Lowering sport seats

[FreedS4]

I'm sure this has been done before. Who has modified their sports seats to sit lower? And what'd you do to make it happen? I'm trying to gather options, as I only have about a half inch of clearance between my head and the headliner. Thanks for the help.

Chris

[bmwstephen]

If you use early model seat rails and transfer the upholstery to the early model bottom frame (the front pivot mechanism is a smaller bore size for early rails so there will be some play if you retain the later model bottom frames with larger bore holes). Or you can half ass and retain the late model seat bottom by running a bolt to be used as bearing through the front pivot instead of stock oem one - you can then tighten it to eliminate the play but it will also mean that you should avoid tilting the seat forward for passengers to get in from the back.

You will gain half an inch to .75". However, you will need to get shorter bolts when u bolt the car down otherwise using existing ones will pierce ur fuel line (ask me how i know). i'll try to snap some pics of the difference

if u need a set of rails let me know. i have a pair.

-Blame my typos on my fat fingers & Droid Charge

[AndrewBird]

The sliders themselves are already pretty compact. Not really much you can do. Your best bet would be to install a set of aftermarket sears like Recaros or something. They should sit quite a bit lower.

[FreedS4]

Not interested in replacing them with something else, just looking for options to modify the sport seats that I've got.

[RagtopE30]

Hyundai Tiburon seats sit much lower and require very little fab to work. I am 6'1" and I have 5" of clearance between my head and the headliner sitting in a relatively upright position

[bmwstephen]

early model seat rails on left compared to late model seat rails on the right. now that I looked into it further... it looks like you need an early model seat bottom too and transfer your upholstery vice versa.

[eds325ix]

Dumb question, have you pushed down on the recliner lever? Took me a few months to discover this and the difference was night and day in clearance. Just don't do it while driving, ask me how I know.

[Jand3rson]

How do you know?

[FreedS4]

Thread revival. Does anyone else have ideas on modifying the sport seats to sit lower? Thanks!

Chris

[RedReplicant]

Dumb question, have you pushed down on the recliner lever? Took me a few months to discover this and the difference was night and day in clearance. Just don't do it while driving, ask me how I know.

Oh, damn, thank you.