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Best donor seats for Locost?
The Baron - 11/12/10 at 06:45 PM

After 3 years of driving around with fibreglass shell seats, my poor old bones need a bit of comfort.

I have tried to make some pads, but they never look any good.

I can't spend a fortune on nice purpose make kit car seats, so would have to resort to the locost method of the local scrappy. Does anyone have any recommendation for a good donor?

I don’t mind altering or making the mountings, but do not wish to alter the seat itself.

So it has to be narrow enough to fit in the 'book' chassis, with head restraints and not look out of place.

Any ideas?

Cheers,

B

marcjagman - 11/12/10 at 06:53 PM

Metro, Mini (old shape) Audi TT, MX 5, MGF, Rover 25, Cinquecento, Seicento are all too big.

[Edited on 11/12/10 by marcjagman]

femster87 - 11/12/10 at 06:57 PM

smart cars have good looking seats about 18" wide

austin man - 11/12/10 at 07:02 PM

cant you have some pads made for the fibreglass shells. GBS advertised some cobra looky likey ones on ebay for about £150 you eill probably get that back for the fibreglass ones with a bit of luck

marcjagman - 11/12/10 at 07:03 PM

Don't fit standard book chassis. Took one out of my nieces smart car and tried it.

[Edited on 11/12/10 by marcjagman]

MikeRJ - 11/12/10 at 07:44 PM

I believe Bedford Rascal seats used to be favoured for a book Locost.

austin man - 11/12/10 at 07:53 PM

I would advise against cloth seats as there not nice if you get a bit of a downpour

marcjagman - 11/12/10 at 08:01 PM

quote:
Originally posted by austin man
cant you have some pads made for the fibreglass shells. GBS advertised some cobra looky likey ones on ebay for about £150 you eill probably get that back for the fibreglass ones with a bit of luck


Can you remember Andy when I picked that nose cone up and tried to sit in yours? Got stuck. Agree though that cloth seats will be no good.

mattyc - 11/12/10 at 08:12 PM

I have some moded escort seats that came out of my Ron chassis. They are really comfy but a bit heavy for my liking you can have them for nothing but you are miles Away from me

Thinking about it - 11/12/10 at 09:56 PM

I can get them from Southampton to Glos if your stuck.

donn006 - 12/12/10 at 12:18 AM

hi my son has my old ones listed on ebay they are comfy and fit perfect in the book chassis he is under dav3-w if interested pm me and ill sort something out

Madinventions - 12/12/10 at 12:51 AM

You can use the seats from pretty much any production car... well, use the foam bits anyway! I used the front seats from a 1996 Fiesta for my build and I can say that even with 2 collapsed disks in my back - they're quite comfy.

First remove the seat covers, then remove the foam pads from the frames. Using a hacksaw blade, remove as much as necessary from the centre of the pads and glue back together to get the right size. Cut out some plywood bases and backs, and glue the lot together using Evostick. Some cheap seat covers from Argos/eBay finish the job and can be stapled to the plywood to keep them tight.



More pics of mine are on my website here and here


HTH,
Ed.

StrikerChris - 12/12/10 at 01:42 AM

Binbag,expandable foam,upoulster if your not up to scratch on the sowing machine?lotus elise seats fit in a striker which must be one of the narrowest but don't seem to support the thighs,might suit you in your car if you mount them right for you?before anyone says I've seen 3 elises and 1 vx220 in the knackers yard since I last saw a sierra.just wash the blood off!