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I know you're using bride seat rails, but do you know if the Tillet seat rails will work with the FD? I'm completely new to the aftermarket seat world so I don't even know what to do for seat rails.
^ I don't know if the Tillet rails are designed for the FD. They have several rails from which to select - including a sliding mechanism as an add on. I would contact torqued.io and ask them. If they do have a set for the FD and that can be configured to slide like the stock ones, I'd go that route as it would be easier.
If you need to use the Brides - I did this because I already had them so I never asked about the Tillet rails - then you have to drill into the rail extra front holes - one on each side - for the seat bolts because the front/back dimensions for the Tillets seat is shorter than the holes on the Brides. Not a big deal, but easier if you can avoid this. PM me if you need more info.
^ I don't know if the Tillet rails are designed for the FD. They have several rails from which to select - including a sliding mechanism as an add on. I would contact torqued.io and ask them. If they do have a set for the FD and that can be configured to slide like the stock ones, I'd go that route as it would be easier.
If you need to use the Brides - I did this because I already had them so I never asked about the Tillet rails - then you have to drill into the rail extra front holes - one on each side - for the seat bolts because the front/back dimensions for the Tillets seat is shorter than the holes on the Brides. Not a big deal, but easier if you can avoid this. PM me if you need more info.
How much lower do you sit with this setup than stock seats? I need a solution for my FD and I REALLY want to run these seats to fit the theme of my interior.
How much lower do you sit with this setup than stock seats? I need a solution for my FD and I REALLY want to run these seats to fit the theme of my interior.
Pretty much as low as you want. Best solution I have found if you want to lower your position and keep sliders.
^ Very comfortable. Much better than the Sparcos I have previously installed. You don't get squished into the side bolsters and while thin in appearance, the seats are deceptively comfortable.
Is that with the seat cushions for tillet or without?
Both. While I find it more comfortable with the seat cushions, they were also comfortable without them, which quite frankly, surprised me.
The cushions are so thin - they don't imped height - you might as well order them unless that deters from the look you are seeking.
Very conflicting local guy is telling me the padding is old and doesn't compress or do much so he's going to have custom thicker ones made. Would def not do 3 hr trips in them.
Not sure what you mean about being old. Are you buying a used set of these? If so, then try them out and see what you think.
As for the Tillet cushions, they are super thin, but that is how they are designed. Don't let this deceive you as I find the Tillets more comfortable than the Sparcos I previously had. I believe you can easily do 3 hr trips or much longer with or without the cushions.
No i'm getting new ones just asking someone who had used ones on how they felt.
What is your height/weight?
Originally Posted by David Hayes
Not sure what you mean about being old. Are you buying a used set of these? If so, then try them out and see what you think.
As for the Tillet cushions, they are super thin, but that is how they are designed. Don't let this deceive you as I find the Tillets more comfortable than the Sparcos I previously had. I believe you can easily do 3 hr trips or much longer with or without the cushions.
Got any pics of the B5’s installed? I like them a lot looks wise, just hard to swallow that the pads are almost $500. Then if you get them customized it’s another $200. What size driver would you think could comfortably use the B5?
No i'm getting new ones just asking someone who had used ones on how they felt.
What is your height/weight?
W
I am 6 feet tall and weigh 175 lbs. My father in law is quite a bit heavier than me and, where he had a difficult time fitting into my previous Sparcos, he fits easily into these because of the lower side bolsters.
Originally Posted by D4rw1n
Got any pics of the B5’s installed? I like them a lot looks wise, just hard to swallow that the pads are almost $500. Then if you get them customized it’s another $200. What size driver would you think could comfortably use the B5?
Go back one page and you will see the pics I posted. Yes, the seats are not inexpensive once you add in the pads and customization - that's what I did - and my total was around $2,800.
My stock seats were fine for daily use but I could not fit in the car with a helmet on unless I leaned the seat way back, making for a very unsafe track day experience. My prior solution, the Sparco Evos, worked fine after quite a bit of trimming and if I removed the seat cushion, but I just did not like the use of the high side bolsters for daily driving as they were uncomfortable after more than an hour or two fo driving. Like all other seats of the same design - pretty much everything else posted in this thread - being held in place for a track event is great, but what you sacrifice is daily driving comfort.
I stumbled across the Tillet B5s on a Lotus forum and sepnt quite a bit of time reading reviews and then, speaking to the guys at torqued.io. I decied to give them a try and I am very pleased.
