Hi All,

I have been working on this for the past two months, seats for my locost. I decided I didn't really like any which were already on the Market and the best way to get some decent ones was to make them my self. This is the finished prototype, it's come out ok, think it still needs a bit of tweaking, but on the whole I am thinking this will make a strong lightweight seat which has more modern looks. I based the design around the looks of the new recaro seats. But should fit the book based car, max width is about 430mm.

My final goal is to do a full carbon version, but as I am still sorting the chassis I am going to make do with this one for now and through the build. I have put below a whole load of photos, these are mainly of the mould and first demo seat, I do have more of the plug and development stuff I did earlier to get to this stage which I can post later if people are interested to see. I made the plug from Plasterboard which worked really well!



















Currently this seat weighs about 4.0kg, but does need a bit more stiffness in the back support, so I intend to add a few more laminates. Still a bit more developing but to be honest I am really pleased with the results. The mould is a two piece thing which helps with removing the product once it's cured. I intend to make side mounts and bolt it to the floor.

DARK engineering is the name of my brand by the way, thought it looked quite good in the head rest!

It could be possible for me to make other people this seat if they wanted......

Rob

Looking like a lot of hard work gone into that

Is it just me or is there a touch of Darth Vader in the last shot?

quote:

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Originally posted by Xtreme Kermit
Looking like a lot of hard work gone into that

Is it just me or is there a touch of Darth Vader in the last shot?

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Look great if i wasnt so far away id try n.possibly make an order once you've finnished and got the ball rolling with prices ect. keep up the great work.

That looks fantastic, what sort of prices will you be charging? I'd definatley be interested in them, I was only looking at seats on ebay earlier!

Cheers,

Chris

They look very similar to what we use in the Furore F1, ours are £130ea, don't know how yours compare?

But you're going to need to do something about those hard lines across the lower back area, at the moment that looks distinctly uncomfortable!

They look very nice, impressive job!

I'd definitely be interested in seeing the buck-making stage and how you did the split part of the mould if you could put some more pics up?

Hi all,

Thanks for the comments. Yes, i can look at pricing up a set once i have finished tweaking mine. I would think by the summer i will be ready to produce some.

As promised, a few more photos of how i made it.

Photo 1 shows a 1/8th scale model i made in card and the paper template i created:


Description

This was all done from measurements from the book, of me, the car and a TRD bucket seat i had in my old GTfour.

Photo 2 shows the plasterboard i used to make the 'plug' or buck. I basically cut the plasterboard out in flat sheets and then glued and screwed it all together with wood and other bits and peices.


Description

You can see the 1/8th model which i up scaled by eye to the full size seat.

From there it was tried in the car.......



Description

Once i was happy with it, i added some flanges and fibre glassed the whole thing. There were many stages of sanding and filling at this point.....

I used Durabuild high surface primer to build up a smooth surface which was rubbed back to 1200 grit wet and polished up to lay the mould onto.


Description

I started working on this in January and only just got this prototype finished now, lot of work involed - more than i actually thought initally.

I intend on haveing a few cusion pads on the seat which will go in the lower back section, head rest and bottom area - the seat is actually quite cumfy at the moment dispite its square lines! I designed it to be comfy but also have an edgy look.

Rob

Good effort.
But rather than adding laminates to stiffen it up you can get much better results with less weight by adding ribs. That is if you have room behind the seat.

Hi,

Ribs or core foam. Yes good idea as appose to just thicken up seat. I will look into it. There is a bit of space behind it and the bulk head. I don't want to add too much weight.

Cheers, Rob

Nice seats they look a lot like the old style MK seat i have

MK fiber glass seats
Jacko

[Edited on 19/4/12 by jacko]

i,d be more concerned with the stiffness of the wooden chassis
and the ultralocost plastic pipe role bar lol

Excellent effort Rob, they look great!

I was having a little play around with the positioning of the steering column the other night.

Rob

Was just checking through IVA manual for seats, i had checked about 3months ago, harness holes have to be 450mm above the reference point and minimum of 350mm between the top mounts and the lap part. My seat comfortably meets this. Ordered some new blades for my air saw, so as soon as they arrive I can get the seat trimmed up. Looking at flow coating the back with black resin.

Looking forward to doing a carbon/Kevlar version, but a bit off that yet!

Scuttle panel needs work, steering wheel is a bit close, and as it is at the moment I cant see any of the instruments!

I am going to order my steel in a few months, hoping to start the chassis this summer.

BBQ this afternoon I think.....

Rob

quote:

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Originally posted by b14wrc
Was just checking through IVA manual for seats, i had checked about 3months ago, harness holes have to be 450mm above the reference point and minimum of 350mm between the top mounts and the lap part. My seat comfortably meets this. Ordered some new blades for my air saw, so as soon as they arrive I can get the seat trimmed up. Looking at flow coating the back with black resin.

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Thanks regarding the comments.

I will double check what I have said there now, maybe I’ve miss read it. Rest of what you said is correct though. Cheers for backing me up.

Congratulations on a job well done, they look fantastic. I'd have them in my car in a heartbeat.

Hi all,

Managed to find an hour to play this morning.....









Ordered some rubber edging strip today to finish off the edges.....

Harness wise, any advice on how the top strap should be fitted in a middy, with the engine right behind you I might have an issue..... Straps too long on those Sparco 3 points.

Rob

Hello all.

I had a little play around with the seat yesterday:



I was thinking maybe covering these pads with some Alcantara material. Bought a sample of eBay, looks nice. Although the blue foam, a camping mat I chopped up looks alright. Still waiting fir the edging strip to arrive. Once it does I'll bond that on and the seat will be nearly finished.

Packaged the moulds up to go in the loft for now.

No one interested in a set? The guy how asked me to make a set decided not to go for it in the end which is a shame. I think they look pretty cool. Oh and I weighed that seat last night with the padding on. 3.5kg..... Pretty chuffed with that. Think the production seat will be a touch heavier, but not a lot.

Rob

Rob, I doff my hat , spot on....

Finally got some edging strip!

Hi Rob,

The finished product looks brilliant!

How much are you looking to sell them for each?

Cheers,

Chris

Hi,

Was thinking somewhere in the £135 region per seat made up as shown in the photos with padding velcro'd on and the edging. Backs will be properly flow coated black. I'd be more than happy to discuss different gelcoat options, these are intended to be limited edition seats, not mass produced.

Side brackets would be needed to suit own car, I have planned how to do it and will work, just not got around to doing it yet.


Thanks for the comments every one, the steel arrives in July, so the wood can finally go!

Rob