The 24 Hours of Lemons Forums → Lemons Tech → Something other than kirkey?
Any recommendations on cheap seats other than Kirkey? Looking for a passenger seat for about a 100 bucks, and craigslist or ebay is a waste.
I have been wondering the same thing since I am working on my first Lemons car. What brands and models are good for our kind of racing?
In addition, do race seats come with rails to permit fore & aft adjustment? Or are we expected to use the original car's mounting rails?
My car (the Super Snipe) is from the days when people sat high and vertical. If the racing seats I have seen were mounted near the floor, I doubt I could see over the dash. Is there an accepted alternative to welding up my own seat mounting frame?
I've got a kirkey for $100. Oh wait, OTHER than kirkey. right.
http://greenville.craigslist.org/pts/2182121061.html
http://wichita.craigslist.org/pts/2190279596.html
We built our own sliding mechanism in our caddy last year. What we did was weld 2 pieces box iron to the floor, put a pipe on the back of the seat that went through a hole welded to the cage, and then used cotter pins for three positions.
Worked perfectly.
I have been wondering the same thing since I am working on my first Lemons car. What brands and models are good for our kind of racing?
In addition, do race seats come with rails to permit fore & aft adjustment? Or are we expected to use the original car's mounting rails?
My car (the Super Snipe) is from the days when people sat high and vertical. If the racing seats I have seen were mounted near the floor, I doubt I could see over the dash. Is there an accepted alternative to welding up my own seat mounting frame?
When you build your cage, put in sill bars (running from near foot of hoop to near foot of the front downbars) then run a tube or two across the width of the car and mount your seat on that/those. Mount your belts to it as well.
I don't know about you, but I don't like the idea that the cage can travel one way and the seat the other way, trusting crappy car floor metal. With the seat attached to the cage, it travels with the cage and the seat belt mountings travel in the same relationship, too. I don't want the seat and mounts deforming one way, cage another way, and the belts still another way turning someone's body into a playdoh fun factory.
Pretty extreme, but when you run a 1500lb mini in a race with 3500lb cars that are capable of doubling our max speed, I'd rather have that safety buffer.
The Super Snipe is your first Lemons car? Nice. I thought I was adventurous.
Spank, do your seats adjust fore/aft? If so, how did you do it?
The Super Snipe is your first Lemons car? Nice. I thought I was adventurous.
What could possibly go wrong? 
I've been reading this forum since September and am in awe of such great role models as Spank and Speedycop. With inspiration like that, I just have to give it all I've got.
We built our cage exactly like Spanks. We have a 1500lb Metro, and had the same worries. Our seat is mounted on Sparco racing rails, but we have the seat actually sitting down between cross members but off the floor.
The theory being the car could get totally ripped apart, but he would be attached to the cage. Hopefully safer.
The seat in Spank's photo there is the same one we run, a Sparco Sprint V. I really like it--cost around $280 shipped from SafeRacer. That's about as cheap as it gets for a brand new seat.
For a passenger seat though, why not just bolt in some OEM seat from the junkyard?
i got an FIA seat on clearance from OMP. it was $200. The joke was it was the nicest part of my car. I believe full retail would have been $1000+
check shopatron.com (OMP's American site)
PS Stay away from any of their other stuff. I had issues with shoes falling apart and suits missing SFI patches
im actually a little curious why you'd be against a kirkey? When the initial build was going on with the buick, I was talking to the cagebuilder about seats, and he actually recommended me away from tubeframe designs. the fully tig-welded design with wings and a seat pad have proven very comfortable to us, except for the team members with a large weight difference (one wiry guy, several other bigguns). I'm actually currently spying some Racetech seats, and would love a full containment model but i don't have the cheddar for one of those bad boys. ButlerBuilt also makes seats that are very customizable with winlets, widths, halos, etc.
I've owned multiple fiberglass fixed back race seats that I obtained used in good condition for $100-375 (two momo, three sparco). I would definitely go this route if you can find one that fits your drivers and your budget. They'll be better in a wreck than a tube frame seat, and hopefully more comfortable (w/more padding) than a Kirkey.
I've owned multiple fiberglass fixed back race seats that I obtained used in good condition for $100-375 (two momo, three sparco). I would definitely go this route if you can find one that fits your drivers and your budget. They'll be better in a wreck than a tube frame seat, and hopefully more comfortable (w/more padding) than a Kirkey.
For my moke, I wanted and still want a Kirkey or similar design for the lateral support, but need to get one that's wide enough.
I actually would prefer a fiberglass baked seat for the other cars instead of the tub frame-- ESPECIALLY those that need a seat back brace-- but the Sparco currently in the mini was only $100 and it fit the bill at the time. Always looking to upgrade it.
I have a leather/fabric foam cushioned Kirkey seat cover if any body wants it. I think it might have been $50, I don't know. Its in lemonsy shape, I'll let it go for $20 plus shipping.
The 24 Hours of Lemons Forums → Lemons Tech → Something other than kirkey?