[Z06] Arizen Seat Installation 2+ Headroom Gain
10-24-2012, 09:57 AM
#21
The real carbon fiber or kevlar seats that are light weight are made with a very expensive mold process that can extract as much resin as possible. That is one reason the same seat from Sparco, OMP, ect in carbon fiber is $2000 verses $700-$800 in frp. We could never make a low volume, custom upholstered seat and compete with those companies.
10-24-2012, 03:36 PM
#22
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The seats themselves weigh about 16-17 lbs. All the mounting hardware (floor mounting brackets, sliders and side mounts) weigh slightly more than the seat itself. We are developing a fixed side mount that will weigh much less without sliders.
The real carbon fiber or kevlar seats that are light weight are made with a very expensive mold process that can extract as much resin as possible. That is one reason the same seat from Sparco, OMP, ect in carbon fiber is $2000 verses $700-$800 in frp. We could never make a low volume, custom upholstered seat and compete with those companies.
The real carbon fiber or kevlar seats that are light weight are made with a very expensive mold process that can extract as much resin as possible. That is one reason the same seat from Sparco, OMP, ect in carbon fiber is $2000 verses $700-$800 in frp. We could never make a low volume, custom upholstered seat and compete with those companies.
10-24-2012, 04:55 PM
#25
If the wider seat is needed that will take a little longer since tooling still needs to be done.
10-24-2012, 07:25 PM
#27
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"Regarding weight, my complete factory seat weighed in at 49 pounds, and the new seat weighs 33 pounds with the bracket attached."
Bob
10-24-2012, 10:11 PM
#29
I never had a request before on a fiberglass one piece seat but I guess it wouldn't be that big of a deal to drill a hole for the wiring from the heaters to exit the seat. The factory seat bottom heater would likely need to be made smaller since there are two separate cushions and the heater is much larger than either. I'll look into it further.
10-25-2012, 02:41 AM
#30
Drifting
I never had a request before on a fiberglass one piece seat but I guess it wouldn't be that big of a deal to drill a hole for the wiring from the heaters to exit the seat. The factory seat bottom heater would likely need to be made smaller since there are two separate cushions and the heater is much larger than either. I'll look into it further.
12-10-2014, 04:16 PM
#31
Instructor
Installation write-up
I got two seats from Marrad/Arizen delivered today.
For some reason I cannot display the pictures in the earlier post. Does anyone have access to the installation write-up with the pictures intact ?
Thanks in advance for your help.
/Jesper
For some reason I cannot display the pictures in the earlier post. Does anyone have access to the installation write-up with the pictures intact ?
Thanks in advance for your help.
/Jesper
I dont plan to race my car, so I didnt want to go with a full race seat & harness installation, and needed a better seat. I also intend to keep the car on the street. I am 63, and tall in the torso. When I bought my car last December, the first thing I had to do was remove my headliner, which gave me about an extra inch or so of headroom. Here are some pics:
Factory seat showing my position in the car:
A secondary issue Ive had is sitting on top of the factory seat, rather than in the seat. I needed bolsters to hold me in the seat as I had to use my knees against the side panels to stabilize my body in high lateral G situation.
Ive been watching the progress Mark at Arizen has made with his seat design which has a dropped-down butt section, which he claimed could make it so the bottom of the shell would be sitting on the floor, right down between the sliders (and I knew I wanted sliders). I was worried this portion of the seat wouldnt be comfortable, but I went for it, and so far I'm glad I did.
It took 4 weeks for the seat to be built to my finish specifications, which was red double stitching, 2006 ZO6 logo (we discovered the 2006 logo is different from the following years), and leather. I also bought Arizens floor mount bracket, sliders, and seat mounting brackets.
Here are some pics of the new seat I gained 2-3/8 of headroom
Arizen seat installed:
Arizen seat installed different angle:
New seat bracket showing all new hardware (pic courtesy of Arizen):
Here's the new seat installed showing the lower sitting position:
This shows the seat belt position:
Since I now have new-found headroom, I decided to reinstall the headliner. The roof looks a lot better now, and I have my sunvisors and homelink buttons back!
