RedLS1GTO

The UPS guy showed up today with 2 new bundles of joy... my new Kirkey seats! When I bought the car from Jeff he said that he had not been using the door bars because they wouldn't fit with his seats. Bad news is that they don't fit with the Kirkeys either. By the looks of it, they won't fit with any race seat with wide shoulders. I love the Kirkey seats so getting rid of them isn't an option. My question is this. Should I just leave the door bars out? I don't plan on running the car anytime in the foreseeable future where they are required. The other option is to cut a small piece out of the bottom of the shoulder of the seat. It only needs another 3/4-1 inch of clearance to fit over the bar with no issues. I'm mounting the seats with 4 point brackets on the bottom and a back support as well. Which of these would be better as far as safety is concerned? I'm attaching some pics so you can hopefully see what I'm talking about. Thanks as always for the advice!

coffey

Notching the seat to fit around the bar is what I have done in the past. Even weld reinforcement around that area if you want to.

gkmccready

Bend the seat?

RedLS1GTO

I never thought about reinforcing the area. I don't see a problem with that at all, especially since it would be high up and on a non structural part of the seat. Thanks!

I don't know how I could make it fit with a bend, the seat goes perpendicular to the bar. I would basically have to bend the entire shoulder support out of the way.

AU N EGL

Dont use the swing out door bars. Those really do not add any structural safety any way.

For any road circuit events, HPDEs, Track Days, you will need FIA roll bar padding on any part of the roll bar that could come within 6" on body or helmet contact.

Good Luck