Buddy Club Seat Fitted
 

After my purchase of a member's Buddy Club seats and rails, I fitted the driver's seat yesterday evening.

They're a bloody tight fit in the car, but more importantly, I'm a bloody tight fit in the seat too. As of yesterday, my body is now a temple due to the need to shed a few pounds to get my ass into them with any degree of comfort.

First impression of driving the car with the seat is how much more room I now have below the steering wheel (I'm 6' 3" with a 35.5" inside leg...) and how much more comfortable it is with the top down - I may be able to return to normal hold hair-gel rather than mega-hold stuff I currently use...

The car's a completely different driving experience with the new seat - a bit like getting into a different car. Overall I'm pretty pleased with the purchase. Not sure of the longevity of the seat material, but then that'll provide an excuse to have them reupholstered in Orange Alcantara...

pics of seats in car? Was going to make a joke about diet but you pretty much already know

good stuff

Sounds good!
You have the wider ones so I guess the shoulder wings are the limiting factor.
How you finding the height and rails compared to stock?

TTIUWP nice work! I dont know why but I have an irrational love of Buddy Club stuff. It just sounds so JDM!

The rails went in OK, but they're a bit sticky moving back and forth.

Height is the winning feature - sitting so close to the floor makes a huge difference to the 'feel' of the car.

My egress from the car isn't so elegant as it was with the standard seats - it's a bit like getting out of an Elise now!

You should try the slimmer ones! I thought I was going to be stuck in eSeM's!

:D

There are a few advantages to being short.

:)

Keen to get a look at these :) I'll probably just put the lowering rails in with the std seats though :D

wtf are the pics mark!? :D

I thought about the BYS lowering brackets, but it looks like a major PITA to fit them to the seats.

Who knows though - if I get tired of looking like a tit trying to get out of the car I may yet go that route...

:LOL: I though Buddyclub did some lowering rails as well... must investigate :D

I have the BYS lowered seat rail on my drivers side and the limiting factor with the OEM seats is the thickness of the seat itself. You can't go much lower and I even found mine would rub on the carpet and it's not as easy as it should be to move the seat back and forth.

I was very tempted by these seats Mark, so it's interesting to hear your thoughts on the increased amount of space below the steering wheel. That is still a problem for me as I have no room to manoeuvre my knee/leg to allow me to heel and toe :(

The seat height difference is very noticeable - I had to massively re-adjust the rear view and door mirrors from my usual settings for the OEM seats.

One down-side is that you sit so low in the car, it looks to others as though one is affected by dowager-stoop - a bit like the Woman Lincoln driver at the end of 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off'...

I would have bought them had the colour been more appropriate, but I think my blue interior really requires blue seats too .. I did have a look but buddy club don't appear to do a blue seat :(

Interesting. I might need to do some more research into replacement seats before I make a punt into the market. I would perfer reclining seats, but that only jacks the price up a bit more, espically if the name Bride is stamped all over them.

Buying bucket seats I imagine is very similar to buying a helmet. Not every make suits everyones.

Looking forward to some photos :)

s2k_Nut - It is a shame Buddy Club don't do them in different colours, but I guess you could always get them recovered if you were feeling flush :)

sounds good :thumbup:
anybody got a link to the BYS seat lowering brackets, at 6"4 i could do with one as i can't see the rev's too good cos of the stearing wheel.

I've just taken mine off the car, and will be posting a for sale advert on here in the next few days :)

If you are sat that much lower how can you see over the steering wheel :p

The bucket seats have 3 height settings :)

I managed to get around to fitting the passenger's seat yesterday afternoon - so went for decent thrash with the other-half on board.

General impression from Mrs N is that the seats are very comfortable and that roof-down, the effects of the wind are much less intrusive - so much so, a bee-hive hair-do might be tenable.

The large size seats were a PITA to fit and are perhaps a smidgen too large - however they're in now and I guess that's all that matters.

On the lowest seat position the adjustment mechanism was fouling on the seat base, so I've canted (great word that...) the seats - slightly higher at front than at rear. They now have a nice angle of recline and can be moved fore and aft - albeit with some effort as the sides are up against the tunnel.

I will post pictures when the CF bonnet, Time Attacks and other Mugen tat is fitted...

Hi Mark,

Sounds great, it is always good to see a better half happy with where the money is going!

I have to confess that yesterday we finally got my bonnet off to fit the mugen intake, with the bonnet marked out and dremel in hand, and my mate nagging me that such a big cut did not look good for re-sale value of the car, I bottled it!

Now back to the drawing board, either find a second hand bonnet I can cut, or plump for the Mugen Carbon Fibre hood. I don't know about you, but I dont want to look Chav with a black carbon bonnet, but I would feel guilty panting a

[QUOTE=Sti Vi,Mar 31 2008, 12:34 PM] Hi Mark,

Sounds great, it is always good to see a better half happy with where the money is going!

I have to confess that yesterday we finally got my bonnet off to fit the mugen intake, with the bonnet marked out and dremel in hand, and my mate nagging me that such a big cut did not look good for re-sale value of the car, I bottled it!

