Re: Spider seat swaps

[Ian Lomax <sfalfisto@domain.elided>]

One counter point to Bill's comments...

I also had a Recaro seat in my spider for a number of
years.  I used the same bar stock adaptor to install a
passenger seat on the drivers side.  I never got
around to figuring out how to get one in the passenger
side, and after hearing Bill's description I'm glad I
gave up!

But I found the Recaro very comfortable for long
trips.  I think that seat was one of the reasons I was
able to drive from San Francisco to Detroit in four
days solo, and get out of the car after 10 hours in
reasonable shape.  The seat definitely held you in
place, but in a position that was much more
comfortable than the stock spider seats.  

Since then I've been returning the car to a stock
appearance, and whent back to stock seats.  They're
fine for short trips and tours, but I'm now looking at
other seats again for track use.

Cheers,
Ian Lomax
SF, CA
71 Spider

--- "Bain, Bill" <Bill.Bain@domain.elided> wrote:
> My '83 Spider has a set of Recaros (blue) from an
> older Porsche 911.
> The driver's Recaro bolted right up to the adjuster
> rails off the old
> Alfa seats, BUT, I had to use the adjuster rail from
> the old passenger
> seat so that the lever faced out toward the door
> instead of in towards
> the interior because the extra length of the Recaros
> compared to the
> stock Alfa seats covers the handle otherwise.
> 
> The biggest issue is that just about any seat you
> might use is wider
> than the stock Spider seat and the stock seats are a
> tight fit,
> particularly on the passenger side. Also most
> aftermarket seats (can't
> speak to Miata seats) have their adjuster controls
> on the outside of the
> seat and that's a cozy fit in a Spider, to say the
> least. Hence you make
> have to swap the passenger seat and the drivers
> seat.   For Recaros,
> you'll need to make an extension out of flat bar
> stock that moves the
> mounting holes to the floor out about 3/4" to
> accommodate the wider
> seat.  On the passenger side, the only way I could
> find to make the
> Recaro fit was to raise it up using the Porsche
> brackets, which raise it
> about 1" so the seat base clears the console. On the
> passenger side I
> used the Porsche adjuster tracks as well.
> 
> Later Alfa seats give much more thigh support than
> the earlier ones
> since they har longer with amore pronounced knee
> bolster -- not sure
> when they changed but it might have been only on the
> Veloce and Quad
> models after 1986.
> 
> Lastly, while my Recaros do give better lateral
> support, they are much
> firmer than the stock seats so they are not really
> all that comfortable
> for long trips.  They hold me so firmly that there's
> not much room to
> wiggle around, which is good, but there's also no
> way to change position
> either, which can get to be fatiguing as well.  For
> back support, maybe
> an auto upholstery shop could fit one of those
> inflatable back supports
> into the stock seat?
> 
> 
> 
> Bill Bain 
> AROC Atlanta 
> '83 SPider 
> '87 Milano 
> 
> --
> to be removed from alfa, see
> /bin/digest-subs.cgi
> or email "unsubscribe alfa" to majordomo@domain.elided
Yahoo! Sports - Coverage of the 2002 Olympic Games
http://sports.yahoo.com

--
to be removed from alfa, see /bin/digest-subs.cgi
or email "unsubscribe alfa" to majordomo@domain.elided