Cobra seats

[Doogle]

Will cobra seats fit in a haynes/saturn chassis? With MT75 box?

Origonally I wanted a pair of monaco's but then decided to keep with weight saving and go with grp buckets, but I think my dad may find these a bit too uncomfy (going to be a shared car) plus I plan on a few driving trips.

I have found a brand new pair of cobra monaco's for sale locally for a reasonable price, so do I go and grab them or stick with the idea of something lighter?
They are monaco pro seats, brand new. I did have some monacos a couple of years ago in a land rover, they were second hand when I bought them so about 5 years old? and quite wide and weighty but I havnt seen their new designs to know if they have improved in any way.
Does anyone have monaco's in their own cars? Fitting is also something Im concerned about to keep the IVA man happy.

Thanks,
Doug.

[Talonmotorsport]

Most buckets seats are 480-520mm wide due to the sides that restrain your thighs. Unless you can find some narrow seats they might not fit, the other way round it is to make the tranny tunnel 125mm wide instead of 165mm and to make the chassis 100mm wider. Only thing is then all the body work has to be custom made from the nose cone back, not a problem if your making it from ali but fibreglass panels won't fit. Been there got the tape measure out.

[Doogle]

Thanks very much, maybe I will give them a miss, could be £100 saved but maybe not in the long run, probably best to sort out the chassis first!

[twinturbo]

There are very very few seats that fit.

TT

[mr henderson]

One of the big issues, if you are tall especially, is whether the angle of the seat matches the angle of the back panel. NMost fixed seats seem to slope more than the back panel, which means the base of the seat gets pushed forwards. I think you would find that to be the case with cobra seats.

[Doogle]

Hi,
Im not too tall, 5'10 and built like a rake. Though cant say the same for my dad ;)

What does anyone think of GRP seats and pads? And whats the best way to mount these?

[mark]

I have triton grp seats as do a few roadster builders and they are brilliant

You can drive for a couple of hours easy and feel no worse than if you had been in a tintop

You can also get them coloured to suit your car if that sort of thing does it for you :)

The only problem you may have with them is if you are sharing the car with your dad and he is bigger than you he may need a wide seat but if you resemble a rake :D you would need a standard seat

I have wide and fit perfect, but im by no means wide!

[mr henderson]

And whats the best way to mount these?

It depends on the make of the seat, some use sidemounting brackets, and some use nuts inserted into the base during manufacture.

[fabbyglass]

I would go the fibreglass route if I was you as any seat with cloth or vinyl covering is going to get hammered as you end up climbing all over them getting in and out and the passenger seat tends to be your "boot".
Then as this nutty country likes to drip wet stuff from above even when the weather bods claim the big yellow heater in the sky will be on those cloth or vinyl covered seats will be a tad wet and soggy and take ages to dry out.

Buy 'glass ones and pop a hole in them as a drain oh and the best seats?

I'm biased(proud dad bit) but Triton Race Seats are the best in the price range and dare I say it better than some that are dearer.

And all credit to Emma as it's not exactly a girlie thing to be doing, laminating fibreglass seats...:cool:

[spud69]

I would second the comments by both Marks. The grp seats are surprisingly comfortable and give the maximum leg length available for the longer driver. Some people have used camping mats cut up and stuck to the seats in elaborate places to add a little padding and comfort to the ride but really they don't need them.

It's all personal choice.....Andrew

[Doogle]

Thanks guys, a pair of Triton seats it is then :D

[twinturbo]

I went the cheep route for the time being and bought the KPD ones.. Tehy will do for a couple of years.

I can't remember much about the seats in Spuds Car in terms of comfort, which must mean that they were not uncomfortable. In fact the ride in general with the glass seats was fine even on the twisty back roads outside Hartlepool.

TT

[Talonmotorsport]

If some could make fibreglass seats that are 480-500mm wide for people that have 46" waist and child bareing hips that would be grand :D Failing that I'll make me own.

[fabbyglass]

If some could make fibreglass seats that are 480-500mm wide for people that have 46" waist and child bareing hips that would be grand :D Failing that I'll make me own.

Is there then a problem that seats that size don't fit the Roadster?:confused:

[3GE Components]

You only have to ask Mr Gibbs how comfortable Triton seats are, a couple of years ago at the show in Exter he spent the entire week end sat in them without any discomfort.

Kind regards

John

[Doogle]

Think I'll have to just try some and see how I get on, intend to do a few Pistonheads runs, shows and things like that with the car so a few hours at a time spent in the car driving. Will soon sort out whether I can hack it or not :D

[Talonmotorsport]

Is there then a problem that seats that size don't fit the Roadster?:confused:

Yes I know that a 480-500mm size seat does'nt fit a standard size chassis but then I don't comfortably fit in a standard size chassis any way. The advantage to being a fabricator with a modestly equiped engineering workshop is that I can modify most things to suit my needs. There are more than a few people that end up building McSorley 442E chassis instead of the Roadster because they need bigger seats. I get 2-3 emails or ebay messages a week asking how wide the cock pit is on a Roadster by people wanting to fit full size OE car or after market bucket seats. There is a market out there for WIDER fibreglass seats and chassis.

[monsterob]

ive had a sticker made for my roadster that reads

"fat bar stewards need not apply ! for the drivers side

and

"you must be this thin to ride !" for the passenger side :D