Now back to the drawing board, either find a second hand bonnet I can cut, or plump for the Mugen Carbon Fibre hood. I don't know about you, but I dont want to look Chav with a black carbon bonnet, but I would feel guilty panting a

hey J8mie thanks for that, I did down loadall the instructions and pictures, i guess looking at on a monitor it is not full size, until you mark it on your hood! :-( Incidentally the rubder bit for the edge that mugen provided in the kit, is not long enough to go around the complete cut, another reason we didnt bother. To finish it off, I had got halfuds to mix a can of moonrock up as honda does not sell spray paint, trying some of halfuds mix is nothing like moonrock and I did watch them measure out the ingredients. Does any one know if Honda sell moonrock all ready made up, surely it doesnt need to be mixed from all the components!

Hood is now back on, waiting for plan B

LOL

I am going for the 'Chav' look!

I was somewhat unsure, but I've seen images of a couple of S's with NIOP and the carbon bonnet and they look great - the two colours are a brilliant contrast.

My initial reason for getting a CF bonnet was to paint it and avoid cutting the original - I couldn't bring myself to do it!

Mark, you should be fine as yours doesnt have too many Chav vents in it! Not sure if the buddy club weive is as nice as the mugen carbon wieve, although I know others have fitted it. I know the feeling with dremel in hand, I just couldnt do it, but at least I got further than you and marked the bonnet before I chickened out ;-)

Sti, Mugen does not supply the rubber that goes around the bonnet cut - you have to buy that from somewhere else. The bit of rubber which Mugen supplies and I suspect you are referring to, goes along the inside of the bumper to stop the duct from rubbing - it's quite clear in the instruction.

Also, you don't need to remove the bonnet and the cut can look factory if you're careful ;)

Mark, In respose to your question on MBs locked thread, yes we'll definitely have to meet up. Mine's changed a little bit since you last saw it ;)

Chris.

chrisr111, I can't see it ever looking factory as the cut is huge in real life! I can't read japanese either so hence the confussion with the rubber piece, so where can I buy so black rubber to cover the hole. chrisr111, I assume you have done the cut on your white S2000 any chance of some pictures :-) I am still nerous to make the cut, and I know you dont need to remove the bonnet, we just thought it might be easier!

I have done a couple of bonnet cuts and neither of them were as big as the hole in the bonnet above.

I used (Oxford) motorcycle windshield trim around the cut. You can get this from Halfords for a few pounds.

:)

I'm going to have to cut the Buddy Club bonnet to get the Mugen CAI in.

At the risk of sounding somewhat deviant-like, what are the dimensions of your hole...

I think this is AB's one that I used as a template.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...9098bca6f0.jpg

I never took a photo of Lou's one but I know he posted some photos on here so I will try and find them.

I got my rubber trim from here

It's stuff used on computer cases to protect sharp edges.

Mark, the dimensions are shown in the Mugen instructions.

I agree with eSeM, my whole is not as big as j8mies....ooer!

Chris.

I took a long trip with Steven in his Buddy Club seats, although they feel strange at first they were surprisingly conformable even after four hours. The biggest problem was the constant drone from his exhaust :D


Oh and another gratuitous picture of a Mugen cutout having been done by Chiswick Honda.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...1c4484c3b0.jpg

That hole appears to be somewhat smaller than others...

I think I'll try that size of hole first and try a bigger one later if required.

That hole done by chiswick is no where near as big as the rest, it also does not look like the hole described by the instructions!

Tango I saw your cut before on another thread, but I am not sure if that was your current set up or not?

Mark, I thought you purchased the buddyclub for the sole reason that you didnt have to make any cuts to anything??

Looks like the Mugen bonnet for me, suppliers are telling me there is along wait and Mugen do not keep stock..........

IIRC That was Chiswicks 1st attempt.

TangoMan went back a few days later to get the job finished properly.

There are quite a few CF bonnets that will work with the Mugen intake including both the Seibon one I had and the J's one I now have.

:)

Tango, that cut-out looks as rough as a badgers to me.

Mark, If you like, I'll give you a hand with your cut-out.

Chris.

Chris you are too late, think Mark will have booked it into Chiswick after seeing there handy work!

Thanks for the information Steven.

Looking at the underside of my Buddy Club bonnet, it looks almost identical to the OEM bonnet - especially the GF support moulding and areas adjacent to the bonnet catch.

Alas I can't recall anyone else who has a BC bonnet and Mugen CAI to ascertain if the bonnet works as is or needs cutting.

I suppose I could fit both the items and slam the bonnet closed - it if shuts, it works!

Post a photo of the underside. That should be enough to give a good idea whether it will work or not.

Sti, I can't tell from your reply if your winding me up or not? But I doubt Mark will be driving down to London (he lives up North near me) for them to F'up his bonnet ;)

Chris.

:ponder: LOL Chris of course I was joking, I am a northern as well, I thought you would have a better sense of humour

LOL Sti, I have, but didn't want to offend just in case :)

Chris.

Steven,
I'll post a shot tonight...


Chris,
I plan to fit the bonnet and CAI on Saturday 12th April... with the caveat Saturday's are sometimes taxi duty for my daughters... so I only get 15 minutes undisturbed intervals for my own stuff. I'll keep you posted.


Mark

:iagree:

If you post a picture of the bottom someone will soon be able to tell you if it needs cutting.

I should be around on Saturday 12th if you need a hand or advice.

Chris.

OK gentlemen - apologies for the image quality - here is the shot of the relevant area of the underside...

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r.../bc_bonnet.jpg

That looks as thought it might fit.

It has to be worth a trial fit to see what happens - I'll advise the outcome asap!

I think it'll fit Mark, which will save you alot of worry and effort :)

Chris.