Best way to mount a Recaro SRD/Speed as low as possible?

[Chapel]

I vaguely remember hearing that if you use the standard Recaro E30 mount, the seat tends to be a little high. If you use the Universal Recaro Slider with the Speedwaremotorsports bracket, it mounts much lower. As I am pretty tall up top, I'm looking for the most head clearance possible.
Can anyone verify the best way to mount these seats?

[Kruzen]

just go to a mchining shop and have some custom brackets made

[Chapel]

are good machine shops plentiful on the west coast or something?
because they sure as **** aren't in New England.

[UNHCLL]

are good machine shops plentiful on the west coast or something?
because they sure as **** aren't in New England.

:roll: Only if you are Jo-schmo....
we deal with plenty of decent machine shops.
difference being, we dont quibble over the price and we dont bring them 1 time jobs.

keep searching. ;) or just go search the SRD heaven of installs.

www.s14.net

SEARCH! 8)

[M-technik-3]

Or get the brackets from a set of E21 recaro sliders. Simple as there is no height adjustment any more.

[cheades]

Another way is using the stock slider part from e30 seats and then making (or have some made) custom brackets that bolt the seat to the slider. That is what I did for my Recaro's and they work great. Another option for getting them fabbed would be to try a local school that has welding classes, then bribe the teacher to build some for you.

[reelizmpro]

Don't use height adjustable sliders and get the speedware or if you have height adjustable sliders get the "lower" Wedge engineering brackets.

[Chapel]

bought the speedware one and the universal slider (non-height adjustable)
do I need new hardware to mount this or do I just use the OEM screws and stuff?

[cramer]

the recaro brackets comes with new hardware where needed. You'll reuse the seat bolts, but on the driver's side rear, you'll want to buy a shorter bolt since stock will hit the metal lines underneath (fuel IIRC).

[Chapel]

the outside drivers side rear bolt should be shorter?
Can I just cut the OEM one or is it an easy bolt to find at a hardware store?

[cramer]

yup outside driver's rear bolt. It's a standard metric bolt. Found mine at Ace Hardware. You could cut it if you had too, cut bolts are just harder to start sometimes.

also, since there is no rake adjustment with that bracket setup, i used stacked washers under the front bolt holes on the speedware bracket. I think it was about 6 washers (1/2") that i used, that way you can make only one trip to the hardware store ;)

[Chapel]

cool, thanks
the bracket isn't due in until next week :(

[Chapel]

Does anyone know what the size of the floor bolts are (pitch, diameter)?
I wont have access to a hardware store the night I install the seats :(

ETK says M10x32

and the fronts have bolts popping up from the front and you put a nut over it, right? (I havent taken my seats out in a long time)
I just reuse those I imagine.

[E30-323ti]

hello, pics, we need pics, where are the pics!!!

[Chapel]

http://home.comcast.net/~chapelbmw/recbrac1.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~chapelbmw/recbrac2.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~chapelbmw/recbrac3.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~chapelbmw/recaro4.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~chapelbmw/recaro5.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~chapelbmw/recaro6.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~chapelbmw/recaro7.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~chapelbmw/recaro8.jpg

Photos courtesy of Chris Cramer
http://www.corradocentral.com/images/m3/DSCN0062.JPG

my seat is sitting in my office awaiting the installation kit.

[Chapel]

also, since there is no rake adjustment with that bracket setup, i used stacked washers under the front bolt holes on the speedware bracket. I think it was about 6 washers (1/2") that i used, that way you can make only one trip to the hardware store ;)

uh, question on this
do you put the washers under the bracket or under the sliders (on top of the bracket)

[tobybmw]

I placed the washers under the bracket.

Andy

[cramer]

I placed the washers under the bracket.

Andy

same here, since i got the idea from your setup Andy ;)

[Chapel]

so, basically, the washers are going right on the floor.

[cramer]

you got it. It just raised the speedware bracket up so it rakes the whole seat back a little bit. Again, this is personal preference. You may like the seat sitting flatter.

[Chapel]

yeah, I like the front up and the bum down

[DanGillan]

yeah, I like the front up and the bum down


:giggle:

[Chapel]

note to people who buy this kit from Speedware as it stands right now.
Recaro recently retooled their slide handle to have two kinks in it.
this causes the Speedware bracket not to work.
Andrew at Speedware told me they were hoping they sent me the straight handle, but it ended up being the kinked one
He offered me the old handle, but I needed to get it installed right away. He told me the bar would be safe to bend, which I did. I straightened the bar, stripped it of paint and resprayed it with what I had (Ford Grey Engine Paint) and now it works fine.
So, if you order the universal sliders, make sure you get the straight handle (pictured earlier) and not the kinked one as it wont work.
It took me about an extra hour to get it all sorted, so save yourself the time and get the right part