Page 22 - KCRPCA Jan Feb 2019

Photos by Karl Willen
So, the BK side mounts simply bolt to the factory sliders using the factory nuts/ bolts. From there, we can slide our seat on from the top and bolt it in place with some bolts. Note, I do not recommend using Allen bolts for seat installs; I just had them handy for pre-assembly. Not due to any strength issues, but when you are installing the seat in the car, it is al- ways easier to get a wrench on a regular bolt head due to clearances, rather than trying to fit an Allen wrench in a tight spot between the center tunnel and side
mount. Pretty easy, right? Next, sit- ting in the seat and testing that there is no binding when sliding the seat is criti- cal. If the seat is under too much stress from a too narrow gap or too tight of gap when dropping the seat into the mounts, it will bind on the sliding mechanism.
Looking at the back of the seat (which is directly related to the clearance of your helmet and the roof of the car, we have a bit of gap. Usually head room with a helmet on isn’t a problem until the driver is over about 5’10” or so. Since I know we will have taller drivers in this endurance car, we need all the space we can get, which means modifying the seat bracket to drop the seat down.
So, after taking width measurements of mounting points, we simply drill a new hole lower in the mount which will al- low the seat base to drop down slightly. Now as you can see, if you are doing this in the car, this is a bit of trial and error for exact fitment and things are hard to see! Just from a center of gravity per- spective, you want the seat as low as you possibly can, unless it hinders the driver seeing over the steering wheel, which I have yet to come across.
With the lower holes drilled, the seat is reinstalled and checked to make sure the slider can still operate smoothly.
From there, the seat is unbolted from the mount again, the mounts then in-
22
JAN /FEB 2019