Fixed back racing seats installed in an MS6

[Lewis7789]

Hey guys. I've got an MS6 with driver and passenger fixed back racing seats and wanted to share some pics, info and answer any questions anyone may have since there is very little info out there on the subject for MS6's.

- disclaimer - I'm in no way a professional race car driver or engineer. I'm just sharing the info I found first hand and my experiences with the MS6 platform.

Drivers side:
Sparco Evo2 + ($850 new)
Sparco side mounts ($75 new)
Corbeau chassis mount ($110 new)
Sabelt 6-point harness (clip-in) ($$360 new/150 used)
(4) G-Force harness eye bolts ($5 new - each)

Passenger side:
Corbeau Forza FIA ($330 new/$250 used)
Planted side mounts ($80 new)
Corbeau chassis mount ($110 new)
G-Force 6-point (clip-in) ($150 new/ free used)
(4) G-Force harness eye bolts ($5 new - each)

Autpower 4-point harness bar (bolt in) ($650 new/$150 used)





I personally hate the stock MS6 seats as there is very little bolstering and the leather is slippery. I previously had a pair of Corbeau FX1 seats mounted and used the OE 3 point seatbelt. They worked MUCH better than the OE seats but I felt the shoulder bolstering wasn't as tight as I prefer. So I sold the Corbeaus to purchase the Sparco. It's a much nicer seat and really holds you in well (I'm 6-1 and 190lbs). But I suggest trying out as many seats as you can before buying to make sure you find something that fits you. I would politely ask pretty much anyone at an auto-x or track day if I can try their seat and no one mind at all. haha.

Once I upgraded to the Sparco Evo2 it made focusing on driving much easier. I found the Autopower harness bar through a friend then upgraded to 6-point harnesses. Please bear in mind, 4-point harnesses are illegal for most track events like NASA and SCCA unless they are specifically made for your chassis (I believe Schroth offers an anti-submarining 4-point for the BMW spec class). And I would not advise running a 4-point, 5-point or 6-point harness without a harness bar. If you trust those cheap eBay harness bars then go for it, I personally don't. But you can use the OE 3-point seatbelt with a fixed back racing seat in NASA and SCCA track days/auto-x. 4-point harnesses are legal for SCCA auto-x.

Harnesses:
There are two types of harnesses, the clip-in or bolt-in. I'm using the clip-in style in my car. You can buy eye bolts from G-Force for $5 each. The thread matches the threads for the OE seatbelt mounts. Simply remove the OE harness location bolts and thread the new eyebolt in. Then the harness clips into the eyebolt. Or you can bolt the harness right into the OE location. However, I would not recommend it since the angle of the harness will be off and could rub the webbing material against metal. The lap belt eyebolts thread into the OE seatbelt locations against the B-pillar and the inside mounting location mounts on the chassis mount from Corbeau. The crotch harnesses are run underneath and bolted to the chassis mount on the drivers side. Passenger side has the eyebolts run through the car chassis with backing plates due to lack of space. Please make sure the harnesses are wrapped correctly through the buckles and adjusted correctly.
Info on how to properly install harnesses can be found here from Schroth

Mounting brackets:
There are two ways to mount a racing seat. Side mounts or bottom mounts. Some seats offer one or both. Bottom mounted seats can be mounted to sliders to adjust the seating position. Side mounted seats can't and are bolted right to the chassis mount. The Corbeau Forza FIA can use bottom mounts or side mounts. The Sparco only offers side mounts. The side mount brackets bolt to the seat then to the chassis mount. The chassis mount bolts to the factory four seat bolt locations. The sliders mount to the bottom of the seat then bolt to the chassis mount. I've used Corbeau chassis mounts for all 4 seats and the fitment has been spot on and none of the holes had any alignment issues.

Install:
Prepare to measure twice and drill once. The MS6 has a lot of interior space so pretty much all the racing seats will fit and clear the B-pillar and trans tunnel, unless the Miata's where it can be more of a hassle to find a seat that fits.

Removing the stock seats is pretty straight forward. Remember to disconnect the plastic airbag plugs under the seat before trying to remove them from the car. Might want to disconnect the battery to be on the safe side. And I do have the airbag light on which means all my airbags are disabled. However, you can insert a resistor into the clip to trick the system into thinking the seats are still plugged in and the airbag system will be armed and ready (I keep forgetting to do this mod!)

Then you'll measure the width of the seat and mark where you want to drill the holes to mount the side rails to the chassis mount. Then mount the side rails to the seat, then the siderails to the chassis mount. Make sure you use Grade 8 or better hardware for everything!

