R500/Tillet seat fitting

[ian balson]

What's the view on fitting the R500/Tillet seats?

 

I'm in the process of replacing my pre "S" type seats with the R500 type seats. Caterham say I should bolt them directly to the floor pan (single skin Ali). I read on the "Seven List" that some people had suffered floor failures. The rivets under the rear bulkhead holding the floor on had sheared or become loose.

 

The current seats are mounted on steel bars that run from the chassis rail under your thighs to chassis mounts on the rear bulkhead. However, the subframe width/position of the R500 seat does not match, so I can't use them.

 

How did those of you that have carried out this mod install them?

 

Many thanks

Ian.

[Peter Carmichael]

More recent cars (that don't have the rear chassis mount) have underfloor reinforcement in the form of channel section aluminium rivetted to the single skin floor panel.

 

Seeing as you don't have this, you are going to have to use some lateral thinking. How about spreading the load off the rear rivets up onto the chassis mount with a bracket and then replicating the aluminium channel reinforcement of the floor? Might be worth a go.

[Allan Haighton]

Caterham will supply the underseat reinforcing channels, if you want to usee them. However, I reckoned my chances of drilling the floor neatly (blind, with the R500 seat in place) were minimal, so I didn't use them.

I used the orignal mounting straps taken of my comfy leather seat, bridging between the rear rails at the back of the cockpit and those at the front of the seat. The width between the straps wasn't right fpr the R500 seat, so I made up some spacers to bridge the gap. Alternatively - get your local steel fabricators to make up a pair of mounting straps with additonal lugs welded on.

[TorAtle]

One of my seats came with a runner which I used. Just a matter of bolting the seat to the runner and using the existing holes in the floor.

 

For the other seat I used my old S-type runner. It's pretty much the same although a hole for the bolt which holds the runner/seat together has to be enlarged.

 

Tor Atle

[ian balson]

Thanks Chaps,

 

I had a chat with a friend in the Aircraft industry. He's making some new wider Titanium rails to replace the old steel ones.

 

This will allow me to mount the rails on the same chassis points, replacing the old steel numbers, and will allow me to bolt the seats through them from under the car.

 

Thanks again.

 

Ian.

[EFA]

I have a 2mm carbon fibre floor and thats been fine so far with no reinforcement.

 

The floor panels will work loose over time as the front of the tunnel is not linked by the hoop on modern chassis.

 

You can fit steel rivets to the floor - It helps a lot. Arch used to do this but the process was rather unforgiving on their rivet guns!.

 

Fat Arn

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