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Wanting to make tilt rails

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Old Jun 18, 2026 | 09:37 PM
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Wanting to make tilt rails

Let's say... HYPOTHETICALLY

I wanted to design a tilt adapter for our stock seat rails. How complicated is the mechanism that does the tilting and how does it actually work?

I have been bit by the "I want spirit r bucket seats" bug. And while that is a far off distant fallacy. I do think its possible to solve 1 piece of that puzzle and making a tilt rail adapter for everyone.

Getting my hands on a tilt rail to reverse engineer would be the best idea, but in this economy, thats never gonna happen. So does anyone have detailed photos of how the mechanism works and how everything is positioned and what not?
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Old Jun 19, 2026 | 08:51 AM
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https://tiltworx.com/products
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Old Jun 19, 2026 | 08:57 AM
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Originally Posted by FDAUTO
The work that went into making these was literally akin to rocket science. It’s absolutely the best option out there.
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Old Jun 19, 2026 | 10:05 AM
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Already been made and @FDAUTO linked it. No need to reinvent the wheel when someone has already done the work for it. I got it and its great.
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Old Jun 19, 2026 | 10:19 AM
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Originally Posted by Mazdaspeed RX8 ver2
Already been made and @FDAUTO linked it. No need to reinvent the wheel when someone has already done the work for it. I got it and its great.
I TOTALLY get that, ive looked all over the internet for people who make them, and people who have tried to make them.

The problem that I have is, I like to make and design stuff (the call is coming from inside the house). The tilt rail itself seems to just be 2 spring loaded rods that can be pulled out and put into pre determined holes. And then the seat rotates on a fixed axis in the rear and slides in the front. I just dont see how something like that can be $1400+ (not saying its not worth that). IDK, im sure my hard headedness will come up with something

Last edited by Watch_Me; Jun 19, 2026 at 10:19 AM.
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Old Jun 19, 2026 | 10:24 AM
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Originally Posted by Watch_Me
I TOTALLY get that, ive looked all over the internet for people who make them, and people who have tried to make them.

The problem that I have is, I like to make and design stuff (the call is coming from inside the house). The tilt rail itself seems to just be 2 spring loaded rods that can be pulled out and put into pre determined holes. And then the seat rotates on a fixed axis in the rear and slides in the front. I just dont see how something like that can be $1400+ (not saying its not worth that). IDK, im sure my hard headedness will come up with something
For sure, I didn't mean to say not to do it, I was under the impression that you were not aware that it has already been made and there was an option out there other than OEM. Feel free to design and produce your own version. I'm all about competition since it breeds innovations.
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Old Jun 19, 2026 | 10:27 AM
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Originally Posted by Mazdaspeed RX8 ver2
For sure, I didn't mean to say not to do it, I was under the impression that you were not aware that it has already been made and there was an option out there other than OEM. Feel free to design and produce your own version. I'm all about competition since it breeds innovations.
Ay man, no worries, I didnt take it that way
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Old Jun 19, 2026 | 04:21 PM
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Originally Posted by Watch_Me
I TOTALLY get that, ive looked all over the internet for people who make them, and people who have tried to make them.

The problem that I have is, I like to make and design stuff (the call is coming from inside the house). The tilt rail itself seems to just be 2 spring loaded rods that can be pulled out and put into pre determined holes. And then the seat rotates on a fixed axis in the rear and slides in the front. I just dont see how something like that can be $1400+ (not saying its not worth that). IDK, im sure my hard headedness will come up with something
I wish you all the luck in the world.

I was fortunate enough to be able to see the development of the TiltWorx Sliders in real time and also own a set of OEM Spirit-R Tilt Rails / Seats in my FD3S.

If you can fab up something real quick, go for it. I believe Recaro actually use to offer a very simple solution that allowed for tilt adjustment on side mount seats, but I haven't seen them on the market in a while. But replicating something like the OEM/TiltWorx is not as simple as you might think and the real trick is keeping it in a package that doesn't add 3 inches in seat height.

Do yourself a favor and checkout the TiltWorx videos and you may be able to ascertain what you're in for.

All the best!
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Old Jun 19, 2026 | 05:12 PM
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Originally Posted by MattGold
I wish you all the luck in the world.

I was fortunate enough to be able to see the development of the TiltWorx Sliders in real time and also own a set of OEM Spirit-R Tilt Rails / Seats in my FD3S.

If you can fab up something real quick, go for it. I believe Recaro actually use to offer a very simple solution that allowed for tilt adjustment on side mount seats, but I haven't seen them on the market in a while. But replicating something like the OEM/TiltWorx is not as simple as you might think and the real trick is keeping it in a package that doesn't add 3 inches in seat height.

Do yourself a favor and checkout the TiltWorx videos and you may be able to ascertain what you're in for.

All the best!
Dude, that's AWESOME! Although sadly, I will never be able to put the time into it that I truly wish I could.

While it's my dream to make as many parts as I can and give the files away to anyone that'll take em, the OEM Recaro Spirit R/RZ seats are just to rare and to expensive at this point. Making stuff from scratch is easy (sometimes), trying to replicate/build upon an existing design that isn't readily available at all anymore is the hard part. I give away the files I have posted in the 3D printing thread because parts are becoming extinct, and anything to try help make our cars less of a hassle to own is worth it to me, so buying something that I don't have a use for yet/wouldn't normally spend that amount of money on (10-12k) just so I can reverse engineer it, isn't viable. OH WELL! Who knows what will happen in the future
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