Here you can see the sidemount is bolted to the chassis mount, and the clip-in harness on the eyebolt.


Here's another shot of the drivers side harness clip, side mount and back of the chassis mount.


Drivers side sidemount bolted to seat and chassis and harness clip.


Drivers side bottom 6-point mounting location and eye-bolts on the chassis mount.


My MS6 is no longer my DD but still sees street use and the 6-point harness is a bit of a hassle since it takes longer to get buckled up and you can't reach your wallet in your back pocket anymore. But it's very comfortable to me and I prefer them over the stock OE seats.

Buddy Club also offers very low position, sliding mounting bracket for the MS3/MS6 here from Evasive for a complete bolt in affair with no drilling required. Yay!


I use it for SCCA auto-x and HPDE track days.

[shurik]

Wow. Those look amazing. Your car looks amazing. You sir, are amazing. Strong work

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[Lewis7789]

Thank you very much. However, my car looks like a turd. But is quick at the track.

[shurik]

The pictures of the car from far look sexy. What kinda wheels you running?

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[brandon3212]

Racing seats definitely make it MUCH easier to focus on driving at the track, very worthwile upgrade. Although they can be a bit of a PITA to get in and out of.

I run a Sparco Pro 2000 in my Speed 3

[Lewis7789]

Originally Posted by shurik The pictures of the car from far look sexy. What kinda wheels you running? Sent from my SM-G530T using Tapatalk

Haha, thanks. The camera makes her look better than she really is in person. I'm runnign 17x9 +45 RPF1's with 255/45-17 Hankook RS3 tires. I really enjoy this setup.

Originally Posted by brandon3212 Racing seats definitely make it MUCH easier to focus on driving at the track, very worthwile upgrade. Although they can be a bit of a PITA to get in and out of. I run a Sparco Pro 2000 in my Speed 3

Very nice. Sparco makes some great seats and are well worth the money. My friend has a Sparco Corsa in his Spec Miata and likes it too.

[shurik]

RPF1 are my favorite next to the NT03+M

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[Lewis7789]

Originally Posted by brandon3212 Racing seats definitely make it MUCH easier to focus on driving at the track, very worthwile upgrade. Although they can be a bit of a PITA to get in and out of. I run a Sparco Pro 2000 in my Speed 3

Hey man, my friend with an MS3 and I were just chatting about harnesses. Are you running your OE 3-point through the cutout on the right side of the seat to the OE buckle?

Also, what group do you track with? Because most clubs like NASA and SCCA require equal safety equipment for the passenger seat as well. Unless you just don't allow passengers.

[brandon3212]

Originally Posted by Lewis7789 Hey man, my friend with an MS3 and I were just chatting about harnesses. Are you running your OE 3-point through the cutout on the right side of the seat to the OE buckle? Also, what group do you track with? Because most clubs like NASA and SCCA require equal safety equipment for the passenger seat as well. Unless you just don't allow passengers.

I just do Thursday night open lapping at my local road course. They are pretty lax on safety, as long as your wearing a helmet your all good. I run in Intermediate class usually.

Your correct, I just run the stock seat belt through the cutout. I have not felt the need to change to a multi point harness, the seat pretty much eliminates horizontal body movement and I'm willing to bet almost none of us have the braking capacity to "require" a full harness. From a track safty point of view they make sense.

[grantmm]

I thought you weren't supposed to run a fixed back seat without rollover protection.

[Lewis7789]

Originally Posted by brandon3212 I just do Thursday night open lapping at my local road course. They are pretty lax on safety, as long as your wearing a helmet your all good. I run in Intermediate class usually. Your correct, I just run the stock seat belt through the cutout. I have not felt the need to change to a multi point harness, the seat pretty much eliminates horizontal body movement and I'm willing to bet almost none of us have the braking capacity to "require" a full harness. From a track safty point of view they make sense.

Right on, I was just curious. My friend is mounting some Sparco Sprints he got from our friend for a great price in his MS3 and we were curious about the OE 3-point routing. He plans on doing some track days in 2016. (his car is down for a BT build)

Originally Posted by grantmm I thought you weren't supposed to run a fixed back seat without rollover protection.

I don't see why that would be an issue? I mean, OE seats are essentially fixed back seats as well. Or do you mean running harnesses without roll over protection? I've seen that debate online several times before.