New seat with headliner installed:
My goal was to re-use the factory belts. If you dont want to do that and just want to install a 5 or 6 point harness, then much of the following very likely wont apply to you. The bracket is designed to accommodate the factory belts and/or a 5 or 6 point harness. The factory seat belt mechanical installation wasnt very difficult.
The left side belt attached easily with a 10mm X 1.5mm pitch X 20mm length class 10.9 (grade 8 equivalent) bolt. Studs are used in the factory seat, so a new bolt was needed for each seat belt. The nut has a 15mm hex head, just like all of the seat mounting nuts. I used the 3rd hole from the front of 4 mounting holes based on my seating position, which is about 1/3 travel forward from the rear-most position. The belts do not move with the seat, since they are anchored to the floor-mounted frame, so this is a matter of trying it out for your sitting position to get the best belt angle. I tried to match the angle of the factory belts.
Left seat belt attachment on factory seat:
Left seat belt attachment on factory seat close-up:
Left seat belt attachment on new seat without plastic cover:
For the right belt receptacle, which includes the seat belt pretensioner, it was a little more work. To remove the receiver, I used a 13/16 socket. I think its probably a 20mm hex head, but I didnt have anything larger than 19mm in metric. There is a steel orienting tab that fits into a slot in the factory seat frame to keep the pretensioner horizontal. I decided to dremel that tab a bit to make it fit under the bracket. Then I bent the remaining portion of the tab to shape it to follow the new frame. The result isnt the best, as the pretensioner points up a bit instead of being horizontal, but I dont expect it will make much of a difference. But I may revisit this to try to get it level. Ill probably just cut the orienting tab completely off and tie-wrap the pretensioner cylinder to the frame. If I later decide to re-install the factory seat (like if I sell the car), I will just buy a new pretensioner, which I found for right around $100.
To mount the receiver to the new bracket, I used a longer bolt (30mm) of the same size as the left (10 x 1.5mm). I had to use 2 fender washers as shims to move the pretensioner away from the frame because of its shape.
Receiver/pretensioner assembly as attached to factory seat:
Receiver/pretensioner assembly removed from factory seat:
Receiver/pretensioner assembly orienting tab dremel work:
Receiver/pretensioner assembly attached to new seat:
Regarding the electrical side of things, I wanted to retain my SIR (supplemental inflatable restraint) system, with the exception of the driver side airbag, which is located within the factory seat. It is VERY important to make sure the SDM (sensing & diagnostic module) capacitors are discharged before starting to disconnect SDM components consult your service manual. I purchased the VetteWorks Airbag Simulator Plug (ASP) set which comes with 2 connectors. One is a yellow connector to make the SDM see the same resistance as it had before from the airbag, and the other is a jumper, presumably also with a resistor, to make it look like the seat position switch is still installed. The factory seat position switch stayed with the factory seat but needs to be jumpered. These items make the airbag system happy in the sense that no warnings are displayed, and the hope is that the SIR system will continue to be functional if it is ever needed
When I spoke with Dan at VetteWorks, he recommended that I should either remove the seat wiring harness from under the factory seat to be reused, or buy a new one from GM. I didnt want to cut the harness out from under the seat, as I knew Id never get it back to original later, so I ordered a new harness for just under $100. Dan also told me I needed to remove the seat memory module from under the seat and attach it to the new wiring harness to retain the telescoping wheel function (and maybe some other functions as well). So, the new harness connects to 2 under-seat connectors, then the seat memory module (3 connectors), and the seat belt switch coming from the receiver. As you can see, the harness has a whole bunch of connectors, most of which are not used in this application.
