

The black boxes are as I recall for the memory seat which is also an option ...and somewhat rare on the passenger seat.

Rob Edwards

I've got memory on the passenger side, so that must be what they are. Thanks for the ID, Jim.

Alan

Rob - now you have the nice seat mount bracket you really need a better quick release fitting for the ext. - looks like your wife will be complaining about that sharp pointy thing real soon....

Check out this BK mount http://www.bkauto.com/porsche/r9520.php

I have to say I hate their seat mounts - just stupid - fixed to the static rails (Eh!?! Why?) Still you have the good version already!

I just fabricated my own seat attachment - basically similar to the S-E version from aluminum stock.

Alan

SharkSkin

BTDT

My (somewhat cheaper) solution, which eliminates the pointy stuff and lowers the mounting position of the FE:

Jim bailey - 928 International

WOW Dave that is very, very nice !

F451

No doubt! Did you fabricate that yourself or buy it somewhere?

C'mon, don't hold out on us!

Ed

SharkSkin

Thanks, guys -- It's a combination of the Stable Energies bracket and the Safecraft Billet mount. I had to hack the end off of the Stable Energies mount to make this all work out, and had my brother the machinist make up an intermediate bracket to connect it all together. More details here.

BTW Safecraft makes some very trick looking extinguishers as well:

Alan

Here is the BK quick release installed on my Halon extinguisher - The handle on mine is under the extinguisher to keep it quite out of the way (rotated 90 degrees). Daves seat mount is more custom built than mine, but I snugged mine as close and low as it can go to the seat. No leg interference at all...

Alan

F451

Great info and pics guys, thanks. My FE is sitting on the rear seat floor behind me where I can't get at it very easily, and its not very secure. I need to get with the program and get a real mount setup. -Ed

SharkSkin

Ed, any bracket is better than none IMHO. Think about it -- if you're involved in a wreck, most everything that's not bolted down will likely not be where you left it...

morganabowen

I've looked at that BK system, but there is no local dealer, and I don't have the imagination or skill to fit it to my 91 S-4 BTW...How much do those BK systems cost

I think that Rob Edwards should have a fire extinguisher group day

Alan

Well the BK quick release is about $200 - the SE underseat mount is extra at abouy $50 as is the extinguisher...mounts up.

I made my mount for about $30 in materials but you have to have tools to do this (hacksaw, drill press, power file, hardware (?) and some ability)

Figure ~$140 for a Halotron ext or maybe <$100 for a used Halon tested, $150 for an empty new ext. recharged w/ recycled Halon or much less for dry chemical - but not recommended...

Alan