Bucket Seat Mounting

ProjectPuma

Help Support ProjectPuma:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

phil_20vt

New member
Joined
Aug 30, 2012
Messages
13
Hello

I am looking into tracking my puma on a budget. First step will be a clutch change which I will be attempting myself, wish me luck on that!

Next step after that will be to strip the interior and to fit some bucket seats. I am watching various sets on ebay but it seems I will require some sort of bracketry to fit them.

Does anyone know if a particular brand of seat fits straight in without this bracketry as it seems rather expensive?

Thanks in advanced
Phil
 
'Bracketry'... love your terminology!!

If you're going to remove the old seats, maybe you could look at the possibility of removing the sub frames from the bottoms and fit them on the bucket seats. At least you will know they'll fit in the car then!
 
Maybe we're not all graced with a helmet as big as yours Kizza! :?
 
It really depends on what the seats are. If they are reclining bucket seats then there are less options and a correctly fitting subframe is required. If they are fully rigid seats then it doesn't all that matter as long as you have good enough side mounts that will sit in the right place, then you have to sort out their placement. You may get away with side mounts lining up to the original holes in the floor plan, otherwise you have two options, new holes into the floor plans or using boxed steel and welding that in to mount the seats to that.
If its going to be a track car then don't scrimp or cut corners with this as its part of you personal safety restraint system
 
Heres a question for those that have done it, IF you use the original subframes or the originl mounting holes with tailor made subframes, do you find your new seats to be generally lower than original?

I ask as in my 99 1.4 I feel like I am sat on the car rather than in it on standard seats and I need to change this.
 
Ive got some cobra subframes and the mk3 fiesta top hat raisers for sale, just what you'll need to fit bucket seats :lol:
 
I fitted my Sparco Evo with a Sparco seat frame + side mounts. The overall height seems to be slightly higher to me. I couldn't fit rails for my head would hit the roof with them. And I am only a short guy at 6 foot..
 
Any pics of how to fit a bucket seat and how to modify an original subframe? I cant seem to find out how to remove an original subframe...
 
The subframe cannot be removed from original puma seats. I've just fitted a Sparco one of a kind Puma Ford Racing seat to my 2001 Puma. I had to remove the seat belt tensioner using a 45/50 torx socket and fit it to the new subframe which I got from Demon Tweeks, then had to get top hat risers to fit the subframe from Ebay and some runners from Demon Tweeks. The subframe is for Sparco seat and Puma but the bolt holes don't match thr seat. Luckily had some side mounts. I am yet to fit the runners and anticipate it sitting far too high. So this bucket seat project has not only cost over 700 quid and a lot of waiting and feeling disappointed, I may also not even be able to keep it as it sits too high! I am only 5ft9 so not freakishly tall but may need to swap the seat for a pair because I've had enough of it all..
 
I don't know exactly which subframes etc you have ordered but having a set of FRP seats, subframes etc in my Puma something doesn't sound right to me.

Is it possible Demon Tweeks sent the wrong subframes to you? What sliders are they as well because most seats have a common bolt pattern so should work without issue.

Cheers
Paul Z
 
Standard frames you can buy are normally way too tall. I bought the OMP version and my seat was almost touching the room. They also didn't match up to the seat. So I had to drill more holes. And I had to lower it.

All in all. The prefabricated mounts are not that great. They always need a lot of modification.
 
I’ve used cobra seat bracketry 😉 and got runners as well and fits well and the seats are still lower than the originals. Just need to use a Packer/box under the rear inner mounts if you want to pick up and use the original mounting M8 bolt holes
Hope this helps 👍🏻
 

Attachments

  • A4767A69-CD43-4ED4-BED2-91B80F709891.jpeg
    A4767A69-CD43-4ED4-BED2-91B80F709891.jpeg
    137.9 KB · Views: 8,059
With sparco subframes (it's actually the same as the FRP has) and side mount Cobra Imola without runners the seating position is a bit lower than the OEM at its lowest setting. So maybe a quick solution is to not use runners.
 
I have ordered sparco subframes and mounted the passenger side with the subframes + runners + sparco R100.

Like that it's noticeably higher than original and definitely higher than I want them, also the far backward position is not as far back as I'd like it.

For a passenger side I think it does the job but it's not good enough for the driver's side. If I'd drill holes into the subframe and mount the seat directly it would also be way too far forward, so it's not an option.

I've had the R100s for a while fitted by modifying the standard frame with similar issues as with the sparco subframe. the original seats are definitely low and backwards relative to mounting points.

I'm wondering if a side mounted seat with side mounts that's used on a low settings and also mounted slightly backwards on the sparco subframe would do the job. (with or without using runners depending on height)

It's annoying to not not quite now how it ends up - I'd rather not buy a sidemounted seat for it to end up sitting too hight as well.
 
Starting looking for measurements and concluded that side mounted seats would probably work really nicely to sit low again - also feeling stupid that I just didn't google side mount vs bottom mount etc. :)

Will probably keep my driver side with the modified standard frame for now and look into a side-mounted seat for the future, something I have wanted for a while anyway.
 
Hi HampusSoder,

I used to have the R100 seats in my car and managed to mount them really low. Sadly I don't have photos of the original frame. But I managed to use the original seat frame. Weld-in a slider and bolted that down to the seat. Was really strong and really low and the slider is virtually under the seat.

W9k7yCT.jpg

XFHRd9j.jpg

WuKLBtV.jpg
 
Thanks for that Brian.

Those indeed looks to be sitting really nice and low. I might look into modifying the standard frame for the drivers seat atleast.

Been tempted to get a bucket seat for the drivers seat anyway and in that case I think it would be possible to get enough adjustability anyway with the sparco subframe. So will see what I do...

For now the drivers seat is still on my modified standard subframe and is 1cm lower than the sparco subframe and is not too bad in positioning.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top