[Davetech74]

I have a ph1 spider that a previous owner put red GTV seats and door cards into. Only recently I found out that the GTV seats are different inside and don't have the bar that the seat belt fastens to. The seats are in good condition and were repaired and recoloured lately.
Whats my best option?

Buy some Spider seats and change the covers over. Buy an alternative seat, I have heard of using Porsche Boxter seats or after market racing seats.

What do you think?

 

[pkr]

Acquire some cloth Spider seats ( should be loads around ). Remove the seat back upholstery, saving the seat belt clip and fastener and cut out* the metal bracket from the seat frame that holds the seat belt clip on. Fairly obviously you take measurements of the bracket's location on the seat frame before cutting it out! Also take photographs of the bracket in place.

Remove the upholstery from your seats, get someone to weld in the bracket recovered from the cloth seats. Reapply the upholstery, fix clip to seats ( you'll need to pierce the fabric for the fastening(s) ).

Should work OK.


* cut the bracket by cutting in to the cloth seat frame. It's a lot easier to cut away excess metal when preparing the bracket for fixing to the GTV seat than it is to add metal!

 

[spankdanny]

Spider seats also have the belt runner at the top of the seat back that stops the clip putting a hole in the door card.

 

[alfapash]

Could you remove the red leather upholstery from the back and drill out a hole in the frame and tap out the correct size hole for the bolt that holds the seat belt runner to the frame through the leather. Obviously you would need to get a pair of the brackets. I am an upholsterer but have not yet had to strip my seats down so I don't know what the frame looks like. Anyone got any photos?

 

[Rich_wookey]

Or buy some cloth Spider seats that match your GTV seats and swap the leather to the spider seats as you suggested

 

[Paaulyb]

Now that may have upset my day! Are you saying all spider seats have a seat belt runner?
Mine doesn't and unmodified as far as I was aware.

 

[CGTVs]

Acquire some cloth Spider seats ( should be loads around ). Remove the seat back upholstery, saving the seat belt clip and fastener and cut out* the metal bracket from the seat frame that holds the seat belt clip on. Fairly obviously you take measurements of the bracket's location on the seat frame before cutting it out! Also take photographs of the bracket in place.

Remove the upholstery from your seats, get someone to weld in the bracket recovered from the cloth seats. Reapply the upholstery, fix clip to seats ( you'll need to pierce the fabric for the fastening(s) ).

Should work OK.


* cut the bracket by cutting in to the cloth seat frame. It's a lot easier to cut away excess metal when preparing the bracket for fixing to the GTV seat than it is to add metal!

Wouldn't it be less hassle to just swap the leather covers to the spider seat frames, making a hole in the leather for the bolt to pass through?

Clive

 

[Rich_wookey]

Spiders have a plastic runner on top of the seat back between the headrest and outside edge. The runner has a slot to take the belt which always manages to come out on my spiders !

See picture attached.

 

[Paaulyb]

Spiders have a plastic runner on top of the seat back between the headrest and outside edge. The runner has a slot to take the belt which always manages to come out on my spiders !

See picture attached.

I shall have to get some pics of mine and identify the seats, the car isn't with me at the moment. Always thought the belts were a pain to grab ?.

 

[pkr]

Wouldn't it be less hassle to just swap the leather covers to the spider seat frames, making a hole in the leather for the bolt to pass through?

Clive

Possibly yes - I can see where you're coming from. But remember that parts of the seat ( foam bits ) are glued to the frame etc.

I have a welder so I'd be more inclined to modify the seat. However, I agree it's a bit 6 of 1 ...

 

[konrad96]

I've often thought that the easiest way to sort this would be to get some flat aluminium bar, drill two holes in it to fit the headrest legs/tubes, and a couple of smaller holes to mount a plastic runner, get it powdercoated and just use the headrest tubes to hold it in place. the plastic runner's only function is to keep the belt ready for use, so there's no pressure put on it. In fact, if someone were to run off a dozen or so I bet they'd sell fairly well on here..... :thumbup:

 

[Davetech74]

As far as I know the inner bar is there to stop the seat colapsing in the event of a crash as the seatbelt fixing point is lower than the gtv. I will look out for some spider seats which are hens teeth here in Ireland, god knows what shipping will cost for seats from the uk...

