Dan H.

Hey all,
I want to ditch the stock seats and upgrade to a Race Seats, rails, Harness Bar, and 6pt harness.

I was reading the sticky topic and did some searching. What made me think twice was the comment that brey krause harness bar will not work with arizen seats and some others. I'm looking to pick up the whole package, but don't want products that don't work together.

I'm not opposed to the ricer-ness of sparco's, thats fine with me. There just seems to be lots of opinions regarding

what seats fit in a C5, and a 230lb 38" waist person
what rails are needed
what harness bar will work
I am the only driver, so I don't need sliders unless they are the better option for some other reason.

I understand that these are an expensive upgrade. I am willing to spend where there is benefit. At the same time, if a $150 set of seat rails works as well as the $350 MTI rails, well i'll go for the $150 set.

Thanks all, my searching shows there seem to be limited options. At the same time there is no A1 setup that everyone gravitates to.

Dan H.

Also, this is a street/track car

I did three weekends this year, total of 6 days on track

Next years goal will be 4 weekends, total of 8-10 days

I drive my car occasionally around town or to work, maybe one drive per week on average.

I am ok with the occasional street use being a bit more cumbersome. I'm looking to be more locked in during track events. I find i spend a lot of energy and focus just holding myself in the seat with the stock setup.

To give you an idea, other items/changes planned over the winter.

• 18" C5Z wheels for the front for a square setup
• New set of NT-05's
• Street/track alignment (will go to Pheonix for this since they are close)
• quatum/DRM brake cooling
• MGW shifter (just put in)
• Tow hooks front and back

smellya

Hardbar, mti, marrad seat brackets. They will give you the most headroom. I will be using hardbar rails for my racetech 4119wthr seat that will be here on Tuesday. Got tired of banging my head. On the roof with my helmet on my caravaggios Daytona seats.

Rob Willis

I've had my Kirkey's in my 2007 and 2011.

I'm 6'1"-6'2" and have ranged from 195 - 235.

I'd highly recommend them.

#43500 deluxe 16" shoulder support roadrace seat on Hardbar Seat Rails with a Sharkbar Harness Bar

This is on a C6 though.

Armycop

I'm driving with Corbeau A4's with the tallboy seat reduction. I'm 6'4" and size 38 waist too, and these seats, with their wider shoulder bolsters and tall hip bolsters hold me in place just fine. Went with the black leather option, both seats. You can also order them with a sub belt slot built in. Look for TPSMAK in the A/R classifieds section.
EDIT: actually here: https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ght=race+seats

Werks

Ooh, when you get it please let me sit in your seat at a track day down the road! I'm planning on doing a half cage over the winter and going to dedicated race seats also, the Daytona's are letting me move around a bit too much.

Dan H.

I know I want to be in a solid seat. I don't like the A4's with the adjustable back.

How do people feel about corbeau FX1's or Sparco Evo II's?
What are the mounts to use for these?
Can I use a Brey Krause bar?
Do these fit in a C5Z with an interior?

jlutherva

I've got a Sparco Evo2 Plus seats, a Pfadt wiring harness for the telescoping steering wheel, a BK harness bar and six-point harnesses for sale but they are for a C6Z. I'm 6-3, 40" waist, 32" inseam and 235#. The brackets were custom made by Piper Motorsports and provide sufficient headroom. I don't know what of the above would work in a C5.

Jim

Dan H.

Jlutherva,
Thank you for your post. I did some digging and it looks like your parts won't work on my C5.

How did you like the sparco seat? I think I'm leaning towards the Evo II US. I believe your seat is slightly large and won't fit in the smaller C5.

Z06TWT

So I started with a clean 02 Z and hated the stock seats. I added the A4s with double locking sliders to help on track days and allow street use. I did put in a harness bar and belts. After progressing through the DE ranks I needed better support/safety so I added a drivers side Momo halo seat ( Daytona) which MTI installed along with their billet seat rails. In the end this set up is perfect and comfortable for the track but no more Sunday drives! As you get faster you will want/need the containment seat, so just plan ahead.

smellya

I am sure to see you out there soon. It's a 6 point mounted seat. Pretty damn solid. I also got a detachable racetech 330mm wheel. Easier to get in and out of.

jlutherva

I like the Sparco EVO2 Plus seats. They fit me well and have worn very well also. I totally agree w/ ZO6TNT. I have a Cobra Evolution in a race car. It's a "partial" containment seat. It saved my neck!
Jim

RonnieM

I'm 6'5" 228 with a 38 waist. I used a Kirkey seat with hardbar rails and BK harness bar. I had the rear of the seat almost touching the carpet and had plenty of headroom left. I did also change the headliner to one from a 01 Z06.

Apocolipse

I fit into the momo super cup xl.

Hat_Trick_Hokie

I have a pair of the Sparco Evo 2 Plus buckets in my C5, that are actually on custom C6 sliders. That size seat should fit your build well, and the low thigh bolsters make them livable on the street (I have mine in all year on my street/track car).

