Nothing to add on the legality side, but I concur that buckets and harnesses are an absolute nightmare for road use. Less so the buckets, but harnesses stop proper observation at junctions with high walls or vans etc adjacent. I put up with such inconvenience in my 20s as I was skinny arsed and it made my Spitfire look cool (I thought). But that was before cameras, just Volvo had pretensioners and airbags were only in yank tanks (okays the last two points are slight exaggeration). Seats were bolted direct to the floor as any adjustments made it too high. None of this seemed to bother MOT testers back in the day as long as the seat and harness were attached to metal rather than rust!
The Recaros in my ND are tight on the sides, you would really need to try any buckets you want as they can be really narrow, assuming you can work out the logistics and legals.
Hi.
If you have any issues with insurance at all for a change of seats then please feel free to drop me a line.
Regards,
Dan.
My insurance is up in November anyway, and with the coilovers now on, i may be looking for more competitive policies.
Just a thought, but is it not possible to keep the original seats/seatbelt for everyday use and then fit a harness to the rollbar for trackday use?
That’s what we did on Project Merlot albeit it’s an NA
I don’t own a garage. 3rd floor flat in the middle of a city.
Why do you need to own a garage to achieve this ?
I was suggesting you could have both simultaneously, not swapping them out every time.
The harness should stop you sliding around on the leather when on track and be tucked away behind the seat when not on track.
As I said, that’s what we do with Project Merlot
Ah i see what you mean now… maybe… but that wont help your legs move around, which is the bigger part of the issue, but yes i did consider a harness bar and harnesses with standard seats
Haven’t found the legs to be a problem to be honest. If the harness (4 point in our case) holds the shoulders and hips in position the legs should be ok.
Have seen harness bar and harness with standard seats on many MX-5’s on many trackdays and it seems to work for most people.
Much less hassle than bucket seats which are not easy to get in and out of and can be uncomfortable on longer journeys to track locations.
Yeah its not a bad plan… The Cybul harness bar is the one I’d go for. It fits all the OEM plastics and has mounts for the BOSE speakers etc etc. It’s not cheap, but IMHO it looks like the very best one for the ND
Yup, it has to be worth a try before going to the expense and trouble of fitting buckets with all the afforementioned issues that may be thrown up.
ND? I thought your OP said NC.
yeah, sorry, don’t know why i keep doing that! it’s an NC
my friend has an ND
Just bought some Cobra Nogaro seats (fabrics), they are a street focused bucket seat. they actually offer a leather version that really suit the oem+ look with option to have harness holes or not. They are “street” focused as they don’t have the high leg lumbers that you find on your sparcos, recaros, brides and make it difficult to use the stock seatbelt buckles. Very noice seats, but dear!
Fabric seat with harness holes cost £499
Leather without holes £649
Leather with harness holes £679
You also have options like adjustable lumber support (air) and the heating element to retain the heated seat switches with these both you can make the one seat just over £1000!
I have only seen one nc on pinterest that fit these seats in the car bolted in via the PCI mounts (again dear) roughly £350
I however have gone for the Cybul mounts roughly £100.
Once fitted I will show a picture of fitment and I believe these seats only come in one size with a waist of up to 34 inches.
The pinterest picture looked like good fitment but I suppose that all depends on seating position haha. I’m 5ft9 with stubby legs so I think I’ll be alright but again that’ll give a better idea to the final outcome.
The last issue is the electrics like heating and airbags but thankfully I have only heard good news about it being fairly easy to trick the system. I won’t be fiddling with the electrics anyway as my uncle is an auto electrician, but I would suggest using a professional to make sure the light never pops up during an MOT (embarrassing) especially if you don’t know the tester well
I have opted for the harness holes just to allow the option for the future but for now I’ll just swab my belts for nice new yellow ones that’ll match the harness eyes, Revlimiter speedo, driving line on the steering wheel and my painted callipers.
Will send the photo once seats are fitted!
Hi again, you may have already seen a reply I made today. But I thought I’d add to the alarmist list haha!
I don’t know for sure so don’t slate me,
I’m not completely sure but I remember reading something about being able to pass an MOT with bucket seats and Harnesses
I believe you are safe to have both as long as you remove the steering wheel air bag. I think the reason you have to have a reclining seat with factory wheel is so the chair will give way when the airbag blows Infront of you. This could be complete ■■■■ that I have read but not too farfetched in my opinion,
However, I also think that when you declare all three modifications to the car you have to list your car for track use during the MOT, but that opens a can of questions to my mind Haha. All I’m certain about is the insurance company will need it declaring when they see the MOT certificate is for a track listed car but I wouldn’t want to pay the bill for that quote Haha. My other uncle has been working for the HillSpeed team at Silverstone for over 15 years and he always tells me I should just track the car for all the modifications I’m doing. But if I do, I’ll miss out on the B-Roads Haha.
I don’t know if that would have been any help or just thrown more fuel into the mix, if you hear any better, please update me, my uncle’s knowledge is only really restricted to tuning and track regulations, not MOT’s and the Traffic Laws
This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.