So, I would like to get trade in my nice heated leather seats for some racing seats for my E36 M3.
What I want is:
1.) Sit lower in the vehicle . My head currently hits the ceiling with my helmet on. I'm asian so all my height is in the torso.
2.) Something supportive laterally. I'm 6' with a 34" waist.
Questions are:
1.) What seats do you recommend?
2.) Is it possible to seat lower than the stock seats if I use sliders with the racing seats?
Thanks!
-Tin
Racing Seat Recommendation for E36 M3
Moderator: Mike Simanyi
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Mike Simanyi
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Re: Racing Seat Recommendation for E36 M3
Tin,
Check out my seats when you get back in town. They're Cobra Suzuka GTs (GT is the wider setup). Toby has the narrower version if you want to check it out.
The driver's seat is on sliders, not set to the lowest position. The passenger seat isn't on a slider to minimize weight. With the passenger seat on a slider I was able to place 265 tires in the back seat.
When Tom and I first set the car up for STU we ran the Atwater event. I drove the car there in these seats without any discomfort.
The only potential downside is you really do have to use harnesses to be safe. The seat interferes with the stock seatbelt in a manner that makes it potentially unsafe in case of a significant accident. Edited to add: I think this is the case for all race seats.
Also adding: I'm not aware of any seat brackets made for the E36 and this seat, but you could contact Sube Sports (the U.S. distributor of Cobra seats), Turner Motorsport, and perhaps VAC, Road Race Technologies and Vorshlag to see if anyone has that covered. John Coffee installed the seats in my car, and if you want to have him duplicate the installation we can use my setup as a template. You should be aware that the GT is a very tight fit in the car, slightly contacting both the door and center console. It's also slightly offset left of the steering wheel. I don't even notice that any more.
Hmm, VAC looks like it has some nice sliders and mounts available, plus they sell Cobra seats. They should know how well these work with the seats.
VAC Motorsports
Mike
Check out my seats when you get back in town. They're Cobra Suzuka GTs (GT is the wider setup). Toby has the narrower version if you want to check it out.
The driver's seat is on sliders, not set to the lowest position. The passenger seat isn't on a slider to minimize weight. With the passenger seat on a slider I was able to place 265 tires in the back seat.
When Tom and I first set the car up for STU we ran the Atwater event. I drove the car there in these seats without any discomfort.
The only potential downside is you really do have to use harnesses to be safe. The seat interferes with the stock seatbelt in a manner that makes it potentially unsafe in case of a significant accident. Edited to add: I think this is the case for all race seats.
Also adding: I'm not aware of any seat brackets made for the E36 and this seat, but you could contact Sube Sports (the U.S. distributor of Cobra seats), Turner Motorsport, and perhaps VAC, Road Race Technologies and Vorshlag to see if anyone has that covered. John Coffee installed the seats in my car, and if you want to have him duplicate the installation we can use my setup as a template. You should be aware that the GT is a very tight fit in the car, slightly contacting both the door and center console. It's also slightly offset left of the steering wheel. I don't even notice that any more.
Hmm, VAC looks like it has some nice sliders and mounts available, plus they sell Cobra seats. They should know how well these work with the seats.
VAC Motorsports
Mike
Last edited by Mike Simanyi on Mon Nov 17, 2008 6:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Mako Koiwai
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Re: Racing Seat Recommendation for E36 M3
Make sure you get the correct mounting hardware. They gave me the Impreza hardware. One of the hardest jobs I ever had putting that darn Cobra in my WRX. Called them back twice, before they realized that I needed the WRX specific hardware, not the Impreza version! I was too deep into the install/modifications to start over again. 
For my semi asian body, the seating comfort was never great. The seat ended up being pitched slightly forward so that the curved seat top ended up forcing my helmet down.
I removed under thigh padding so I could tilt it back a bit more. It's presently installed in Chuck Fowlers STU STI if you want to try it out.
With my 12K/10K springs I couldn't drive much more then to San Diego before my bottom was sore. Even with my bulk the GT was too wide "in the end" ... although it seemed tight when I tried it on at Subie Sports. Tall Roman raced without the bottom cushion to get lower. I use to do that occasionally also. OK for our short race distances.
Expensive ...
Some photos from the abortion install:
http://public.fotki.com/makofoto/solo_i ... t_install/
For my semi asian body, the seating comfort was never great. The seat ended up being pitched slightly forward so that the curved seat top ended up forcing my helmet down.
I removed under thigh padding so I could tilt it back a bit more. It's presently installed in Chuck Fowlers STU STI if you want to try it out.With my 12K/10K springs I couldn't drive much more then to San Diego before my bottom was sore. Even with my bulk the GT was too wide "in the end" ... although it seemed tight when I tried it on at Subie Sports. Tall Roman raced without the bottom cushion to get lower. I use to do that occasionally also. OK for our short race distances.
Expensive ...
Some photos from the abortion install:
http://public.fotki.com/makofoto/solo_i ... t_install/