Alpine seats

Author
Discussion

chrisnoble

Original Poster:

1 posts

39 months

Wednesday 31st August 2022
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Anyone changed the height of their seats yet? Is it an easy home job or do you need dealer?

johnnyreggae

3,001 posts

167 months

Wednesday 31st August 2022
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Scroll down there's quite a few seat threads - most folk have asked dealer but there is at least one who even modified his holes - in general generic seats and brackets can be done at home

CliveJ7

65 posts

70 months

Wednesday 31st August 2022
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I think dealers say that the nuts should be renewed after changing the seat height, presumably as a precaution.

All sounds a bit OTT, but what with warranty and 'elf n' safety compliance being the name of the game nowadays, I guess it's understandable...

xondat

235 posts

57 months

Wednesday 31st August 2022
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Fiddly but easy job.

Undo the seat brackets first, take the seat/brackets out the car together, then move the brackets. Reverse and done.

Replacement nuts are super cheap but not in stock iirc.

tony993

358 posts

222 months

Thursday 1st September 2022
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It took me a lot longer than I expected it to, mainly because the bolts were so stiff, even after I'd got the first turn done. It's an easy job if you have patience. I didn't bother with new bolts. If they start to come undone, I'm sure I'll get plenty of warning before they let go completely.

You need a torx security bit & a small ratchet, as there's not a lot of room to work in.

bcr5784

7,182 posts

152 months

Thursday 1st September 2022
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tony993 said:
It took me a lot longer than I expected it to, mainly because the bolts were so stiff, even after I'd got the first turn done. It's an easy job if you have patience. I didn't bother with new bolts. If they start to come undone, I'm sure I'll get plenty of warning before they let go completely.

You need a torx security bit & a small ratchet, as there's not a lot of room to work in.
Another poster said that he had gone underneath the car. Are you saying you can do it from above if you have a compact ratchet and appropriate bits?

tony993

358 posts

222 months

Thursday 1st September 2022
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Yes. I thought I might take the runners out, with the brackets & seat attached, but when I came to look at the job, I couldn't see an easy way to do this, so I undid the 4 bolts that hold the seat into the brackets.

If I'd had more time then I'd have removed the brackets from the runners & drilled two new holes, to give more rake on the seats (there's an old post about this), but I didn't have time, so the brackets stayed attached to the runners, & I refitted the seat in the lower holes - a good improvement, but it's still some way off being ideal.

Even in their lowest position, the seats aren't low enough. There's a structural rib, that's above the height of the floor & running across where the lowest point of the back of the seats meets the floor (or is prevented from meeting the floor because of the rib). I think my next move will be to remove the driver's seat (& probably the brackets) & see if I can fit a Recaro Pole Position in there. I think this will sit lower. I have a couple of PPs + sets of brackets hanging around from another car I sold, having re-fitted the original seats.

The trouble is, I'm so busy with work, it's likely to be a while before I find time to tinker with the car again. Maybe if I spent less time on the internet...

gaucimiura

35 posts

161 months

Tuesday 6th September 2022
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Had the dealer lower my Sabelt seats almost immediately after getting the car. They changed the bolts as they’re one-time use only. So much better than the standard height. Annoyingly, the Legende seats are even lower than the fixed buckets at their lowest position, but not as good for holding you in place.