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      04-02-2020, 07:25 AM   #1
yokomo963
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Fixed back seat mounting options?

Hey guys,

Just picked up some Sparco Evo2 seats for my build. This is my second time running seats in a car (had corbeaus in my e46 m3) and running into some confusion on how to mount side mounted seats into the car. On the old Corbeaus, I just bought the bottom mount brackets from Corbeau and it was pretty straight forward.

My question is what is the recommended mounting hardware for Sparco Evo2's? Is it better going to a planted/sparco style floor mount or something more expensive like the machsnell/bimmerworld/VAC CNC aluminum floor mounts?

I would like to possibly add sliders in the future and I would like to retain the stock 3pt belt as the car is going to be street driven occasionally.

Thanks,
Eric
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      04-02-2020, 10:41 AM   #2
lowside67
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The Brey Krause products are hands down the best option for the E8X/E9X and your search should start and end here: https://www.bkauto.com/category_s/319.htm

I had one of each style, a "Direct to Floor" seat mount (aka no provision for a slider) on one side and the "OEM Slider" mount on the other. They both worked perfectly with the stock belt buckle/tensioner assembly and it's really nice to be able to reuse the factory slider from both a cost and safety perspective.

It is far cleaner to have each mount be a single piece rather than the Macht Schnell style with a floor plate, then a slider, then a side mount, etc. I genuinely cannot recommend the Brey Krause more - I thought they were fairly priced for being a perfect bolt in solution and just worked as expected.

A bit more info on the weights on my thread here: https://www.1addicts.com/forums/show...&postcount=117

-Mark
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      04-02-2020, 11:26 AM   #3
yokomo963
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lowside67 View Post
The Brey Krause products are hands down the best option for the E8X/E9X and your search should start and end here: https://www.bkauto.com/category_s/319.htm

I had one of each style, a "Direct to Floor" seat mount (aka no provision for a slider) on one side and the "OEM Slider" mount on the other. They both worked perfectly with the stock belt buckle/tensioner assembly and it's really nice to be able to reuse the factory slider from both a cost and safety perspective.

It is far cleaner to have each mount be a single piece rather than the Macht Schnell style with a floor plate, then a slider, then a side mount, etc. I genuinely cannot recommend the Brey Krause more - I thought they were fairly priced for being a perfect bolt in solution and just worked as expected.

A bit more info on the weights on my thread here: https://www.1addicts.com/forums/show...&postcount=117

-Mark
wow, I had just stumbled across these last night. It looks like OG Racing is the only place in the states I can find them on their website.

i have factory manual seats. was the install fairly simple? Would love to have the factory sliders under the seat. I'm 5'9", you had mentioned some height issues with the direct to floor mount, do you think i'd have those issues if I went that route? Did the bracket to the OEM sliders lower you in the car with your sparco's? Thats my main concern because I can't really fit in the car with a helmet on in the stock seats and I'm not super tall by any means.

I think the BK setup is what i'm going to go with...

Thank you for your post! what a wealth of information.
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      04-02-2020, 02:35 PM   #4
lowside67
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You should be fine - the guy who bought my car from me is close to 6' and has no issues. The problem that I had was the opposite which is the fixed mount without sliders is so low profile that it would have been too LOW for me to see out.

I had factory manual seats and the process was not bad at all - it took longer to disassemble the stock seats (nicely so I didn't mess anything up) than to install the sliders to the brackets, seats to the brackets, and into the car. All in all it was a straightforward job for somebody with some patience and a few tools, nothing scary at all.

I bought my brackets from ECS Tuning.

-Mark

Not a great photo but this is the guy who bought my car, gives you a sense of his height in the driver's seat (which is on a slider) vs passenger seat which is not.

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      04-02-2020, 03:09 PM   #5
yokomo963
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That's perfect. I will be doing the BK mount on factory sliders for both sides.

ECS only had one of the R9280 wide brackets in stock and was on a "limited quantity" sale so i snatched it up. Hoping vivid racing has another in stock.

Thanks again for the suggestion and tips. This is exactly what I was hoping for.

-Eric
Quote:
Originally Posted by lowside67 View Post
You should be fine - the guy who bought my car from me is close to 6' and has no issues. The problem that I had was the opposite which is the fixed mount without sliders is so low profile that it would have been too LOW for me to see out.

I had factory manual seats and the process was not bad at all - it took longer to disassemble the stock seats (nicely so I didn't mess anything up) than to install the sliders to the brackets, seats to the brackets, and into the car. All in all it was a straightforward job for somebody with some patience and a few tools, nothing scary at all.

I bought my brackets from ECS Tuning.

-Mark

Not a great photo but this is the guy who bought my car, gives you a sense of his height in the driver's seat (which is on a slider) vs passenger seat which is not.

