Seat Question

[myvettes0781]

What aftermarket seats will fit a 1981 Corvette. Sparco & Cobeau seats appear to be to wide. Or will a pair of C6 seats fit? And if they did, is there someone out there that can modify the bolsters for better support? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Copdogcorvettes]

What aftermarket seats will fit a 1981 Corvette. Sparco & Cobeau seats appear to be to wide. Or will a pair of C6 seats fit? And if they did, is there someone out there that can modify the bolsters for better support? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I don't know about the after market seats; but I put 91' vette seats in my 78' . They give great support and look great too.

Gary

SAVE the WAVE

 

[White75]

I've seen a set of Sparcos in a C3. The main thing is to get measurements of what you have to work with between the door and the console to find a seat that will fit the spot as well as provide enough room for the mounts.
You will have to have some seat mounts made by a professional in order for the seat to mount safely and correctly as I doubt there are out of the box options for the C3.

 

[Adam Wartell]

I'm a little unclear. Are you looking to put NON-Corvette style seats in there? Are you looking to just stay away for C3 Corvette seats? Or are you just looking to stay away from the aftermarket Vette seat vendors (MAM, Al Knoch, etc).

 

[spikebot 81]

Just finishing interior overhaul. Aftermarket seats didnt seem to look quite right in a 81. Picked up a set at a swap meet out of a 2002 vette. They look great but if your a tall person I think the floor pans would have to be lowered. The c5 seats sit about 2 inches higher. I,m 5' 10" so head clearence is no problem

 

[myvettes0781]

Hi Adam,

I am looking for seats that will give me more lower side support(bolsters). Aftermarket. The only Corvette seats that give any type of support was the C4. I will use those as alast resort.

Marc

 

[myvettes0781]

I've seen a set of Sparcos in a C3. The main thing is to get measurements of what you have to work with between the door and the console to find a seat that will fit the spot as well as provide enough room for the mounts.
You will have to have some seat mounts made by a professional in order for the seat to mount safely and correctly as I doubt there are out of the box options for the C3.

The Sparco seats seem to wide for the car.

 

[myvettes0781]

Just finishing interior overhaul. Aftermarket seats didnt seem to look quite right in a 81. Picked up a set at a swap meet out of a 2002 vette. They look great but if your a tall person I think the floor pans would have to be lowered. The c5 seats sit about 2 inches higher. I,m 5' 10" so head clearence is no problem

I agree with you that the aftermarket seats that I have seen do not look good. I was thinking about a pair of C6 seats. I have a C6 Z06 and I don't feel locked in to the seats. I am also 5'10. Can you modify the bracket to lower it.

 

[myvettes0781]

I don't know about the after market seats; but I put 91' vette seats in my 78' . They give great support and look great too.

Gary

SAVE the WAVE

Gary,

Does the '91 have the back cover or is it completely upholstered? I know that the C4 seats give good support.

 

[spikebot 81]

I agree with you that the aftermarket seats that I have seen do not look good. I was thinking about a pair of C6 seats. I have a C6 Z06 and I don't feel locked in to the seats. I am also 5'10. Can you modify the bracket to lower it.

The new 02 drivers seat is power. I removed the rivets from the seat rails and swaped front brackets to back and back to front. Redrilled the holes in the floor pan. This gave just enought clearence for the drive motors in the floor pan. Passengers side is a manual seat rail because the floor in a 81 is not lowered to accept a power assembly. I removed all the riveted brackets and bolted to original mounting holes with some offset brackets that I fabed. I've read that some have used oringinal seat rails and mounted them to new seats. Not a option for me cause the 81 rails where shot. Like I said before, I've got these 02 seats as low as possable without moding the floor pans. If I ever sell this car a tall guy is gonna have a trouble with head room.:bash

 

[White75]

The Sparco seats seem to wide for the car.

Here's a link to the seat dimensions for all of Sparco's products:
http://www.sparcousa.com/resourceFiles/26.pdf

It looks like depending on the style the width varies from 17.5in to 22.5in which I think is within the limitations of the C3 floorpan.
If you're worried about the wings on the headrest, there are ones that are smaller up there.
It also looks like they have a mounting bracket for the C3 as well http://www.sparcousa.com/resourceFiles/30.pdf

Hope this helps

 

[Copdogcorvettes]

Gary,

Does the '91 have the back cover or is it completely upholstered? I know that the C4 seats give good support.

They have backs; The ones I have are cloth. They were manual tracks, which made it easier to put on to my C3 tracks. I have pictures of the seats installed and the modified C3 tracks w/ the C4 mounts welded on to them.
They are a little taller than the stock seats; but if you are not to tall it will not be a problem.

Gary

SAVE the WAVE

 

[myvettes0781]

They have backs; The ones I have are cloth. They were manual tracks, which made it easier to put on to my C3 tracks. I have pictures of the seats installed and the modified C3 tracks w/ the C4 mounts welded on to them.
They are a little taller than the stock seats; but if you are not to tall it will not be a problem.

Gary

SAVE the WAVE

I would love to see pictures. Could you email them to me? myvettes@kelmar-industries.com thx

 

[myvettes0781]

Here's a link to the seat dimensions for all of Sparco's products:
http://www.sparcousa.com/resourceFiles/26.pdf

It looks like depending on the style the width varies from 17.5in to 22.5in which I think is within the limitations of the C3 floorpan.
If you're worried about the wings on the headrest, there are ones that are smaller up there.
It also looks like they have a mounting bracket for the C3 as well http://www.sparcousa.com/resourceFiles/30.pdf

Hope this helps

Thanks. I'll check out the sites.

 

[White75]

I would love to see pictures. Could you email them to me? myvettes@kelmar-industries.com thx

Please share the wealth. Post pictures here so we can all see.

 

[Copdogcorvettes]

Please share the wealth. Post pictures here so we can all see.

If you need any other pictures let me know, I have a few others. The mounting taps from the C4 seats were welded onto the C3 tracks. As you can tell They are not exactly centered; That was so I could get the seats to center as well as be able to move forward and back. It took me a full day to get everything fitted. I also had to drill a couple of new mounting hole in the seat bottom. It was really pretty easy.

Hope this helps in some way.

 

[Bob Chadwick]

Make sure your butt will fit in an aftermarket seat comfortably for an extended length of time; mine would not. They are a little smaller and I recall when I looked at them they weren't being recommnded for people with a waist size larger than 36" or so.

 

[White75]

Make sure your butt will fit in an aftermarket seat comfortably for an extended length of time; mine would not. They are a little smaller and I recall when I looked at them they weren't being recommnded for people with a waist size larger than 36" or so.

True, racing seats are not very comfortable for the long haul.