Dan H.

Thank you all for your opinions and feedback. I bought a driver side seat side rails, seat bracket, and hardware. I only bought one side to see how the install goes. I figured returning one seat and components is half the hassle of returning 2.

I will post up my install experience in a new thread. Seems like this will be helpful to others.

Bill Dearborn

I installed an Ultrashield 20 degree layback aluminum race seat with Hardbar rails on the driver's side of my C5Z and an Ultrashield 10 degree layback race seat on a modified C5 manual seat track on the passenger side. Aluminum race seats need back supports to prevent them from breaking when a body comes flying back from a frontal impact. On my C5 the passenger side seat back was fastened directly to the rollbar and a the driver's side was attached to the bar by using an I/O Port seat back brace. When I picked up my C6Z I moved everything over to it and used I/O Port seat braces to fasten both seats to my Sharkbar harness bar.

Kirkey and Ultrashield race seats are not based on waist size. You determine the seat size by sitting on a bench and having somebody measure across the hips from the back. I chose 17 inch wide seats which just fit in a C5. When I purchased the seats I was 5'10" and weighed 220 lbs. They fit me well. Subsequently, I lost some weight and the driver seat became too loose. I used a somewhat solid foam product to line the aluminum and reduced the inside dimension by 2 inches which brought the tight fit back.

With the hardbar seat rails I can get the bottom of the Ulrashield seat low enough to the floor there is barely any room to fasten the sub belts to the rails. The best thing to do is to have a strong bar between the two sides of the seat brackets which can be used for mounting the sub belts but there isn't a lot of room to make it sturdy enough. I have G Force Lap Belt Eye Bolts on each side of the Hardbar bracket and fasten my sub belt to those. On the passenger side the C5 seat track is modified to tilt the 10 degree seat backward so the back is at the same angle as the driver's seat. This brings the front of the seat upward, thus bringing a passengers knees upward. I did this since I have a lot of passengers in the car and the seat needs to fit a large range of butt sizes, waist sizes and heights. With the seat positioned like this I can get taller people in the car by basically folding them at the hips and knees. The seat track has a huge bar welded between each side and that is used to mount the sub belts. The track also has lap belt mounting tabs welded around the rear track mounting holes.

I can move the seat back and forth several inches and I have holes drilled in my seat brace that allow the seat be moved in ~ 1 inch increments.

Everything is left assembled so the seat, the track/bracket, the lap and sub belts are all one package. I can change seats from street to track easily (although the stock power seats are heavy). The package fit into my C5Z easier than it does in my C6Z. I didn't have to worry about the telescoping steering and the underseat module, passenger side air bags or the much thicker seat wiring harnesses that are in the C6.

I can change the seats on both sides of the car in about 2 hours total time by myself. Most of that time is spent getting the stock seats out due to weight, unfastening wiring harnesses and being careful not to chip the paint or cut the door upholstery with the sharp edges of the stock seat tracks. I am attaching some pictures of the driver seat mounted in my C5Z. Behind the seat back you can see the I/O Port seat back brace fastened to the seat and the rollbar.

The last picture shows the driver's seat in my C6 with the seat back brace fastened to the Sharkbar.

One other thing to consider. It is almost impossible to tighten pull down lap belts in a C5 or C6. Pull up belts work better, however, there are safety issues that need to be accounted for. The belt adjuster has to be inside the seat Vs in the passthrough hole or outside of the seat. Since the adjuster loosens the belt by pulling out on the tab you don't want it anywhere near a spot where the tab could catch on the seat or its passthrough hole and suddenly release the lap belt just as a sudden force is applied in an incident. I have my lap belt adjusters so they fit toward the top of my pelvis to avoid that problem. Pull down belt adjusters don't have those restrictions but you will not be able to adjust the inside lap belt due to lack of room and the outside belt can be difficult to adjust since there is limited space to pull it down. That is when it is nice to have a pit crew and somebody to help tighten the belts.

Bill

LateBreak

The aluminum seats like Bill's Ultrashield are nice because you can really get your butt right on the floor. I'm 6'1" 215# with NRG seats that are cheap, but still a nice design similar to a Sparco or the like. I literally have them mounted with the bottom in contact with the floor, but I wish my helmet was just a bit lower in relation to the roof and cage. I'll be going to an Ultrashield seat for 2015 in order to get lower in the car for added safety.

Bill Dearborn

One other thing that is nice about aluminum seats is you can customize them by bending them for ease of entry/exit. The outside edge of both seats is curved slightly toward the outside of the car to make it easier to get a butt in the seat and for me to get my legs in the car between the seat and the steering wheel.

Bill

Fr4nkc6

How did the racetech 4119wthr work for you? what did you install in? What bracket did you use? any advice on install would be much appreciated.

I'm currently looking at the RaceTech, but not sure if they will fit in my C6 GS Targa top. I'm 6,6" and headroom is my biggest problem.