The new seat harness (what a mess!):
Under seat connectors after factory seat removed:
I moved the yellow airbag/pretensioner cable from the rear hole in the carpet to the front one to avoid having it get crushed by the new seat, which is literally sitting on the floor:
Seat Memory Module plugged into the new harness:
Airbag simulator plug joined with the seat belt pretensioner cable to form one connector which plugs into the yellow connector coming from under the carpet:
Heres the seat position simulator jumper installed onto the appropriate harness connector (pic courtesy of VetteWorks)
Overall, I am very happy with the new seat. It is very comfortable for the time I've spent in it so far. I did some local freeway cloverleaf exits at speed, and I feel like Im connected to the car in tight turns like never before. Now that Im sitting lower, I have more room under the steering wheel for my legs, and I am looking through the center part of the windshield, as opposed to about 1 below the top like before.
Regarding weight, my complete factory seat weighed in at 49 pounds, and the new seat weighs 33 pounds with the bracket attached.
My waist is 34 to 35 inches, and my hips are about 16 wide sitting on a tape measure, and I fit tightly in the seat, which is good. Mark has indicated the shell is 16-1/4 wide, so Im probably right at the limit. So I guess I cant gain any weight
As far as ease of entry and exit, the new seat is definitely more difficult to get in and out of. You sort of drop into a hole when getting in, and you have to pull yourself out of it, but thats the price for having a seat with good bolsters. Im developing a technique to exit where I use my right foot on the dead pedal to push out. There is still plenty of room around the steering wheel when getting in and out because the seat is mounted lower, and its very manageable with the wheel tilted up and telescoped in.
If you are interested in this setup and want to try out my seat and youre in the Memphis area, youre more than welcome to come and test the seat for fit.
Factory seat showing my position in the car:
A secondary issue Ive had is sitting on top of the factory seat, rather than in the seat. I needed bolsters to hold me in the seat as I had to use my knees against the side panels to stabilize my body in high lateral G situation.
Ive been watching the progress Mark at Arizen has made with his seat design which has a dropped-down butt section, which he claimed could make it so the bottom of the shell would be sitting on the floor, right down between the sliders (and I knew I wanted sliders). I was worried this portion of the seat wouldnt be comfortable, but I went for it, and so far I'm glad I did.
It took 4 weeks for the seat to be built to my finish specifications, which was red double stitching, 2006 ZO6 logo (we discovered the 2006 logo is different from the following years), and leather. I also bought Arizens floor mount bracket, sliders, and seat mounting brackets.
Here are some pics of the new seat I gained 2-3/8 of headroom
Arizen seat installed:
Arizen seat installed different angle:
New seat bracket showing all new hardware (pic courtesy of Arizen):
Here's the new seat installed showing the lower sitting position:
This shows the seat belt position:
Since I now have new-found headroom, I decided to reinstall the headliner. The roof looks a lot better now, and I have my sunvisors and homelink buttons back!
New seat with headliner installed:
My goal was to re-use the factory belts. If you dont want to do that and just want to install a 5 or 6 point harness, then much of the following very likely wont apply to you. The bracket is designed to accommodate the factory belts and/or a 5 or 6 point harness. The factory seat belt mechanical installation wasnt very difficult.
The left side belt attached easily with a 10mm X 1.5mm pitch X 20mm length class 10.9 (grade 8 equivalent) bolt. Studs are used in the factory seat, so a new bolt was needed for each seat belt. The nut has a 15mm hex head, just like all of the seat mounting nuts. I used the 3rd hole from the front of 4 mounting holes based on my seating position, which is about 1/3 travel forward from the rear-most position. The belts do not move with the seat, since they are anchored to the floor-mounted frame, so this is a matter of trying it out for your sitting position to get the best belt angle. I tried to match the angle of the factory belts.
Left seat belt attachment on factory seat:
Left seat belt attachment on factory seat close-up:
Left seat belt attachment on new seat without plastic cover:
For the right belt receptacle, which includes the seat belt pretensioner, it was a little more work. To remove the receiver, I used a 13/16 socket. I think its probably a 20mm hex head, but I didnt have anything larger than 19mm in metric. There is a steel orienting tab that fits into a slot in the factory seat frame to keep the pretensioner horizontal. I decided to dremel that tab a bit to make it fit under the bracket. Then I bent the remaining portion of the tab to shape it to follow the new frame. The result isnt the best, as the pretensioner points up a bit instead of being horizontal, but I dont expect it will make much of a difference. But I may revisit this to try to get it level. Ill probably just cut the orienting tab completely off and tie-wrap the pretensioner cylinder to the frame. If I later decide to re-install the factory seat (like if I sell the car), I will just buy a new pretensioner, which I found for right around $100.
