A question thats been asked a thousand times no doubt... however, after searching I'm struggling to find a 'how to' or some form of guide on a way of adapting the existing Mk2 subframe to mate it up the RS turbo seats. Ford seats require the Mk2 frame to be narrowed but keeping the foot print of the Mk2 seat for the floor runners. I have a welder who says he will do the work for me, but as I cant get the car to him (and he cant get to me) I need to go to him with some instruction or basic mock up. I've already cut the seat pan from the bases. The options are 1. to put two runners into the inside of the existing Mk2 frame. I think this will look ***** as the existing frame will be visible pertruding from the seat base. 2. cut up the existing frame, create a new one using the feet and slide adjustment. Fear is that the seat wont be level and could lean too far forward/backward. Any advice/tips welcome. Cheers
Have a read: http://www.clubgti.com/showthread.php?274742-Rs-Turbo-seats-in-a-Mk2-Anyone-done-this and http://www.clubgti.com/showthread.php?14201-Fitting-Ford-Recaros-into-Mk2-GTi
Be careful you don't end up adding too much height by fabricating brackets. I searched for months for the right solution to this problem Ended up with a pair of genuine recaros That needed inserts re trimming. Mk3 golf is cheapest and easier option with minimal fabrication
Some Ford seats have an extra frame welded to the bottom, if so the way I would do it is chop all that off giving you a flat base same as any aftermarket or mk1/2 recaro seat. then you can weld in 6 captive nuts or fit rivnuts where the holes are and it will take a standard recaro subframe (or one you make yourself)
I was told they are from a Fiesta RS turbo, they have a pretty flat base with 6 holes where the old ford subframe bolted to it. I'm going to go up the car this weekend with a MK2 subframe and recaro seat and see how they lie. I've a feeling I'll end up with recaro bases from ebay.de I'll add some photos over the weekend
My fear is making them too high...I've a trimmer local to me and would like to get them over to them in the new year.
ok cool, its basically identical to a mk2 recaro except it has extendy leg bolster so a mk2 subframe will bolt right on. just a case of how tall you are if the mk2 are the right height for ya. oh and if electric need to jump them with 12v to raise and lower dont forget
https://goo.gl/photos/2fKhibUevPkjgnKKA These are mine. Even wired up the electric height adjust. Seats cost me 800 and retrimming the centres to match rears cost me just short of 200 that included the leather. They were something I wanted to finish car off.
I bought my Mk2 recaro seat bases from southside audio - not sure if they still do them, worth a try though Dav.
Thanks all - I think they really compliment and finish off a mk2 interior, mine will be trimmed in rainbow fabric once they have been fitted and I'm happy with them!
These are the bases of my seats, yesterday I tried mocking up the seats into the some Mk2 frames with the pan cut off (i.e just the tubular section) and they work if they sit within the outer edge of the frame and are about the right height. on closer inspection of the seat, these seem to have an extra frame on them, below the tension lines on the bottom of the seat. If this was cut off, theyd fit a lot better. Is this what I need to do? Untitled by Phil Kimber, on Flickr Untitled by Phil Kimber, on Flickr Untitled by Phil Kimber, on Flickr oh, on the one I'm using for trial fitting I've already taken the legs off attached by the 4 visible nuts
yeah thats the ford type with the extra frame welded onto the bases. so you can either cut that off and weld 6 nuts or drop in some rivnuts, or make your subframes attach to the bottom of the extra frame. if you left those extra bits on trouble is that would mean your subframes will have to be shorter than normal to stop the seats sitting too high
Thanks rubjonny - think the easiest thing to do is cut off the extra framing and bolt the existing frames to the seats. Headache over!
OK - update. I chopped down the ford frames right back to the seat (where the clips attach to it) - chopped down a set of mk2 seat pans and had a mate weld some brackets on to the Mk2 subframes and he welded some bolts onto the ford seats. The seats then bolted to the subframes. Cleaned up the subframes and gave them a coat of satin black, edd china style. Next delivery will be the fabric from heritage and then off to the trimmer! Untitled by Phil Kimber, on Flickr Untitled by Phil Kimber, on Flickr Untitled by Phil Kimber, on Flickr Untitled by Phil Kimber, on Flickr Untitled by Phil Kimber, on Flickr Untitled by Phil Kimber, on Flickr Untitled by Phil Kimber, on Flickr