I am toying with buying these CPA1019 Black Cloth w/ Microsuede Insert & Red Stitching Cipher Auto Racing Seats - Pair [CPA1019FSDBK-R] - $399.00 : Cipher Auto!, Automotive Parts Accessories & Universal Racing Seats

 

[Matt GTV]

I have a couple of Spider Seats available to be chopped up or whatever. They are Ph 1 style - in tan leather but have seen better days. They'll fit any 916.

 

[Paaulyb]

Are we definitely sure the seat frames are different?
I can understand the covers etc. But why would they make two different frames for the what is essentially the same seat. More sense for the mounting hole to be on all frames.
Anybody checked?

 

[CGTVs]

Possibly yes - I can see where you're coming from. But remember that parts of the seat ( foam bits ) are glued to the frame etc.

I have a welder so I'd be more inclined to modify the seat. However, I agree it's a bit 6 of 1 ...

I've stripped the bottom halves & no glue, easier to strip & refit....IMO.

I've often thought that the easiest way to sort this would be to get some flat aluminium bar, drill two holes in it to fit the headrest legs/tubes, and a couple of smaller holes to mount a plastic runner, get it powdercoated and just use the headrest tubes to hold it in place. the plastic runner's only function is to keep the belt ready for use, so there's no pressure put on it. In fact, if someone were to run off a dozen or so I bet they'd sell fairly well on here..... :thumbup:

Only the later, post 2001 I think, have movable headrests....I've not taken these off though so probably not as easy as you think?

As far as I know the inner bar is there to stop the seat colapsing in the event of a crash as the seatbelt fixing point is lower than the gtv.{/QUOTE]

I don't think that's got anything to do with it.

Are we definitely sure the seat frames are different?
I can understand the covers etc. But why would they make two different frames for the what is essentially the same seat. More sense for the mounting hole to be on all frames.
Anybody checked?

Yes, they're different.

Clive

 

[Davetech74]

Are you sure about the inner upper seat not being different to combat "submarining" - being pushed down by a collapsing seat in the event of a crash? This is my main concern as I often collect my kids from school in this car.

https://www.google.ie/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=car crash submarining

As far as I know the inner bar is there to stop the seat colapsing in the event of a crash as the seatbelt fixing point is lower than the gtv.{/QUOTE]

I don't think that's got anything to do with it.

 

[alfapash]

Are we definitely sure the seat frames are different?
I can understand the covers etc. But why would they make two different frames for the what is essentially the same seat. More sense for the mounting hole to be on all frames.
Anybody checked?

I thought that could be likely, but Clive has said they are different.
Clive have you taken any photos of the frames, it would be good to see how they differ, or could you describe the difference please.

 

[pkr]

The part numbers are different between the Spider & GTV. I believe someone did look for the mounting plate on a GTV seat and it wasn't there. However, over a 10 year production run anything could have happened. Maybe a batch of Spider frames were used in some GTVs. The op could be lucky ...

As to why they're different, perhaps the production costs of the metal and welding it in was significant over the anticipated production run. At least to the beancounters!

 

[CGTVs]

I thought that could be likely, but Clive has said they are different.
Clive have you taken any photos of the frames, it would be good to see how they differ, or could you describe the difference please.

Not got any pictures, never actually stripped the rears off myself but this topic has been covered many times before & people who have done the job have confirmed the difference.

Clive

 

[alexGS]

Possibly yes - I can see where you're coming from. But remember that parts of the seat ( foam bits ) are glued to the frame etc.

I have a welder so I'd be more inclined to modify the seat. However, I agree it's a bit 6 of 1 ...

I'm with Clive on this one - having actually done it
I had cloth Spider seats and leather GTV seats. It was easy to take the seat apart and swap all the upholstery onto the Spider seat. The glued parts are not difficult to remove. I remember a bit of surface rust on the seat pan I was using, as the black paint wasn't as good as the other, but nothing major.

Might still need the welder for one thing, though - the 'wings' (made out of bent rod), that support the base side bolsters, tend to have broken off the seat pan, but can easily be welded back on stronger than before.

The foam that fits over them is probably ripped and shredded. I used some expanding foam spray of the soft white type, with cloth tape where it needed reinforcement. But another time, I think I would just cut new foam to fit and tape it onto the support wing. Ideal solution is if you have a spare passenger seat and can use the less-worn foam from that.

Anyway, the seats are easy to take apart. Yes it's a lot of work to strip four seats for the sake of having seatbelt runners, but worth it to clean everything as you go and fix the foam/bolsters etc. in the process. Also a good time to reduce the thickness of the foam under the central cushions, which makes the seat more shapely and supportive.

-Alex