quacktheduck

Well after looking for ways to mount an aftermarket seat in my c6 I finally stumbled upon some threads from the c5 section and pm-ed a few people to get more info on wher eto get the side mount brackets. These mount to the stock power rails so I can still use the power switch to adjust the seat fore and aft and the tilt. For me I have the rear bottomed out and the front angled up slightly. I did have to cut the tops off the rear two bolts that hold the oem seat in place with a hacksaw (dremel would work and likely be easier but I don't have one) so I could mount the cobra seat in the lowest rear hole on the side mount bracket.

As to the seat itself, it's a cobra imola S (standard width) and is really high quality in construction with the shell made from kevlar rather than the normal fiberglass in other brands. It's a very sturdy seat and I'm not sure anyone over a 34" waist would fit. For reference I'm 5'8, 160-165 lbs with a 32" waist and it's perfect. I'd say for the majority of people having a fixed back non recliner is a deal breaker and it was for me at first til I sat in the cobra seat at the store (sube sports in huntington beach, ca) and felt it was really excellent and at least as comfy as my stock seat but with additional support. It's fairly upright with maybe a 10 degree recline, fairly aggressive shoulder bolstering but I find the seat to be comfy even for extended driving. My car is my daily driver and I put 40-50 miles a day on it, highway and bumper to bumper traffic and I'm very comfortable so far after having it in for two weeks. I guess the imola GT would have been a bit better and more accomodating at 1" wider but the space restrictions in the c6 have me thinking it may not have fit. My only complaint is ingress/egress is a bit more challenging and I have to tilt the wheel up each time I get out (I have a 1lt so now power tilt thus less to worry about wear issues on an electrical device). Since I'm using the stock rails, no airbag issues or anything of that nature, I simply disconnected the battery before I started removing the seat, and on the 1lt (no side airbags) it was pretty simple, three connectors is all I remember disconnecting.

I'm currently using the oem seatbelt and the way I have it routed it fits on me just as it did with the oem seat, but to get the same fit I had to route it through the left side harness and lapbelt slots. I am getting a 6 point harness once I get a harness bar very shortly as well as the vetteworks lapbelt/sub-belt mount. No intention of doing the passenger side as I would think alot of my passengers would complain about getting in and out so I'm leaving that side as is for now. My oem seat is sitting in my closet wrapped up for if I ever decide to sell the car years down the road I can swap it back pretty easily.

If you have any questions just ask, if you want to know who supplied the brackets pm me and I'll tell you as I didn't get them from a forum vendor so I don't think I can post the link.





Here's one of the rear bolts that I had to saw down a bit:

LS2-Zomb!e

Nice!

saplumr

Looks good. I had Cobra leather seats in another car and while I loved the seats, it was a real undertaking to get in and out of the car.

lyonsac4242

Looks great! Did you get additional head room or did it cost you a little?

nmk

nice, how much lighter are they than stock?

quacktheduck

The seat is 15 lbs, the stocker is 23.5 lbs, however by retaining the factory rails i didn't elminate the bulk of the weight unfortunately. The side mount brackets are maybe 4 lbs or so (didn't weigh it prior to installing so just estimating). I have the seat set as low as possible (on the power switch) and I'm right at where my oem seat was so I didn't gain or lose any headroom, which is acceptable to me. Prior to cutting the tops off the two rear bolts I had to mount the seat in the middle holes on rear of the side brackets so that made me lose headroom but after my minor modification it's back to my OE height (which I had bottomed out on the switch as well).



Appreciate the compliments!

quacktheduck

Oh something I discovered (after I bought my seat though) is that the sparco roadster seems to be a good fit for the c6 as well (dimensionally) and it has a less agressive side bolster/shoulder bolster so getting in and out of the car would be alot easier. I didn't get to sit in one so I can't vouch for the comfort but it may be something to look into for more of a compromise on a seat that's used on the street primarily.

The only downside is the sparco costs a bit more @ 629 a pop versus 550 yet it has a fiberglass shell (versus kevlar) and does not have a slot for submarine belts in the seat base or even lapbelt slots (don't believe it's fia certified like the cobra).