GT6 Installing Fiero seats in My GT6 MK1

[Eddie6775]

Hello every one, It's nice to find this forum, and hopefully some more gt6 owners. My project has been about 4 years in the works as time and money meet simultaneously. The project is at the point where the interior of the car is ready for attention. The Fiero seat mod was mainly for safety as I prefer high back seats but also because I simply won't spent as much on the original low back seats as I purchased the entire car for. I was wondering if anyone else had done this and if you could spare some advice as to the easiest way. At this point I'm planning on using just the foam from the Ponitac, The slides from the Triumph and fabricating a bracket to joint the top and bottom of the seat. Any thoughts any of you may have would be appreciated!

 

[dklawson]

I would be interested in seeing your results.

Years ago I tried fitting Corbeau bucket seats to our GT6. They worked after a fashion but were a bit annoying and uncomfortable. The problem is that the seats for the GT6 (at least the early ones) use the transmission tunnel as one half of the bottom bolster. This allows you to sit directly behind the steering wheel. When you fit aftermarket seats with bolsters on both sides of the seat cushion, you are forced to sit off center... closer to the door. It creates an uncomfortable driving position.

To fit the Corbeaus I used the original seat slided from our car. There are two "L" shaped brackets riveted to the front of the slide and the stock seats attach to those brackets. I removed the brackets and attached a flat plate with a pair of heavy door hinges welded on. This lowered the Corbeau seats while retaining the pivoting function.

Welcome to the board!

 

[DNK]

Eddie- welcome .
We just had a discussion of those seats in the MG section
We have very few rules on this site ,But this is one of them

Takes a lot of guts to post a pic of yourself as your avatar.
Most of us are WAY to Fugly to do that

Welcome again

 

[jsfbond]

Eddie- welcome .
We just had a discussion of those seats in the MG section
We have very few rules on this site ,But this is one of them

Takes a lot of guts to post a pic of yourself as your avatar.
Most of us are WAY to Fugly to do that

Welcome again

C'mon your doctor says you have to face the facts if you hope to get better.... you first need to have friends to take the picture of you. I hope you are not in that picture, about pictures, because if you are I'm starting to get the picture.

 

[Eddie6775]

Lol...I'll go a head and shoot some pictures this evening. I just got done stripping the driver side seat completely. As it comes out of the Fiero it's just too wide. after dis-assembly, The bottom portion JUST fits. dklawson has a good point about checking for center so tonight I should see what needs to be done if anything.

I've seen this mod done before using Miata seats but those are scarce in my area. I hope to post some good info and help the cause! stay tuned for pictures!

 

[UltimateQuestion]

Welcome to another GT6! I look forward to seeing your results, the seats in the GT6 are very narrow and low, not much else seems to fit well.

 

[TimK1955tr2]

You might want to look into Porsche 914 seats, I was able to fit them into a TR2 without too much trouble. I assume a GT6 would have at least a little more room than a tr2...

Picked up a set of 2 with brackets for $100.00 off of craigslist, had a couple of small tears but decent overall.

 

[Eddie6775]

hello every one, I took a real close look at the fit last night and found out the seat was WAY over to the left on the driver side.More than I'd be willing to have. Since I only paid $35 for both seats (I love Gary's u-pull it!) I decide to get creative. Yes ladies and gentlemen there was cutting involved! I took pictures as the job progressed and just need to figure out how to post lol. I can definatly see this IS going to work! I think once the seats are done and re covered they should look nice.

so. My photos are too big to be accepted in the photo section. I'm not too sure how to shrink them but I'll figure it out!

 

[DNK]

I give it a shot Eddie
If you are using the forum to post. There are all kinds of pic shrinkers out there . I use Paint only cause I lost my other one years ago.
Another way is to use a photo site.
They will do it auto.

 

[Eddie6775]

Ok, I uploaded three so far in the Triumph section. I hope I didn't botch it

https://www.britishcarforum.com/bcforum/photopost/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/13573

Off to a good start.

 

[dklawson]

I think you are well on your way to having a working solution. Please keep posting pictures of your seat modifications and fitting. It will be nice to see an alternative to the Miata seats.

 

[Brosky]

Doug, I tried to get Fiero seats for my TR8, but just couldn't find any and then a nice set of Miata's came along, so I grabbed them. Believe it or not, Fiero seats are a VERY popular swap into ......Corvettes....and many have gone away with the Cash for Clunkers program.

 

[jsfbond]

Welcome to another GT6!

Tis better to have GT6'd and disassembled, then to have never GT6'd before.

