Anir

I just finished installing the DAS roll bar and two leather, chestnut brown, 964/993-specific GT3 seats. I want to thank Gert for sourcing the custom seats for me, especially since I was told by two U.S. sources that it was not possible.

I had the DAS bar powder-coated black prior to installation. The seat/bar combo looks pretty nice and maintains the factory appearance. The seats, though snug, are quite comfortable. I'll try to post some pics soon.

With respect to the DAS bar, the lower bracing bar wasy easy to install (to the front seatbelt reel mounts), but unfortunately, the DAS upper roll hoop was off by almost an inch in the left rear corner. This necessitated a trip to a local body shop, where they used a hydraulic "Porta-Power" to bend the DAS bar into the proper position. The folks at DAS stated that the bar must have been bent during shipping.

I gained almost an inch of headroom over what was available with the factory sports seats. My Bell M3 helmet no longer scrapes the headliner, but I'm still forced to remove the sun visor to keep from rubbing against it. I was hoping for a bit more headroom.

If I removed the sliding seat rails and bolted the seat directly to the car's floor, I could probably gain another two inches of headroom, but would lose any ability to move the seat fore and aft. Honestly, I'm not certain that the seat would be in the proper position for me with respect to the pedals.

Has anyone done this?

Mark in Baltimore

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by Anir:
<strong>The folks at DAS stated that the bar must have been bent during shipping.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Anir,

Yeah, if it was drop shipped to you from an airplane at 30,000 feet. I would think it would take one heck of a whack to bend a roll bar; most likely not welded properly in the jig.

Anyway, I don't have an answer to your question but since I plan on installing a DAS bar soon, your progress is interesting to me. Good luck!

Anir

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by Mark in Baltimore:
<strong>I would think it would take one heck of whack to bend a roll bar; most likely not welded properly in the jig.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Mark,

My thoughts exactly.

Having said that, I am very happy with the bar now that the installation ordeal is over. It's super solid and truly bolt-in. I can't wait to get back to the track now that I have deep dish seats and proper harnesses. <img border="0" alt="[burnout]" title="" src="graemlins/burnout.gif" />

kary993

Anir,

I had the same issue with my DAS bar and so did a friend of mine. You are not alone!

dwe8922

I had to bolt mine directly to the floor to get enough headroom w/ a helmet, and it made the difference for me. The only problem was that the brey krause bolt holes didn't allow me to get the seat back far enough, so I ended up having a machine shop make me brackets with holes where I wanted them to get back far enough. I also lowered the rear side mount hole as much as I could, with still being able to get a cut down allen key to it. This was really my only option, even though I miss being able to move the seat. I like to sit a little closer for track driving, and farther back for trips. Track driving won out.

The only thing I'd do differently in hindsight, is I would drill an access hole through the fiberglass seat bottom over each of the 4 seat mount bolts--they are a nightmare to get to otherwise, esp. w/ my seat sitting closer to the bolt heads--if I ever take the seat out for any reason I'll do this then. My bar really tightened up my car, and the seat and harnesses really make a difference at the track--you'll really like this mod.

Oh, my bar was hard to get in too. I had to leave everything really loose to get everything to bolt up. I think I even used a pry bar.

For those who powdercoat!!! Before you put your bar in, make sure that all the sandblast beads are out of the pipes!! It's really annoying.

David

Matt Vaughan

Anir, I have the same setup, and yes the DAS did require a bit of "work" to get it into the car, as my mechanic called it. I was glad I had him do the install since it needed to be powdercoated anyway.

You will love the harnesses and seats on the track. No more left leg bracing in the turns!

DJF1

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by Anir:
<strong>

If I removed the sliding seat rails and bolted the seat directly to the car's floor, I could probably gain another two inches of headroom, but would lose any ability to move the seat fore and aft. Honestly, I'm not certain that the seat would be in the proper position for me with respect to the pedals.

