Hi All
Just about to start preparing the stripped floor pan for paint and wondering about seat mounting, the pan currently has the early set of runners fitted so is it best to obtain some beetle seat runners and fit to seats or remove and start again.
I like the MX5 seat style and easy of fitment but also like using the original seat runner as it saves adding extra holes and keeping the seat mounting point spread over a larger area.
All ideas and views welcomed, has anybody got any pictures of seats mounted onto the original runners and does this raise the seats to far.
(http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj514/ttblackmore/IMG_8031_zps7d3af50b.jpg) (http://s1265.photobucket.com/user/ttblackmore/media/IMG_8031_zps7d3af50b.jpg.html)
(http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj514/ttblackmore/IMG_8034_zps4f95d619.jpg) (http://s1265.photobucket.com/user/ttblackmore/media/IMG_8034_zps4f95d619.jpg.html)
Most seat runners bolt or rivet to the seat frames so you could remove them fit a plate underneath and fit beetle runners under it. Very few seats are the exact width spacing on the runners to allow the direct runner to frame fit.
I am at the same stage and also want to keep the original seat runner tracks that are spot welded and mig welded to the floors. The clubman style low back bucket seat is what I intend to use but has anyone bolted a universal subframe onto the original seat tracks? The height requirement is something that I can't gauge yet and would value information on how others have solved this aspect of their buggy builds.
Thanks
Phillmore
A hard one that Phil depends on so many things, your physical dimensions, the seats, steering column andwheel size. Doing super gimmers buggy with his movement problems we got everything done and bolted up. apart from the seats then stood them in onvarious packings until he had the range of front/rear travel and height to sit comfortably but also climb in and out. A swb buggy seat position is limited by the flare out on the rear of the tunnel espaccialy for normal people around 6' 6" tall.
There's only one position on a swb cramped ;D ;D
Thanks - it's a bit of a headache but I'm sure it will be sorted soon. I'm yet to re-bolt the fibreglass tub to the pan so cannot gauge width. I'm not excessively large and will fit into stock bucket seats and hope that the original range of movement from the vw factory runners, will still give me the adjustment needed. I'm yet to buy seats but like the OMP low back buckets and can make up the necessary brackets to fit runners and adapters. Can people provide pictures of what they have done?
Regards
Philllmore
Here's an piece on lowering and modifying Beetle runners to suit aftermarket seats...
http://www.manxclub.com/Resources-Tech6.htm