I've got some in car video from the track day at Mid-Ohio but everything outside the windshield was washed out for some reason. I was borrowing a friends GoPro mounted to the rollbar. But you can see how little side to side movement I get in the Sparco seat and a little more movement with my friend/passenger in the Corbeau seat. I'll upload the video if anyone is interested. I'm just bummed the camera washed out the track. I messed with the settings in the GoPro video editor but with no luck.

[Tomas]

If you ever try a resistor to eliminate the airbag lights for the seats and it works, please post here what you used. I've used 2.4 and 3 Ohm and they didn't work.

[Lewis7789]

Will do. I'm not sure if they would be different from the MS6 to the MS3 though but I've read a couple posts that the 2.4, 2.8 resistors worked. I wonder why you haven't had any luck?

Also, I just found out that Buddy Club offers very low, sliding mounting brackets for the MS3 and MS6 for a pretty good price ($160) from Evasive.
Evasive Motorsports | PH: 626.336.3400 Mon-Fri, 9am-6pm PST: Buddy Club Racing Spec Seat Rail <font color=red>FREE SHIPPING</font>

[Tomas]

Also, I have a Corbeau TRS seat and it has TOO much shoulder bolstering for daily driving. You can't really rest your right arm on the center console anymore.

[Lewis7789]

Interesting, Tomas. The Corbeau FX1 and the Corbeau Forza (FIA) seats I have had were too loose the shoulders for me. I'm 6-1 and 190lbs and about average build.

But also why I posted in the original thread to sit in as many seats as possible before buying something. It's hard to tell which seat will fit you the best without actually sitting in them. The stock MS3 seats are bolstered pretty well, imo. I had a set welded up for my Protege5 back in the day. But anything is better than the stock MS6 seats, especially the leather ones. Just terrible...

[Tomas]

Can you rest your right arm on the center console on that EVO2 seat?

[Lewis7789]

Yeah, but it's a little awkward since the shoulder bolster is right there. Honestly, I usually drive with both hands on the wheel all the time anyway. Or I'll rest my left arm and steer with the right.

But again, this is in the MS6. Your seat and MS3 has a different setup.

[Tomas]

I have the TRS seat on the MS6.

[Lewis7789]

Oh, sorry for my confusion. Do you also track the white MS3 in your avatar? That's what confused me.

Edit: to clarify, I don't drive a Mini with a Laz-e-boy strapped to the roof. That's Mr. Bean.

[Tomas]

Yes. I track both.
On the MS3 I have a CRS. Very comfortable seat.

[Lewis7789]

You track an MS3 and an MS6? I can haz some monies?

Who makes the CRS? I'm not seeing a Corbeau under that model number.

[Mazdazilla6]

So I've got a friend willing to sell me a Sparco R100 for a good price. It's not a fixed back and the only issue is there's no hole in the bottom cushion to run the anti sub belts. I'm thinking about anchoring them to the bracket like in the OP and running them between the cushions. I've tried searching about it online but haven't had any success. Does anyone think this is a bad idea and why?

I have found results of people running the anti sub belts off the same location as the lap belts but that requires 2 separate anti sub belts and I haven't really found any budget priced harnesses that use 2 separate anti sub belts, they all use V style anti sub belts.

[Reedy]

Originally Posted by brandon3212 Racing seats definitely make it MUCH easier to focus on driving at the track, very worthwile upgrade. Although they can be a bit of a PITA to get in and out of. I run a Sparco Pro 2000 in my Speed 3

This is pretty much exactly the setup I want to get into my car.

1. What floor mount bracket did you get for that? Did you need to make it up or did you buy one of the aftermarket ones?

2. The 3 point seatbelt buckle - Does that attach directly to the seat/bracket or did you need to get creative with its location?

3. Do you know if the other airbags in the car will work when the airbag light comes on?

[ChaunceyM]

So I went and got seats for my car last week. OMP WRC-R for me; OMP TRS (cheapest seat they had) for the passenger. (Big props to Joe at Stable Energies for helping me find the best-fitting seat in a price I could afford.)
Waiting on my autopower roll bar to arrive, at which point I'll start installing. Should be a nice winter project.
These, and some solid instruction next spring, hopefully set me up nicely for a great 2017.

[Reedy]

What base and brackets did you go for?

I have ordered a Planted base and side brackets and picked up a Sparco Evo II seat last week. Just waiting on the Planted stuff to arrive and I will be set to install.

[ChaunceyM]

They were planted bases for both with side mounts for the WRC seat. The other seat is bottom mount. Never have done this before I know I'm missing something, so we'll see how things go once I start installing. Now that I have a seat that fits me perfectly, I can use the internet to buy any bits and pieces I'm missing.