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Spitfire Triumph Spitfire seat conversion

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roofman

roofman

Jedi Knight
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My 80 Spits seats are the worst part of the car. New foam and covers are $$$$$$$$$$$$. There is lots on the web about spit/miata seat conversions as I did in my TR6 in the past. Before I do it, anyone know of any other reasonable priced seats put in a Spitfire?
 
Paul Tegler of NASS fame says that a seat from a Porsche 914 will fit. But you couldn't prove it by me.

I'm going the early Miata route myself.
 
71MKIV said:
Paul Tegler of NASS fame says that a seat from a Porsche 914 will fit.
Click to expand...
You might also want to try them out first. No doubt depends on your physique, but I found my buddy's 914 rather uncomfortable.
 
Also, the Miata seats are a <span style="text-decoration: underline">lot</span> bigger than the stock spit seats, and may be too big if you're taller than about 5'11" or so.

I put Miata seats in my GT6 and went to a lot of trouble to make them fit just so. Even then, it made me sit too high in the cockpit and cramped by legs (I'm 6'2"). Literally, they were unacceptable, couldn't use them.

Stock seats are the best, IMHO, and more importantly, they look right and they're original.

It is not impossible to cut your own foams, and the frame is pretty easy to restore. Then all you need are the seat covers. SpitBits and other vendors have them on sale from time to time, keep your eyes open for good pricing.

Let us know . . .
 
The 911 seats were a possibility, but 2 1/2 taller than the Miata. Too tall IMHO.
 
Roofman I'd take a bunch of measurements of the originals and then peruse auto wreckers for seats. GM Firefly, Honda s2ooo,early Civic,Pontiac Solstice just to name a few possibilies.What ever you chose, mountings will have to be fabricated.
 
I am aware of the mounting work needed. I have been looking at all kinds of seats ( Fiero, Fiat, racing seats, Honda, Celica etc.) but most are too wide at the base, or too wide at the shoulder and the top mechanism rubs there. The seats have to "flare in" as the go up similer to the Miata/911 design. I can always go Miata, but thought maybe someone knew of something different.
 
"It is not impossible to cut your own foams"

What kind of foam do you use, and how would you cut it?
 
I had a friend that had two Saab Sonnetts. The seats looked like they could go in about anything. Good luck findng a set of those.
 
As far as the Miata seats making you too tall, Paul T's original usage of them had the bottom seat foam cut down the inch and a half to make the seat height the same.

Seat foam is available in nearly any upholstery shop, and is cut with an electric knife, just be sure your wife doesn't know you swiped it, and clean it up before next Thanksgiving. :smile: A serrated bread knife works well too.

An option I thought about was to buy a used upholstery sewing machine and do my own. The upholstery shop down the street sells whole sides of automotive leather for about 250 bucks. Take the old cover apart and just make new peices. can't be that hard right? :rolleyes:

I am finding that the paint and interior is the hardest and most expensive part of this project.
 
71MKIV said:
I am finding that the paint and interior is the hardest and most expensive part of this project.
Click to expand...

I bought the upholstry and foams for mine. You're right they are expensive but I figured that it will be another 25 years before I have to do it again and so the cost isn't so bad.

When it came to the rest of the interior, aside from carpet, I made all the panels using masonite, and vinyl and thin foam I bought at Joanne Fabric. Total cost was under $100, where as buy the panels was over $600 I think. I used the old panels as templates and the results are great. I even used vinyl to cover the top of the doors rather than those expensive, ill fitting plastic covers.
 
Which supplier did you use, and were you satisfied with their product?
 
71MKIV said:
As far as the Miata seats making you too tall, Paul T's original usage of them had the bottom seat foam cut down the inch and a half to make the seat height the same.

Seat foam is available in nearly any upholstery shop, and is cut with an electric knife, just be sure your wife doesn't know you swiped it, and clean it up before next Thanksgiving. :smile: A serrated bread knife works well too.

An option I thought about was to buy a used upholstery sewing machine and do my own. The upholstery shop down the street sells whole sides of automotive leather for about 250 bucks. Take the old cover apart and just make new peices. can't be that hard right? :rolleyes:

I am finding that the paint and interior is the hardest and most expensive part of this project.
Click to expand...

I did the foam cutting just like on Tegler's website, plus I cut about one inch off of the the rear of the seat rail and re-welded the (shorter) rails back on (lets the seat slide back about 1 inch farther), all to no avail. The Miata seats were still to tall and wide. And no matter how tall you are, the extra width of the Miata seats will force your right leg against the gearbox tunnel, and cramps your accelerator foot.

And most of all, IMHO, they just don't look right: a modern, ricer car seat in an antique British sports car just isn't right to me. YMMV.

And FYI, Paul Tegler is about 5'10" and about 185ish lbs., thus the Miata seats were okay for him. But if you're bigger, no deal.
 
roofman said:
"It is not impossible to cut your own foams"

What kind of foam do you use, and how would you cut it?
Click to expand...

There are many kinds of automotive seating materials to use. I went to a small, local upholstery shop and simply chatted with the owner about alternatives. I ended up giving him the old seat foams and he cut new ones out of a modern material that is used in bed mattresses, very firm. He did this for $100, plus about $50 for the new foam materials.

Then I restored the seat frames, which were rusty, etc. Took a few hours. I then covered the foams in a canvas-like material I purchased from the upholstery shop, then slid the vinyl (OEM) seat covers on.

Looked better than new, I think, and the seats were firmer and pretty darn comfy.

The Spitfire/GT6 seats are the best, if you're willing to spend a little time. It doesn't cost several hundred bucks to do. Plus, done correctly the seats are good for another 20 years or more.

Good investment, I'd say. :thumbsup:
 
Hmmm, definitly something to sleep on. ( oh boy, ba dump bump)

Seriously, I will look into that.
 
I am actually in the process of trying to figure out what seats to put into my Spit as well. I am not a fan of the seats I have which have bad foam and bad material. They are also a headrest seat and I am trying to find a set of low back seats that will fit and work. I think it looks better.
 
71MKIV said:
Which supplier did you use, and were you satisfied with their product?
Click to expand...

Mine upholstry and foams came from a local distributor so they either came from Moss or VB, but both use the same UK source. I know that the upholstry is actually from Newton Commerical. I am very satisfied with the rebuilt seats; very comfortable.
 
A caveat to all of this is that the Miata seats take care of where the radio speakers go.

not a deal breaker I know but..

Mine where in the side panels behind the seat and under the folded top, any music sounded like mud.
 
Well being 5"11" and a svelt 220 lbs, not wanting to risk the Miata seats are too high, and being a cheap SOB, I ordered some foam today ( $45 ) and will attempt over the next couple weeks to make my own foam replacements and reuse my otherwise good seat covers. I figure a 50% chance of saving the covers if I take my time. If you look at the various suppliers pictures of the Spitfire replacemant foam, they are all pieced together from different pieces glued together anyway so I will give it a shot. The Miata seats worked well in my old TR6 but I can't help but feel they are 1 notch too big for the Spitfire. The bigger question is saving the covers which I am willing to buy if I had too. I just cannot stomach spending $400 plus for some foam.
 
by the way,

love your avitar
 
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