996 Convert

Sounds good dell. Hope your wife makes the right decision, for me at least.

LVDell

Sure thing. I'll PM you on Monday morning. By the way, I am VERY lucky to have a wife that loves to do the DE thing as much (well, almost) as I do

LVDell

good one

egress91506

I'll throw in my 2 cents. First, I just put Sparco Evos in my Boxster and that was pretty much plug and play by using the Brey Kraus hardware. I'm considering getting a second set of mounts for switching those seats into my S4 (B5 avant). I haven't investigated it, but startupracing seems to have some sort of easy setup for switching Sparcos into a B5 S4. (I don't know if you have a B5 or not, but "highly modified" makes me think it is a B5.) If it were me, I'd go the Sparco route with BK hardware. Second, BK makes an adapter for mounting the sub strap to the seat rails. The club I run the Boxster with (Porsche Owners Club) doesn't allow that, but I doubt Audi Club will give you a problem with it. I don't have an opinion on the safety of such a set up, but am sure others do. Finally, keep driving the S4 like you stole it. Mine hasn't let me down at a DE (yet).

jasonfreed

egress91506 - lol - yep, it's a B5 (stage III, big brakes, etc...). I bought the S4 new 6+yrs ago and have put 145,000miles on it. I love the car (and I usually keep cars for a year or two) - this one's a keeper for sure.

I missed the last day of a DE last year because my S4 shattered an exhaust manifold (doubled walled) and one of my KO4s ate a piece of metal manifold. I really wanted to bring the 996 out for the last day but couldn't because it didn't have a roll bar.

This year, I'd like to be prepared. Thanks for the input re: the Sparcos - I'll look into that.

Steven C.

One last thing to add. I went vintage racing last weekend and we had 2 cars upside down that a full cage saved the guys lives! I personally would never set one tire on a track with only a roll bar. Draw a line from the bar to the front of the car and figure out if your head might be in the way. Most times the answer is yes.

Then you say, oh no this is just a DE and this could never happen. Well, in the Maverick region a year or so ago a guy flipped a 996 and by luck walked away...during a DE. I have been racing in our vintage club for 5 years and this was the worst weekend ever. It can happen and does more than you think.

I am a saftey nut and wear a HANS and use a RaceTech HANS seat so take my advice as you want.

jasonfreed

Steven - the ACNA (Audi Club North America) requires the roll bar pass the broomstick test (with 2" of clearance) or else the car doesn't go out on the track.

Mike in CA

I installed gt3 seats, schroth 5pt harness, and a brey kraus harness bar in my 996. As I understand it, the main reason to have seats with the proper openings for the shoulder, lap and sub belts is to make sure that they are properly aligned with your body. Under severe deceleration, misaligned belts (for example a shoulder belt which doesn't come straight back over your shoulder, or a lap belt that rides up over your stomach) can apply tremendous force to your body in all the wrong ways, including spine compression and damage to internal organs. There's not much point in having the harness for looks if it can't do the job it was designed for.

egress91506

I didn't think K04s ever exploded! I'm still on my original K03s (73K miles, I'm the original owner), but am Stage II (along with Stoptechs and suspension upgrades). Very fun car.

jasonfreed

KO4s don't explode! (Except for when a double walled exhaust manifold fails, sending metal through the turbo)....

Don't ever drive a KO4-ed S4, your check book will not thank you

996 Convert

Dell,

How'd your DE go? Mine was great. The x74 made such a huge difference. My instructor had a 996 coupe with the GT3 seats and fivepoints. Boy did that help as well. Any updates on whether you'll be parting with your GT3 seats? Thanks.

LVDell

I did and before I even made the decision, Jason decided he would bite the bullet and buy everything and made me an offer on the entire setup (seats, rollbar, harnesses, mounting parts, sub strap bars, etc.) and do it right the first time since he found somebody to fabricate an adaptive slider that will allow swithcing between the P-Car and Audi. It's much easier to just ship the entire lot to him instead of having to disassemble the harnesses from the rollbar and take the seats apart to get the sub straps and mount bars removed. I'll keep an eye out and if I hear of another set of seats I'll definitely PM you.

996 Convert

Doh! Understood. Let me know if you hear anything.

jasonfreed

Sorry 996 convert - and thanks Dell!

The best part about it all is that Dell says he will deliver the stuff personally AND install it! What a guy

OK, maybe not but I'm still excited.

LVDell

Definitely will. I spend most of my time on the GT3 board which is where I hear most of the seat for sale posts so I will shoot you a PM if a set comes up.