Yea, you really need to look at the seat chart. Waist (to just fit in the seat) and enough room in the lats (or you will get a sore back on long trips, which actually I get with the stock seats in my track ed. when I head up the Watkins Glen ). This is often an area overlooked IMHO.

 

Sorry to bring this back up, but I just sat in one of the normal width Suzuka seats at CDOC at VIR, and I want one bad!

I am 5'7" and I was curious if you think with the seat moved further up if I would have a problem getting in and out of the car since the ends of the seats come up pretty high? Also, do you think they would cause any issues with shifting?

From sitting in it the Cobra seat, the bottom seams to be shorter than the stock seat, so I hope it wont be a issue.

 

Doubtful it will interfer with shifting. Higher sides of the seat will make it more difficult to get in/out than stock; especially if you cannot open the door all the way (parking lot, etc.) and stock steering wheel may add to the difficulty of getting in/out.

 

Sk8fe has got it. If your car is still a daily driver, than the Suzuka seats are not for you. That is why they make the Imola seats, to make it easier to get in and out of the car and still provide high level of fixing the driver into possition.

Now if you are wondering if you will be able to get in and out of the car at track with the Suzuka seat, I don't think you will have a problem. You will probably just have to move the steering wheel up when you get out and then move it back down when you get back in.

 

I'd say it depends on if you have sliders or not... I'm about 6' and 225lbs and am using the Suzuka GT. If the seat is fixed to the 'right' driving position, you will most likely have trouble getting out because of the steering wheel. If you can slide it rearwards when you exit, you should be fine. I don't drive the car every day, but it is my 'street' car. I just drove from the DC area to Allentown PA (about 3 hours) and back and it wasn't awful. Honestly, the tire noise is more of an issue for me than the comfort of the seats.

ahm

 

Thanks for the replies!

After comparing the Imola and Suzuka, I think I am going to go with the Imola. The seats are very similar in their dimensions and materials, and Cobra states that the Imola is easier to "ingress and egress" the car.

 

I Just had my Suzuka installed yesterday (regular width) with custom sliders.

My issues:
1. Seat is too high so I'm going to install it without sliders (fixed). I'm only 5'8" so I don't understands how you guys are installing these seats with sliders without hitting your head on the roof.

2. I have trouble shifting as my shoulders seem to hit on the shoulder restraints

 

I had to make a special braket for the seat so that it sit as low as possible.

I have no problem with the shifting and the shoulder restraints, but maybe because I am 6" taller so that my seat is mounted as far back as I could get.
Play around with the angle that the seat is installed, this may solve your problem?

 

Agreed MoodDude. I am 6'2" and when I installed my Sparco Pro 2000 seat with Sparco manual sliders and Sparco 350Z specific rail, I sat too high as well. I think that aftermarket rails sit so high because, at least in my 2003, there is a metal guide pin/peg that sticks up from the floor pan in the back mounting point by the trans tunnel on the driver's side. I am guessing that this guide pin is there to help the production line workers install the seat quickly (easier to line the seat up with the guide pin). The Sparco 350Z specific rail was designed to clear that pin height-wise instead of having the rail designed closer to the floor and having a hole drilled in the rail so the pin can go through. Therefore, I fired up my compressor and attached the grind wheel and cut the pin off. I had to pay my local metal/fab guy $98 for him to lower the front of the Sparco 350Z specific rail .5" and 1.5" in the rear! That was over and on top of what I paid for the rail itself.

My recommendation, for anyone thinking about getting track seats for a 350Z is to make sure the seat's shoulder tab width is less than 23.5" or you will have door panel clearence issues like I had and to have a metal/fab guy simply make you custom rails; it will be most likely cheaper in the end and if not it can't be that much more but most importantly, it will save you a TON of frustration IMHO!

My passenger side sits too high and still isn't 100% the way I would like it, the tabs on the Sparco rail still do not line up 100% for easy installation, but it is in there and I am tired of dik'n with it (and spending money on it) for now. Driver's side I am happy with. Passenger side I will re-address this Fall as next winter's project when I install a Kirk Racing competition roll hoop (or similar setup) and sell my BCR harness bar.

 

I will play around with it. But I agree, I think i'm hitting the shoulder restraint because i sit much closer to the gear stick than you taller guys.

If it continues to bother me, then I might cut off the left shoulder restraint.

 

Maybe it is because you drive on the wrong side of the road. Maybe if you drove on the "right" side of the road you won't have the problem.

Just playing around. I really wish I had a right drive car since almost all the road coarse in the US are run clockwise.

Really - try the seat angle, seats are very - very personal, so take the time to get it right.

 

LOL. Thanks MoodDude.

I'm removing the sliders next week so I'll play around with the angle a little before I start chopping the seat up.

 

Is that dent on the driver's side door panel from the seat?

 

I'm sure it is, I had the same problem with my Sparco Pro2000 seats.

https://my350z.com/forum/autocross-road/235743-stripping-interior-o-need-advise.html

I was able to finally resolve mine by redrilling holes in the Sparco bottom mount rails to get the seats closer to the trans tunnel.

 

Yep, since the seat is low on the drivers side it hits the door. If you buy the Cobra slider it sits up higher like the passanger side and doesn't hit the door. Yet, I am to tall to fit with that slider.

 

MoodDude, what gauges do you have in your Nav cubby and below your HVAC controls? Was that a kit or did you do that yourself? Do you still have the 3 OEM gauges in the top center dash? I'd like to talk track setup with you, but a bit off topic though, PM me when you have time. Thx.

 

I went to my local shop to sit in some of these seats and was turned off by the amount of flex in the Suzuka. I could flex the seat back with my hands when the seat was on the ground as well as feel the flex when seated and wiggling side to side. The Sparcos were much more rigid in comparison. The imola didn't flex as much as the suzuka for some reason.
Unfortunately, they didn't have the GT sizes in stock which is what I really need.

I'll probably end up with an evo or pro2000.

 

Sounds like daveh needs some personnal weight reduction! lol

 

The side mounts add a good amount of stiffness to the seat also if its a race seat it should be bolted to the roll cage also cutting down on flex. So a useful comparison would be to add the 5(4 for the side mounts and 1 to the roll cage) mounting points then measure the flex.

 

Just picked up my Suzuka GT seat. It sure seemed comfy on the showroom floor. Installation will be next week at TC Design. He's making custom mounts to get the seat nice and low. I got the cobra sliders as well and we'll use them only if we can get the seat slightly lower than stock with them. I know he can get an evo L slightly lower than the stock seat with sliders so I'm assuming he can do the same for me. If not, the seat will be bolted directly to the floor.