TR4/4A Corbeau seats in TR3 or TR4

The thread on TR3 seats got me wondering if anyone has these in their TR3 or TR4 as a replacement for the original low back seats.

Randal's point about safety got me thinking...

I tend to get into the TR3 seat butt first, i.e. sit with my feet still on the ground then swing them in under the wheel.

The sides on that seat no doubt give a lot of lateral support but I wonder if they would make it hard for a big guy to get in & out of the car.

Those are the seats (Corbeau Classics) thatI have in my TR4A. They sit a little bit higher (albeit slight) and fit well. Quality is high. Headrest are removeable.

I purchased the Corbeau universal slider mounts. My 4A is not on the road yet so I can't vouch for long trip comfort.

But they look REALLY REALLY nice. I would have them in the 3A. I paid $249 each including shipping.

Cobra also make a similar seat, but the Corbeau is nicer IMO.

I put the Cobra Classic seats in my TR3 racecar.

As PeterK points out, they look REALLY REALLY nice, and are REALLY REALLY comfy.

I made adaptor plates that allowed me to use the original slider units with the seats. I made them from .250" 6062-T3 aircraft aluminum plate I got from Charlie Vogelsong at Dillsburg Aeroplane Works.

I had to modify the transmission tunnel with a BFH to provide clearance for the seats.

Oh, I also raised the front one inch by mounting 1" x .125" wall 2024-T3 aircraft aluminum square tubing between the front mount and adaptor plate. This gave it a slight recline. I think 2" would have been better, though.

Those look great too. Maybe even better in a 3 than a 4.

John and Peter - do you guys have any pictures of how you mounted them?

Thanks!

Sorry, tdskip, I didn't take photos of the installation.

The easiest way is to just bolt them to the floorboards, but I wanted them to adjust using the original sliders. Maybe that was dumb of me because it was more work and complication.

The seats have four threaded holes at the bottom corners. I cut the aluminum plate in a rectangle that was a little bigger than the rectangle described by the holes. I attached the sqare tubing (maybe it was channel) to the front of the plate. I drilled bolt holes in the plate and channel that matched up to the holes in the seat. Then I put the old seat pan on the plate for a hole pattern and marked the location of the holes for the slider and drilled them. Of course, when I tried to mount the sliders to the plate, the holes were way off. Silly of me to expect that they would line up. So I wallered the holes out until the sliding part of the slider would attach to the plate.

So I bolted the stationary part of the slider to the floorboards, slid the plate/slider assembly on, and then bolted the seats to the plate with the bolts provided by Cobra with the seats.

I wrote this pre-coffee, so I hope it makes sense.

Thanks for the pictures. The seats do look good. I had posted about the Miata seats. So to help solve the problem I purchased a seat from a local junk yard and will try in on for size. Will post results.
RL

I've had the classics in my 4 for several years. As Peter mentioned, they do sit a bit higher. I trimmed the foam in the lower cushion to lower them a bit. I bought the air inflatable lumbar support also. They are comfortable.

Thanks guys!

I like the 3rd brake light on your surrey. Looks like it came that way.

I'd also like to weigh in in favor of Corbeaus. I have two Clubmans in the black tr3 and had one in my yellow tr3 that saved my life.



They are super easy to install, comfortable, and relatively durable.


here is a pic of them in the black tr3


and one of the aftermath of the wreck I was in years ago:


Also, for anyone who is interested here are more pics of the wreck and of the subsequent restoaration of the black TR:
https://flickr.com/photos/audibletreats/sets/72157603965438041/

Cool pix. That your Sunbeam in the background? Also looks maybe like a TR4 hardtop is lurking too.

Randy