Which seat? Cobra Imola, Racer; Sparco Evo, Rev
 

I think all will fit into the FD with minor work. I already got some great feedback from a member with the Cobra Imola mounted on the stock FD rails, that's what I'm leaning towards at the moment.

Cobra Imola is slightly bigger than the Cobra Racer, which is their smallest seat.
Sparco Evo is slightly bigger than the Sparco Rev, which is their smallest seat.

I am 5'10", 33"x33" pants, 38-40 jacket, 160 lb. The car will be tracked a fair amount and driven on the street a fair amount, including long road trips. So looking for a compromise that is snug but not *TIGHT*. Some leanback is desired to ensure helmet clearance, it appears that these options are somewhat similar in that regard.

Looking for feedback from people who have used or sat in these seats. Lemme know how you think I'd fit into them.

Also interested in thoughts on the best way to keep fore/aft adjustability while maximizing helmeted head room! Sounds like Cobra mounts on the factory rails could put seat height ~1" lower than stock, which would work.

Thanks!
dan

I love my EVOs... I'm 5'9", 170lbs, 40 jacket, 31x32 pants. You're a little taller/thinner, but if anything my shoulders are a little lower than ideal relative to the "wings".

I street drive it, and have taken some decently long drives—in fact used to drive it to the track up to 6 hrs away until I started towing. They are really pretty comfortable, it's just getting in/out that takes more work.

I had mine on a slider until I got them where I wanted them, and then had a fixed mount made. It sits as low as it possibly can, the bottom of the seat is on the floorboard.

I've sat in the REV, and had a set of Momo NASCAR seats for a bit, and they were too tight, especially on the thighs. I've also sat in the Recaros, which are a bit tighter.

Great info, thanks!

It's looking like either the Cobra Imola and Sparco Evo are gonna work for me.

Did you have to trim the wing adjacent to the door panel to get it to fit?

The first EVO I had was trimmed, but the new mount doesn't require trimming on my new one. It does touch/rub the door slightly, but it doesn't make it difficult to shut or anything.

I really need to keep fore/aft adjustability. Track day driving position is one, sometimes even two clicks closer to the wheel than for road trips!

What sliders did you use? Apparently the stockers can work with race seats, but if there is a lower option I might have to ultimately go that route.

How low was the seat relative to stock on sliders and now fixed to the floor?

Thanks again :)

Careful with that , I had corbeau sliders that I modified to use with my bucket seat and the actual sliders would wiggle and move around . seat was pretty flimsy . I had to fabricate some reinfoced brackets to get the seat to be sturdy .

OEM rails from what I've seen look very sturdy . may be worth being an inch higher for the added quality of an OEM rail . ( also i'm 5'10 and I have no issues with clearence even with a helmet )

Check out the BRIDE Type-LF Seat Rail.

My sliders were custom based on Sparco sliders, with tabs and side mounts welded on. I've seen side mounts welded onto stock rails (had them on my passenger seat), and the seat sits really high.

I sold my slider, so if you search sale threads, there might have been a picture of it in there. I get the whole track/street distance thing... it's mostly the hands vs. feet distance I think, because when you cinch down the harnesses your shoulders don't have as much range of motion. You could consider using two different steering wheel spacers with a fixed seat.

I use a 1" spacer with my Sparco R383 wheel.

Well that ain't gonna work... I'd sooner go with aftermarket sliders than weld the stock ones anyway. Just need to figure what the lowest mount bracket/slider combination might be...

It's not that, I keep my shoulder straps kind of loose at the track anyway. It's the need to be "up on the wheel" *and* on the pedals more when subjected to over 1g in every direction at the track, versus need to have some room for comfort on road trips.

I want to be able to move closer to both the wheel and the pedals at the track vs. street, and at the same time I need to be sitting about 1" lower than stock seat.

Might have to resort to having two "fixed" seat positions, but that would be a PITA...
Gotta be a way to have adjustable sliders and a low seat.

These might fit the bill for you:

Garage Star FD3S RX-7 Seat Rails | Garage Star


Or, the custom Sparco slider route was pretty low too.

I tried the Garage Star seat rails with some Evos I had and it wont work if you want to keep the adjustability. The Evo is too wide so the front of the rail hits the trans tunnel.

The stock sliders I had with sidemounts on were pretty high too.

Sparco EVOs are in my car and I really like them. 6 ft. 175 lbs. with a 32 inch waist.

I trimmed them on the outer sides to get them to fit the way I like them (with no rubbing) and then I also trimmed the left front of the passenger seat so it didn't hit the center console. I'm pretty anal about this stuff :)

Finally, I use the Bride Low Max brackets and they work well. Very solid and they have a double locking mechanism. I did trim the bottom left and right of the driver's bucket to get it to drop down to the lowest position possible, so now my driver's seat just about touches the floor. For me, this put the seat at the perfect position and allows my head to clear the roof with some to spare.

Awesomely comfortable seats as well. I am very happy as they are tight but not too tight.

I posted all this up a while ago in the seat thread, including pics of the trimming I did. I might have posted also to my build thread.

Do u fit with a helmet David?