Michael W

Hi all,
I am looking into getting a set of after market sport seats such as Recaro SRD or Sparco Carrera for my C4. I am curious if anyone has experience installing similar sport seats.
My main concern is with the recline lever too close to the center concole. Also I have herd the mounting brackets set the seats too tall?
Any ideas?

By the way, how much do the OEM seats weight? I have the manual recline type.

Thanks

Mike

JW in Texas

Mike,
I have SRDs in mine. They were already installed when I bought the car. (off of Rennlist as a matter of fact) The recline **** is on the outside & it's pretty tough to turn with the door shut. I usually end up cracking the door so that I can get my hand on it. My seats don't appear to sit to high. I am 5'11" & fit alright in there with my helmet on. Savings is about 35-40 lbs per seat if I remember right.

They are great seats & extremely supportive. I have been very satisfied at the track & they work well on the street also. If you want me to shoot some pictures of the mounting, clearance & recline ****, drop me an email at:

royalbcat@netscape.net

Jay

Adrian

Dear Mike,
I do not know if you are going on the track with your C4. However I would like to suggest that you consider picking up a pair of factory sports seats. They are a 944 part number but they really are good seats. Might be worth a little look. If you are looking at the racetrack then I would advise you stick to your original idea or maybe look at second hand Porsche racing seats out of a RS or something,
Ciao,
Adrian
911C4

Riccardo

[quote] look at second hand Porsche racing seats out of a RS or something <hr></blockquote>

More easily said than done Adrian! Do you know where I could find these? I too am looking at lowering my seat for track days and getting hold of an RS seat would be my dream.

Bob C.

In my RSA, I supplement the factory-delivered sports seats with a pair of seats from a '94 Speedster; I use these on the track. If I'm not mistaken, they are the same seats that were also delivered with the Euro RS.

I love them. They're very light compared to the delivered seats, and, despite a profound lack of padding, they're surprisingly comfortable. Support is good except in the lower lumbar area. And they really hold you in place when you are pushing the car to the limit.

Time required for one person to change the seats is about 1 hour.

FWIW.

George Stevens

Bob

Although similar the speedster seats are not the same as a euro RS.

The RS seats have a slot on the base to give the facility for an anti-submarine strap to be fitted on the harness.

One word of warning about RS seats although initially very comfortable, after a 300 mile drive recently I got out of the car with a very sore backside!!

I have recently replaced the complete drivers swab section and this has improved comfort slightly.

They do look great though!!!

Bob C.

George,

Thanks.

Please describe the slot for the "anti-submarine strap". I can't picture what you're talking about. My seats look like yours, with the exception of your colorful cushions; mine are black.

Also, where did you get your dead pedal? I've been thinking that I need one of those.

Cupcar

Bob- Do you have Speedster Seats which look like George's RS seats, but are different in that they have a trampoline like suspension under the seat cushion and no cut out for the sub strap. Georges RS seats have a removable pad under the seat cushion that has a hole in it and then there is a hole in the fiberglas for the sub belt.

Bob C.

Thanks, Cupcar. That helps.

It sounds as though I have the Speedster seats, because I have the "hooks" to hang the "trampolines" that you mentioned. However, there *are* cutouts for the sub belts. Close inspection seems to indicate that the holes are "aftermarket".

That is an impressive collection of cars you have. Is there any chance that I may have photographed them at Monterey Historics (I missed '98), Rennsport Reunion, Watkins Glen 50/50, etc?

George Stevens

Cupcar

Are you trying to upset us all and make us green with envy with your list of cars

all my favourites are there!!!!

Adrian

Dear Riccardo,
If you are looking for RS seats I would advise a quick email to young Phil up there in Liverpool. H eposts quite often on RS related subjects. I am sure he can help point you in the correct direction. For standard sports seats you need to track down a 944/951 wrecker, they often have them,
Ciao,
Adrian
911C4

Cupcar

Of course the list of cars below is my wish list, excepting the 964 RS! I figure if everyone can post a laundry list of what they own I can post one of what I like <img src="graemlins/burnout.gif" border="0" alt="[burnout]" />

Back to the seats, the "Speedster" seat can be converted into an "RS" seat by removing the trampoline suspension and replacing it with an RS pad part number:964.521.791.00 (may have to get pad out of Europe) and cutting a hole in the bottom of the seat for the submarine strap. Mount the upper leather pad to the lower pad by sticking pieces of "male" velcro tape back to back and place it between the cushions, viola RS seats. BTW the sub strap hole in the RS fiberglas seat bottom is trimmed with the same herring bone embossed snap mold that is used around the rear quarter window on an early 911. This is sold by the meter at my local dealer.

George Stevens

Cupcar

The pads are available as a Porsche part, my drivers seat replacement cost around £125 sterling. I sourced it via interior trimmers Southbound here in the UK who managed to get me a 20% discount off the main dealer price.

You will notice from the photo above that my car came with an unusual colour choice, Guards Red with triple magenta recaros.

The obvious option would have been triple grey with red seatbelts, but if everyone was the same it would be a very boring world plus they are growing on me!!!

Gary C2 UK

How much would you expect to pay in the UK for a pair of these seats?

Does the "trampoline" insert make the seat considerably more comfortable than the non-sprung version?

On comparing the picture from Georges seats to those of a speedster it would appear the bottom cushions in the coupe are a bit fuller than the speedster ones. The top edge of both versions seem to stop by the harness slot.

The reason I mention all this is that I was in Europe a few weeks ago and had a choice of two pairs of seats.

One pair was without the springs but seemed to have very high side bolsters. There were no Porsche part nos. to be found anywhere on the seats however. I believe they may have been "aftermarket" Recaros covered in leather.

The second pair had the springs mounted and Porsche part no. 964 521 501 00(for 1 seat).
As these seats appeared genuine I bought them, this included brand new, in the Porsche bag brackets, but no runners. The seats are in excellent condition too, the leather is fantastic, they are actually from a 95 car as the year is stamped on the seat.

The only thing is that I don't know what car they came from as there were, I think, no speedsters in 95. Did Porsche use the springed seat in any 993 models.

I know the other pair are still for sale at 1300Euros each. They are brand new.

Do you think I made the correct choice based in the spring issue etc. I'll be using them for track days as well as day to day driving. Also does anyone ine the UK have a used set of runners(manual) available that I can use for these seats.


Gary

Gary C2 UK

George,

is your dashboard,door tops, rear shelf etc. finished in leather? If so is leather the standard trim covering in the road RS version?

Many thanks,

Gary