Now I want them even more after seeing the pictures. That’s $2800 each right? Got any better pictures of how they mount?
No, it's $2,800 for both seats. I did already have Bride seat rails, so you will need to add rails into your cost if you don't have something already.
As for mounting, here is the best pic I have of the seats mounted to the Bride Lowmax rails. Tillet has their own rails, so you might want to ask Torqued.io about options for the FD as they may have something that will work. I used the Bride rails I had from my Sparcos and modified them for use with the Tillets. I added in the mounting hole on the front of the bracket you see in the pic - note the old holes on the bracket used for the Sparcos are seen in the pic and the new front holes are less of a distance away from the rear holes. Tillet uses a shorter hole distance from back to front than the others brands, so I had to make this modification to get the Brides to work. I wanted to keep the rear holes the same so I could vary the height of the seat depending on whether I am daily driving or tracking as I like to sit a bit more down during daily driving than on the track.
I also drilled the sliders on the rails so the seats would extend further to the rear of the car. I don't have a pic of this but know that if you use the Bride rails and you want the seat to slide back further, you can make this happen. My guess is with the Tillet slider rails, everything works out well, pending they have rails for the FD.
Lastly, I ordered several different thickness spacers that you can see in the pics. These spacers allow the smaller width Tillet seat to fit into the larger width of the Bride rails. I'd imagine you will need these for any rails as you will use the OEM rail location to bolt everything together.
Here is a pic of the tunnel clearance. The seats fit great both on the tunnel and the door sides.
Final shot of the Mazda logo I had stiched into the headrests by a local embroidery shop. Technically this is illegal for the shop to do, but the owner is a big FD fan so he was happy to do the work. It's also a one-off for him as well, so little chance I would try to sell them online.
Hope this helps. PM me with any questions.
Last edited by David Hayes; Aug 24, 2020 at 12:31 PM.
Unfortunately it looks like there isn't a Planted bracket for the RX-7 though. Is there any similar type setup you might be aware of? I'm not super familiar with the platform.
I've attached the B5 spec sheet too. The bolt spacing on the side for the brackets is narrower than most seats if you were going to look into a custom setup.
There are Planted brackets for the FD, they're just not on their site (you can see them in one of my pictures). I found some on an eBay store of all places for $150. It'll take some searching though. I'll post pictures of the entire setup when the physical seats come in (hopefully a week or so, I already have the pads, just waiting on the seats now).
Are you using the Tillett brackets with that planted mount? It seems like that planted mount wouldn’t let the seat go all the way down in the back. Are you using rails or just hard mounting the seats?
Are you using the Tillett brackets with that planted mount? It seems like that planted mount wouldn’t let the seat go all the way down in the back. Are you using rails or just hard mounting the seats?
I'm using the sliding rails attached to the mount. I'm not sure how everything will orient itself until the seats come in. I'll update once those come in.
Hey guys, just throwing this out there. I successfully had Sparco Rev seats installed in my old FD a few years back. They fit fine, but the bolsters were very close to the doors. Headroom was improved by about an inch or two and felt much better than stock seats (I'm 5'11"). Mounting was kind of a pain and I ended up ordering both side and bottom mounts because the first one I tried didn't work.
I bought the seats in Japan though, and I do believe there are sometimes market differences between seats sold in different markets (eg. U.S. sizes accomodate a larger waist size) so I'm not sure if it will directly translate. Anyway, the seats are very comfortable and FIA certified so I recommend them if anyone needs an affordable set.
The problem with LHD USA cars is they don't have the back seats, so the sideliners are different. For most seats, the USA cars don't allow enough clearance to move the seat all the way back without cutting the bottom of the sideliner. It's Ok if you don't have long legs!
Are you using the Tillett brackets with that planted mount? It seems like that planted mount wouldn’t let the seat go all the way down in the back. Are you using rails or just hard mounting the seats?
You can also use the Bride rails as I did. They slide and will let the seats go all the way down in the back. I did as shown in the pics do some slight mods to the rails to get everything to line up and work.
There are Planted brackets for the FD, they're just not on their site (you can see them in one of my pictures). I found some on an eBay store of all places for $150. It'll take some searching though. I'll post pictures of the entire setup when the physical seats come in (hopefully a week or so, I already have the pads, just waiting on the seats now).
Nice looking stitchery there! I also spy some SpeedHut gauges in the pics.