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      04-02-2020, 05:05 PM   #6
Mark Aubele
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Just to add a data point, we have a Sparco Evo on the drivers side, and Sparco Evo 2 on the passenger side in my wife's 135i. Used VAC mounts, drivers is on sparco sliders (didn't want to but was necessary as my wife races this car, but I have to be able to drive it, I'm 6" taller), pass is solid mounted. Very happy with the Vac mounts, have used them on multiple cars.

The Evo 2 BARELY fits. I have the pass side crushed against the console and it still touches the door. Even the Evo is a tight fit. Something to keep in mind.
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      04-02-2020, 05:15 PM   #7
yokomo963
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark Aubele View Post
Just to add a data point, we have a Sparco Evo on the drivers side, and Sparco Evo 2 on the passenger side in my wife's 135i. Used VAC mounts, drivers is on sparco sliders (didn't want to but was necessary as my wife races this car, but I have to be able to drive it, I'm 6" taller), pass is solid mounted. Very happy with the Vac mounts, have used them on multiple cars.

The Evo 2 BARELY fits. I have the pass side crushed against the console and it still touches the door. Even the Evo is a tight fit. Something to keep in mind.
Yea, I put side mounts on the seats and just test fitted them and it did look like it was going to be a tight fit. Hopefully the BK mount will give me enough room
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      04-02-2020, 05:56 PM   #8
lowside67
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And you are sure that they will require the "wide" mount?

I had Sparco Pro 2000s and they used the R9262 and R9281 mounts.

-Mark
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      04-03-2020, 07:16 AM   #9
yokomo963
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lowside67 View Post
And you are sure that they will require the "wide" mount?

I had Sparco Pro 2000s and they used the R9262 and R9281 mounts.

-Mark
These are older seats out of an old car (2014mfg date) i wanted to get in the car just for autox and hpde so I couldn't really find the mounting width dimensions online anymore.

I measured the width of the seat across the mounting holes on the bottom of the seat and got roughly 430mm and 460mm between the front and rear. Does this not sound correct for the Sparco Evo plus seats? Or is this the correct way to measure the mounting width?

-Eric

Last edited by yokomo963; 04-03-2020 at 07:58 AM..
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      04-03-2020, 09:56 AM   #10
lowside67
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Sounds like you did all the right homework - just wanted to check. It looks like Sparco says the Evo II US is 450mm across but the regular EVO II is 420mm across per https://www.sparcousa.com/product/evo-ii-us#readmore

-Mark
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      04-03-2020, 10:10 AM   #11
yokomo963
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lowside67 View Post
Sounds like you did all the right homework - just wanted to check. It looks like Sparco says the Evo II US is 450mm across but the regular EVO II is 420mm across per https://www.sparcousa.com/product/evo-ii-us#readmore

-Mark
Cool, thank you sir! It might be a good thing that I only got my hands on one of the brackets so I can install one side to see fitment first. Hopefully the seats end up fitting... or I might be cutting out some aluminum and doing a door card delete haha
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      04-03-2020, 04:53 PM   #12
Mark Aubele
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Quote:
Originally Posted by yokomo963 View Post
Cool, thank you sir! It might be a good thing that I only got my hands on one of the brackets so I can install one side to see fitment first. Hopefully the seats end up fitting... or I might be cutting out some aluminum and doing a door card delete haha
If there is some side to side adjustment they should fit....barely.

Pass side Evo is all the way against console and just barely touches door panel. Other things could've been done to get a bit more room but it was good enough for me.
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      04-03-2020, 08:27 PM   #13
yokomo963
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark Aubele View Post
If there is some side to side adjustment they should fit....barely.

Pass side Evo is all the way against console and just barely touches door panel. Other things could've been done to get a bit more room but it was good enough for me.
Thanks for the insight! I only ordered one seat bracket to try out for now. I’m not opposed to doing door card deletes haha.
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      04-06-2020, 09:03 PM   #14
yokomo963
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In case anyone was curious. The BK bracket was a little annoying to get the spacing right for the seat (was doing the install alone), but install was really straight forward. Good news is with no modifications or weird uneven spacing for the brackets, the Evo2’s fit... just barely. No touching the trans tunnel or the door card though! Have them set at the lowest the BK brackets would allow. Very comfortable and passed the helmet test... barely haha. Now just gotta wait till these BK brackets are back in stock so I can order another and get the passenger side seat in.

My VAC half cage should be here at the end of the week so I’ll worry about getting the harnesses installed once that is in. Builds slowly coming together!

-Eric
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      04-07-2020, 03:21 PM   #15
lowside67
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Looks great! If you are finding it too high on the highest setting, you could also consider replacing the seat foam with a thinner padding or removing it entirely - lots of people do that for track use and then put the pad back in to drive home. Also, out of curiosity - why not go with a fixed bracket on the passenger side? It's way less work to put in, lighter, and if you are putting a rollbar in the back seat is not really a concern anyways.

-Mark
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