Custom Seat Rails

[oRiCLe]

Custom Seat Rails for Recaro Style Sports Seats

Car:Nissan Skyline R32 GTS-t (similar for most silvia's and skyline's)

Seats: Recaro Style Reclinable Bucket Seats

Installers: Hilarious Motorsport

Tools Required: 14mm Socket, Angle Grinder, Safety Goggles, MIG Welder, Welding Gloves and Mask, Clamping tools (G- Clamps or Vice Grips), Marking impliment, Can of Black Spray Paint

Parts Required: Square Tube Steel, Angle Steel

Time to Complete: 2-3hrs (The first one took me a bit longer but once i had it all sorted it was pretty easy)

Steps (Passenger Seat):

1. take the standard seat out and remove the runners off them. You will need some parts from these to make the rails.

2. clamp the runner closest to the door to a workbench or vice and grind off the tabs that bolt to the floorpan, try to keep as much metal as possible on the tabs as you need to use these for the new rails.

3. bolt the individual tabs to the floorpan in their original location and measure the distance from the front of the flat surface the factory rails mounted to.

4. cut a piece of square metal tube the same length as you just measured.

5. weld the front tab to the tube

6. rebolt the tab you just welded with the square tube to the floorpan, have the rear tab already bolted in and using a g-clamp or vice grips, clamp the rear tab in positon to the sqaure tube so that it will bolt in correctly.

7. weld the rear tab to the piece of square metal.

(the first side of the rail is complete...)

8. take the other side factory rail and do the same by cutting off the tabs that mount to the floorpan.

9. bolt them back in place and measure the distance between them.

10. using a piece of angle steel this time cut to the length you just measured

11. weld the front tab to the angle

12. replace the bracket in the car with the rear one already in place, and clamp it to the bracket.

13. weld the rear tab to the bracket.

(now for the fun part :-D...)

14. cut a piece of angle steel that is the same length as the square tube you used for the first part of the bracket.

15. mount both the brackets in the car and clamp the freshly cut piece of the angle steel to the square tube facing inwards towards the other angle bracket of the inside rail.

16. grab the seat and measure the distance between the front and back bolt holes for the runners, this is the distance you need to make the cross bars apart from each other.

17. measure the front distance from the inside of each piece of angle steel.

18. measure and mark back from the front of the angle you just clamped the distance of the angle steel and then add half of the width of a piece of angle steel to that number (you want the bolt holes in the middle)

19. measure across the mounts at that location.

20. cut a piece of angle to span that distances you have just measured.

21. on these pieces of angle you need to cut out each side so that it will sit flat in the brackets and have the angle piece facing downwards.

22. place the pieces in the brackets and measure and double check the widths will allow the bolts on the seat rails to fit properly.

23. clamp the cross braces to the piece of angle that is clamped to the square tube in their correct positions.

24. weld the two cross braces to the angle.

25. place the newly welded parts back in place in the car and clamp the angle steel mount side to the cross braces, remove and weld these in place.

26. put the mount back in the car, this should now be two seperate but close fitting parts. (this allows you to set the angle of the seat to get it straight)

27. clamp the angle steel back to the square tube.

28. place the seat on the mount to check its positioning.

29. mark the locations of the runner bolt holes, ensuring that the seat is straight and able to recline correctly without hitting the door frame or glove box.

30. remove and drill the bolt holes.

31. bolt the seats to the bracket.

(on the home stretch now!...)

32. place the seat and rails in the car and bolt them back in.

33. now the seat should be firmly mounted to the cross braces, and the angle of the seat can now be set.

34. place the seat in a normal upright position (it is also better to have the other seat in the car for a reference)

35. while getting someone to look and tell you when the seat is straigt from the front of the car, move the angle bracket up and down the tube steel until it is correct.

36. when it is correct, draw a line on the angle steel where the seat should sit (all the way along) and clamp it if possible.

37. remove the seat, and take the rail off the seat.

38. weld the square tube bracket to the angle bracket in the position marked.

39. sand/grind any sharp edges off the rail.

40. paint the rail black so that it doesn't rust up and you dont notice it :-D

41. bolt the rail back to the seat.

42. bolt the seat in the car.

All Done! you now have a custom seat rail and seat in your car.

For the driver seat, it is much the same, only with the R32 GTS-t that I did these seats for, i found the drivers side needed to be lifted more than was available in step 34, this was resolved by extra angle steel on top of the square tube and then that was attached to the angle steel with the cross brackets.

(Please Note: I take no responsibility for the construction and possible fault of any seat rails for any reason that have been designed from this article or otherwise, I reccomend getting a professional fabricator/engineer to construct these for you, and make sure you get these ENGINEERED! This article is only here as a guide.)

[=premo=]

well writen manual. looks like its gonna save me $300 in rails, would be good if i could keep the original seats but eh.

How difficult would it be to make up the cut off bits from the original seats???

couldnt you use 25x3mm flat bar and bend it into shape?? also what did you do about the seat belt bit from the oringinal seats?

Harnesses are killa but requires the back seat to be removed which isnt that bad but i use the back of the car for tread so i need to have the stock seatbelt (harness straps would mean i couldnt carry as much tread to each meet).

[oRiCLe]

hehe, thanks, with the seat belt, you can either weld an L-bracket onto the rail and mount it on that or mount it to the firewall with a seatbelt mounting plate...

the pieces shouldnt be too hard to make, u should be able to bend them to suit with an oxy or weld a few bits of angle together to make a bracket, as long as it lines up

[Evan_R33]

DIY seat rails = non adr complaint seat of death!

[oRiCLe]

LOL, hence why i said u need to get them properly engineered...

[oRiCLe]

...or not use them on the road and keep them for the track

[=premo=]

did u manage to set these up with sliding rails? or are they bolted solid? and how low are they? same as stock or diff?

thanks mate

[oRiCLe]

those ones sat slightly higher than standard as the universal rails bolted onto that rail, if i did it again, i would make the universal rails fit into the bracket, or use the standard sliding rails and fix the seat on to that...

or not use the standard seat mounting points and then i could make my own lower to the floor...which would probably work better...

Edited August 24, 2006 by oRiCLe

[=premo=]

how much did u pay for the slides?

[oRiCLe]

they came wit the seats, they were a set of the just jap seats...

[Libbo]

None of the photos are showing for me 

any chance someone could email or pm me them?