cbender

There've lots of very helpful posts on these issues in the past -- thanks, especially, to CoralDoc -- but in case there's some new information or additional experience on the part of those of you who've gotten and installed a rollbar and a racing seat, I wanted to solicit your thoughts before I place an order.

For those of you new to this discussion, CoralDoc's got a great thread on this subject:

http://forums.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.p...threadid=143847

For rollbars, I'm considering the Elda bar -- although I've heard Mugen's just released a bar of their own for $1100. In terms of seats, I'm looking for something that will fit me well -- I'm 5' 9", 170 lbs., of reasonable build -- and can be easily installed and removed for track events only.

I'll be installing a five-point harness that I'll use only while at the track (for street driving, I'd like to be able to remove the shoulder harness and simply leave the lap belt and submarine belts in the car, tucked under the stock seat).

Any thoughts/feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks,
CB

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C. Bender
2001 Silver/Black
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rlaifatt

CB, I have the Eldabar and am very happy with it. It is very well built and it is Solo 1 approved, which the others might not be. For the seat I have the Recaro SPG mounted on the Taitec rail (it is adjustable for rake when mounting the seat, and slides). The seat is snug fitting but should fit you well (though I suggest you try it first), and is very comfortable at the same time (I routinely drive it to and from events 500 miles each way). With the Taitec rail, you can install an extra stock seatbelt receptacle to it (as it is with the stock seat) and so be able to use the stock seatbelts when driving with the race seat, such as when driving to and from events. This is what I do. The seat, attached to the rail, is easily removable in minutes.

It is highly recommended that you get a five or six point harness for the track, and why not if you will have a harness bar and a race seat. I am very happy with the Willans six-point. Details on mounting harnesses can be found in CoralDoc's thread.

cbender

Richard, thanks so much. Good advice. I'd meant a "five-point" harness, so I've edited my original post.

Am I correct in my understanding that to install the seat/harness/rail, you simply unbolt the four bolts holding the stock seat and rebolt the rail using the same four bolts? Or is there more to it than that? Does "rake" mean the angle of the seat back to the horizontal? And by "slides" do you mean that the seat moves front-back to set the correct distance from the pedals? Ill-informed questions, I know, but I want to be sure.

Final question: where did you source the seat and rail? Can you PM me what you paid for them?

Thanks,
CB

CoralDoc

Thanks for the kind words .

The Elda Bar has a harness bar that makes adding a harness easier. It does not appear that the Mugen bar has a harness mount option, but that opinion is only from looking at the photo.

I used the Taitec rail with a Sparco Roadster seat in my car and it worked very well. Yes, the rails use the same 4 floor bolts that are used by the OEM seat. As mentioned, if you add a seatbelt receiver to the inboard side of the seat, the stock belts can be retained. On tip - I found that an early 90s CRX receiver put the mouth of the receiver in a better location than the stock S2000 receiver.

The Taitec rails do allow the seat to slide fore and aft, but the release levers are a little trickier to reach than the stock lever. This can be adjusted pretty quickly with the driver in the car.

The rake (seat angle) is adjustable when the seat is mounted and can only be changed by removing the seat from the car and unbolting and rebolting the seat in a different position. Consequently, it's not something that can be done quickly and certainly not when the driver is in the car.

I purchased the rails from Science of Speed, but I don't think they're associated with the site anymore.

rlaifatt

Just to add to CoralDoc's answers, I got the rail and seat both from Science of Speed. As he mentioned, the inside release lever on the Taitec rail is tight to get to between the seat and the transmission tunnel, so I simply attach a 14" zip-tie to that lever that acts like an extension, and leave it on permanently. When the lever is in the lock position (down flat) the zip-tie is out of the way too. Rake is seat angle as CoralDoc mentioned, as the angle between the seat back and base is fixed on molded seats.