 

[Eddie6775]

good evening every one, I went out in the garage tonight and made a trial fit. I bolted the upper and lower halves of the seat together with the GM adjuster..thingy. It had good clearance from the door. I had the seat assembly resting on top of the original GT6 slide bracket which I bolted down temporarily for fitting and every thing had good (better than I thought clearance over the drive shaft tunnel! I couldn't resist sitting in it to see if it was comfy and it felt great.. My legs landed in the rite spot, my head (I'm 5'11") had good room and The back had good support. I'll be back with more pictures this weekend. I still need to concoct a bracket for over the tunnel. How hard can this be?! lol.

 

[vagt6]

Eddie, just be very careful how you test fit the seats before your final installation. I think your 5'11" height is at the threshold that may make mon-stock seats not such a great idea. The GT6 cockpit is so small, and introducing any object that takes up extra room can make a big difference in comfort.

I say this because the GT6 stock seats are situated <span style="text-decoration: underline">very</span> close to the floor pans, and have minimal seat height, and width. Any non-stock seat that renders your seated position higher, even by one inch, can cause discomfort if you're taller than roughly 5'10". For example, it's harder to see out of the top of the windscreen, especially when stopped at traffic lights - you have to bend your neck uncomfortably to see the stop light, etc. Taller or wider seats can also push your right leg against the tunnel, which is not comfortable.

I installed Miata seats in my GT6, and took them out after less than 100 miles of driving. The Miata seats also forced my right leg harder against the tunnel, not good at all on longer trips.

I'm 6'2" and the Miata seats were just too tall. I even tried all the tricks to lower them, including removal of seat foam, cutting seat rails, everything.

Folks at your height, or taller, should VERY carefully test any non-stock seat before permanently installing them: just a smidgen wider or taller seat can cause significant discomfort.

Just a FYI. Also, please remmber that the stock seats can be nicely redone and are quite comfy if done correctly.

Good luck, I hope this was helpful.

 

[dklawson]

Mark (and anyone else who is interested and/or tall),

Have you seen or tried "Light-in-sight"? It's a lens you stick on the top of the windshield so you can see the traffic lights without having to scrunch down in the drivers seat.
https://www.lightinsight.com/

I have one on the Spitfire and one on the Mini. I have one for the GT6 but haven't installed it (I'm just too lazy). I have tried two types of devices to help see traffic lights and I like this one better than the other I tried.

 

[foxtrapper]

I played with a Fiero seat for one of my Spitfires once, got it for like $1, so I figured what the heck. Very quickly showed it wasn't worth bothering with, imo. Way too wide, especially when scooted back. Lifted up to clear things when scooted back put things way to high.

The fit was worse than the Miata seats, which are a lousy fit as well. I've tried that one twice.

All in all, I've found the stock later model high back seats darn hard to beat when it comes to fitting in a tight little Spitfire. With good foam, they are right comfortable.

 

[Eddie6775]

hello vagt6, I'll heed your warning carefully! as a matter of fact when I sat in the driver seat last night, It was on top of the newly modified original bracket. I removed the front pivot mounts so that it sits flush against the seat bottom. I put the pivots in the 'keep' box.

...Hi foxtrapper, Yes I absolutely agree with what you said. That's why I cut four inches of width from the seat (the drive shaft tunnel side only). I figured If I works, good. If not put the other seat on e bay or something. But as it turns out, after cutting; it sat down as low as stock. the foam under where your butt would go is about 1 1/2 inches thick and doesn't protrude past the bottom of the bracket. I put the windshield frame up and could see just fine... Of course my old seats were so far gone I'm not sure how they were supposed to feel. I'm saving ALL of the old parts just in case. Thanks!

I should post pics a.s.a.p. I think I'll do that this evening..I love the ideas and help your all giving me!

 

[foxtrapper]

Yes, you're really putting in some work to fit those seats. That's something lacking in many cases, where they are sorta just shoe-horned in place. So a tip of the hat to your creative work.

 

[vagt6]

Mark (and anyone else who is interested and/or tall),

Have you seen or tried "Light-in-sight"? It's a lens you stick on the top of the windshield so you can see the traffic lights without having to scrunch down in the drivers seat.
https://www.lightinsight.com/

I have one on the Spitfire and one on the Mini. I have one for the GT6 but haven't installed it (I'm just too lazy). I have tried two types of devices to help see traffic lights and I like this one better than the other I tried.

Doug, thanks for the great idea. Sadly, I no longer have a GT6, but there may be another one in my future. At least that's my plan.

I'm driving a very nice '74 Midget now, a show winner. Great car, but it's no Triumph.

Guys, please don't kick me out for selling the GT6 and going over to the "dark" side. They're still my favorite LBC!