To mount the receiver to the new bracket, I used a longer bolt (30mm) of the same size as the left (10 x 1.5mm). I had to use 2 fender washers as shims to move the pretensioner away from the frame because of its shape.
Receiver/pretensioner assembly as attached to factory seat:
Receiver/pretensioner assembly removed from factory seat:
Receiver/pretensioner assembly orienting tab dremel work:
Receiver/pretensioner assembly attached to new seat:
Regarding the electrical side of things, I wanted to retain my SIR (supplemental inflatable restraint) system, with the exception of the driver side airbag, which is located within the factory seat. It is VERY important to make sure the SDM (sensing & diagnostic module) capacitors are discharged before starting to disconnect SDM components consult your service manual. I purchased the VetteWorks Airbag Simulator Plug (ASP) set which comes with 2 connectors. One is a yellow connector to make the SDM see the same resistance as it had before from the airbag, and the other is a jumper, presumably also with a resistor, to make it look like the seat position switch is still installed. The factory seat position switch stayed with the factory seat but needs to be jumpered. These items make the airbag system happy in the sense that no warnings are displayed, and the hope is that the SIR system will continue to be functional if it is ever needed
When I spoke with Dan at VetteWorks, he recommended that I should either remove the seat wiring harness from under the factory seat to be reused, or buy a new one from GM. I didnt want to cut the harness out from under the seat, as I knew Id never get it back to original later, so I ordered a new harness for just under $100. Dan also told me I needed to remove the seat memory module from under the seat and attach it to the new wiring harness to retain the telescoping wheel function (and maybe some other functions as well). So, the new harness connects to 2 under-seat connectors, then the seat memory module (3 connectors), and the seat belt switch coming from the receiver. As you can see, the harness has a whole bunch of connectors, most of which are not used in this application.
The new seat harness (what a mess!):
Under seat connectors after factory seat removed:
I moved the yellow airbag/pretensioner cable from the rear hole in the carpet to the front one to avoid having it get crushed by the new seat, which is literally sitting on the floor:
Seat Memory Module plugged into the new harness:
Airbag simulator plug joined with the seat belt pretensioner cable to form one connector which plugs into the yellow connector coming from under the carpet:
Heres the seat position simulator jumper installed onto the appropriate harness connector (pic courtesy of VetteWorks)
Overall, I am very happy with the new seat. It is very comfortable for the time I've spent in it so far. I did some local freeway cloverleaf exits at speed, and I feel like Im connected to the car in tight turns like never before. Now that Im sitting lower, I have more room under the steering wheel for my legs, and I am looking through the center part of the windshield, as opposed to about 1 below the top like before.
Regarding weight, my complete factory seat weighed in at 49 pounds, and the new seat weighs 33 pounds with the bracket attached.
My waist is 34 to 35 inches, and my hips are about 16 wide sitting on a tape measure, and I fit tightly in the seat, which is good. Mark has indicated the shell is 16-1/4 wide, so Im probably right at the limit. So I guess I cant gain any weight
As far as ease of entry and exit, the new seat is definitely more difficult to get in and out of. You sort of drop into a hole when getting in, and you have to pull yourself out of it, but thats the price for having a seat with good bolsters. Im developing a technique to exit where I use my right foot on the dead pedal to push out. There is still plenty of room around the steering wheel when getting in and out because the seat is mounted lower, and its very manageable with the wheel tilted up and telescoped in.
If you are interested in this setup and want to try out my seat and youre in the Memphis area, youre more than welcome to come and test the seat for fit.