Has anyone done this?</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Actually my mechanic bolted on the floor my Sparco Evo 2's and I have tons of headroom... Imagine I can actually put my helmet on inside the car... In regards to the pedal position, you seat deeper into the car it is actually more fun! The steering wheel comes at a better angle pretty straight up to you and the pedals are very natural. I adjusted the brake pedal to match the throttle pedal and it is really nice driving it on the track.

Anir

Thanks to everyone for the input. Given the fact that the 993 is my daily driver (coupled with Dave's description of the difficulty in accessing the allen head bolts with a straight seat-to-floor installation), I think I'll stick with the sliders for now.

I need to install my 6-point Teamtech harnesses that came with snap-in hardware. I have a few questions (hopefully not too basic or dumb):

1. The GT3 seats have two downward angled bolt-in type metal pieces at the front of the seat rails. Can I mount the two anti-submarine belts to these, as was done in the Boxster pic below? I really don't want to drill into my floor.

<img src="http://boards.rennlist.com/upload/cw14.JPG" alt=" - " />

2. Is it OK to attach the two shoulder straps in a wrap-around fashion directly to the DAS bar, without using actual rear seatbelt attachment points?

3. Where can I buy the proper Grade 8 eyebolts? I've seen 5/8" at <a href="http://www.racerwholesale.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=RW&Product_Code=GF-109" target="_blank">Racer's Wholesale</a> and 7/16" at <a href="http://www.ioportracing.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=R-EyeBolt&Category_Code=MH" target="_blank">io port racing supplies</a>. Anyone used the B-K inboard and outboard options for the lap belt?

<img src="http://boards.rennlist.com/upload/bkmount.jpg" alt=" - " />

Thanks!

Flying Finn

Anir,

What kind of special 964/993 GT3 seats you talk about?
You mean those found in 964 speedster, 993 RS (and not one that 996 GT3 has)?

If yes, very cool... I've been trying to search for those 993 RS seats (where the seatback has those 'knuckles', which different them from 'normal' Recaros that you can buy these days) but they're hard to find.

DJF1

Anir, I used the BK eye bolts when I mounted the harnesses with the stock seats. If i remember correctly the eye bolts came together with the screws needed for mounting. They worked like a charm.

David in LA

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by Flying Finn:
<strong>What kind of special 964/993 GT3 seats you talk about?</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">FF - I think Anir has GT3 seats but with the specific brackets needed for the 993; the 996/Boxster brackets can be used but they require modification.

Anir - FYI, I was told a few months ago that a Rennlister has used a modified version of the Brey-Kraus direct floor mount for the 996 to bolt the GT3 seats into a 993 - not sure whether that mount has ready access to the bolts though.

Flying Finn

Thanks David,

I was thinking that's the case but wanted to check if a source for 993 RS seats is found...

David in LA

A few months back I think Gert was offering the 993RS/964 Speedster seats....I thought they were $1100-1200 each in leather. There was also another source of new seats that someone had posted the URL of as well.

Anir

Danny,

I'll order the BK pieces, which should take care of the outboard and inboard lap belts.

I received the following reply from Racer's Wholesale today, with respect to my eyebolt question:

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica"> The seat belt mounting bolts are all 7/16" thread, standard for domestic and foreign cars.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Does anyone have an opinion about directly attaching the two shoulder straps to the DAS roll bar (it does have the welded-in harness loops)? This would obviate the need for eyebolts in the rear seats.

I've got a six-point harness, so the Boxster pic above looks like a good solution for the anti-submarine belts. I know it's technically better to mount directly to the floor. However, I only plan to use the car for DE's, and do not want to drill. Plus, the stock Porsche seatbelt connects to the inboard portion of the seat on both the sports seats and GT3 seats, so I figure it must be a fairly safe means of attachment, aye? Why would Porsche create an unsafe design?

Anyone notice that the GT3 seats attach to the floor with only 4 bolts, whereas the stock sports seats attached with 6. I thought this was interesting.

Thanks again for the help.

Ted Brewer

Anir:

I believe PCA (Club Racing) allows both harness mounting options {bar and rear seat ) and also the folks at DAS (Dougherty) say either is OK. I have heard many opinions expressed both ways so it appears to me that this is really a personal choice.

Ted