Sparco Pro 2000 seats arrived/installed
 

Just a quick sneak peek at the Sparco's I'm about to install in the Z. I have everything except the mounting bolts and Planted seat bases which should be here this week.

I'll post up pics of the install to show how it goes. I haven't seen a very detailed install write-up on here; just before/afters.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-c...800/Sparco.jpg

nice seats! :tup:

nice!!!!

Nice. Take some picture after you have them installed.

shaweet!

B@t™

OMG these turned out to be a pain in the @SS to install!!! It seems like nothing lined up right and I had modify the Planted seat base and the Sparco side bracket! What I thought would be a 1 hour install for both seats ended up being about 4 hours just for one seat. It took a lot of trial and error.

The Sparco side brackets bolted on to the seats perfectly. However the Sparco slider mounting holes DID NOT line up with the freakin' Sparco side brackets! I had to drill a hole in the side brackets to put the sliders on. Then when I went to put the Planted seat base on to the sliders...those holes DID NOT line up!!! I had to drill a hole in the Planted base. Then I didn't know that when I re-use the seat belt clip on the Planted seat base, I needed to provide my own hardware. So I ended up taking more time to find a replacement nut to mount the seat belt clip on the seat base. Then when I put the entire set-up (base/sliders/brackets/seat) in to be bolted back in....the seat was crooked and leaned to the outside!! The Planted seat base is not straight so I had to raise the outside mounting point on the side frame to the next hole.

All of that took a lot of trial and error and figuring things out. I also found out that with the stock belt clip, you need to detach the sensor connected to the OEM seat to plug in again. Also, with all of the items I purchased, no mounting hardware such as bolts/nuts were provided. I had to do research and try to find adequate nuts/bolts here in Belgium.

This turned out to be a pain in the arse to do one seat, but I've figured it out and will be putting the other seat in tomorrow. I'll have more detailed pics of the install, now that I know what I'm doing and won't be swearing every minute.

was looking into these same seats. How do they feel and what is your waist size :icon23:

that sucks they were such a b!tch to install... but they do look good :tup:

I'll give you a better idea of how they feel after I take it on the road. Just sitting in them they feel super supportive but will take some getting used to, coming from the heated leather/comfy OEM ones. They do run a bit smaller though I think. I am 5'6" 150lbs with a 30" waist and its a snug fit. If you're bigger than me, I definitely reccommend trying to find a seat to sit in first to see if you fit.

At first these didn't fit in the car and the side bolsters would hit the door, but that was only because the Planted seat base was quirky. After I drilled another hole in the base to match up the mounting holes for the sliders and corrected for the seat lean, the seat fit in perfect w/ the door closed.

ahh hell naw, glad I asked! Im 6' 180-185 with a 33 waist. I hope they have a bigger size. Thanks for the input!

usually seat manufacturers offer a variety of seat sizes. rule of thumb is to go up one full size from what i've heard for comfort. so in your case (i'm about the same size, almost exactly), i'd say you need either a 34" seat or 36" seat. i can sit in a 32" seat, which is the size of pants i typically wear, but it's a tight fit. it almost comes down to how hard you want the seat to hug you. if you are doing a full race build and you won't be sitting in the seat for long road trips, then a smaller, tighter seat will probably work. if you still intend to take your z on road trips and what not, you will want a little larger. also keep in mind depending on the style of seat, the thigh bolsters can interfere with footwork, especially if the seat is a bit too small

Install lessons learned
 

Ok, after a good nights rest and letting the new parts adrenaline cool down, I re-looked at everything I had, thought of some new approaches and tried them out today. Turns out I learned a lot today and made the install much easier. First off here is what I was working with:

Planted seat bases (driver/passenger)
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-m...20install1.jpg

Sparco seat sliders
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-P...20install2.jpg

Sparco alloy side mount brackets
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-D...20install3.jpg

Don't know if you can tell from this pick of the passenger side base placed in the car, but it is also CROOKED, just like the driver side. Both Planted seat bases lean to the outside.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-s...20install4.jpg

The first time I installed the driver seat, I thought I had to use the side brackets. I was told I had to, I read I had to online in forums....but I did not need them. The Sparco seat had holes underneath the seat also, so I tried mounting the sliders directly to the seat; fit perfectly, no mods. Then the real test...seeing if the Planted seat base holes would line up with the sliders; they did, no drilling.

However if I put the seat in just like that, the seat sat crooked in the car, leaning toward the outside and making the shoulder bolster hit the door. I had to use washers at points on the outside mounting to raise it to be level.

Good thing: taking the side brackets out of the equation meant that I did not need to drill holes into the Planted seat base, because of them not lining up. Also, not using the side brackets lowered the seat more which provided more head/knee room. When mounting the sliders to the seat base, you need to make sure that they are as far inboard/toward the center of car as possible, to prevent the shoulder bolster from hitting the door.

Here is how it sits now, seats installed:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-1...20install6.jpg
You can see on the driver's side that the shoulder bolster barely touches the door. The top of the seat looks high, but there is a LOT of room for me (5'6").

From the side:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-m...20install8.jpg

I hope this info helps others. From all the other posts I saw about seats in here, everyone else was using side brackets; thats why I thought I needed them too. Now I have a pair of side brackets collecting dust.

Now I just have to do the air bag fix and passenger weight sensor mod.

Nice writeup... Sounds like we should start warning people away from those Planted seat bases. I figured it was just my base that wasn't level.

Those look Kick *** man!

Yeah I just didn't see any other seat sizes for this particular seat when window shopping online. Im looking into other brands or models for this reason. Thanks for the info, Ill keep that in mind about the thigh bolsters since those are my main focus for getting a seat.