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Fixing seats
mistergrumpy - 19/5/07 at 01:34 PM

Would it be acceptable to bolt my seats onto some square section using rivnuts or is that a bit too weak?Would rather not bolt right through he floor pan.


ReMan - 19/5/07 at 01:40 PM

Probably not!
I know its hard, but you will probably find you have to drill your beutiful smooth shiney floor sometime, even if it's only drain holes


mistergrumpy - 19/5/07 at 01:48 PM

He he. I think thats it.Its all just too shiny to want to drill it. I just had a thought. Some angle iron with bolts welded on pointing upwards and then drill seats and put nuts on top. They're Intatrims so the seat padding will cover the nuts sufficiently. Just thinking out loud here, sorry.


BenB - 19/5/07 at 02:01 PM

Rivnut for seat bolts? No way. Mr SVA is so not going to like that....

Anyway, you'll need to drill other holes in the floor anyway. As I found out the first time I drove in the rain, having a few holes at the front and rear of the cockpit is important to let the water out(!).....

LOL- I had about 3cm of water in the bottom of the car. Any more and I could have installed a Locost goldfish...


907 - 19/5/07 at 05:35 PM

Rightly or wrongly I have used Hank Bushes, a sort of captive nut.
Much stronger than Rivnuts IMHO.

Paul G


ReMan - 19/5/07 at 05:59 PM

quote:
Originally posted by BenB
Rivnut for seat bolts? No way. Mr SVA is so not going to like that....

Anyway, you'll need to drill other holes in the floor anyway. As I found out the first time I drove in the rain, having a few holes at the front and rear of the cockpit is important to let the water out(!).....

LOL- I had about 3cm of water in the bottom of the car. Any more and I could have installed a Locost goldfish...

Just been drilling the drain holes this afternoon myself.
As fara s the seat mounts go, do it properly.
I aggree with the hank bushes being stronger than rivnuts, but only provided the flange is at the opposite side of the mounting.
There is an argument that the seats don't need to be held particularly strongly as the person is held to the seat with a stongly mounted seatbelt, but I don't think SVA see it taht way.
Drill, drill drill !!


mistergrumpy - 19/5/07 at 06:33 PM

quote:

There is an argument that the seats don't need to be held particularly strongly as the person is held to the seat with a stongly mounted seatbelt, but I don't think SVA see it taht way


Thats my thinking to be honest Any pictures of it done properly then?


907 - 19/5/07 at 07:26 PM

Not sure if this is "properly" but this is what I've done....


I bolted box section cross members to the seats, then welded short boxes cut at 45deg to the chassis with hank bushes inside them.
There are 2 h/b's per box so that I can move the seat forwards 50mm if needed.

Must stress, my car hasn't passed SVA yet.

Paul G

p.s The nuts to the r/h side are the exhaust mount. Rescued attachment lotus pics 056.jpg
Rescued attachment lotus pics 056.jpg


ReMan - 20/5/07 at 09:23 AM

Hmmm, nicely done and the hank bushes are the "right side"
The only issue I can see with this, and it may or may not be an issue dependant on preference is that the seat mounting height is increased by a further inch or more comared to mounting directly to the floor, or to a thin strap on the floor, otherwise it should be fine
Pic shows thin straps welded into MK chassis Rescued attachment TUN14.jpg
Rescued attachment TUN14.jpg


907 - 20/5/07 at 10:56 AM

That's a nice neat job ReMan. The strips along the tunnel contrast nicely with the black.

Height wasn't an issue for me as the belts line up with the holes in the backs of the seats,
but I could have cut the cross members off square so they dropped inside and welded a lug
on the top; or/and used bar instead of box.

Cheers
Paul G


MikeRJ - 20/5/07 at 02:00 PM

I'd have thought appropriately sized steel (rather than aluminium) rivnuts would be perfectly adequate for a seat. You are not (or rather shouldn't be) relying on these fixings to hold you in place in the even of an accident. It would certainly be stronger than bolting a seat directly to a soft alloy floor.

[Edited on 20/5/07 by MikeRJ]


mistergrumpy - 20/5/07 at 03:01 PM

Thats my thought. Summat steel and strong rather than involving the ally floor