Alternative front seats

[garygu35]

I am in the Uk and restoring a 74 spider US import that needs front seats. Does anyone know if I can fit 1970's MGB front seats into the car? I have a pair of very tatty Abarth seats with runners and was thinking of using the runners on MGB seats. The rear bench seat and back seems fine.
Best regards,
Gary.

[burgandy81]

Recover the Abarth seats!!!!!

If that is not feasible you may want to be cautious about the MG seats. Most seats are too high for the Spider as the seat rails are raised off of the floor pan and the original seats are very narrow.

I have recently installed a set of Honda Del Sol seats which are very close to the stock seat height. I am 6'2" and I fit well.

Previous attempts include Miata/MX5 which were easy to install and at least 1 1/2" higher than stock.

Try here for a little more information;

http://www.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=6367

Any photos of the Abarth seats you can share?

Cheers,

Jordan

[spiderrey]

http://shop.bf-torino.com/bf-autositze/ ... re=default

[Redline]

http://www.rennsportclassics.eu

The BF-Torino seats are imported to the UK by Rennsport Classics (Mark Waring). He mostly deals in classics 911s, but offers the full range of BF-Torino seats. When I bought mine, the currency rates were such that his listed prices were much better than buying direct from BF-Torino in Italy. Mine took a while to arrive, as I had ordered a custom colour, but I can confirm that they are beautiful seats, in terms of construction and finish (and also DEKRA tested for safety compliance). He is also a good guy to deal with.

He still lists the Rennsport Race (fixed bucket) for £250, or €238. With the current exchange rate, the Euro price is still a screaming deal. Even for direct purchase in pounds, you are getting a very nice seat for £250.

I put the Vitesse in my Coupe:



The Race and Vitesse are nearly a direct bolt-in option. You use the Fiat runners and only need to drill two new holes in the tracks. If you take this route, I can give you more information. The Race works well (there is another user on here with them in his Spider; if you search for BF-Torino you will find a previous thread with photos and also information about the drilling required). The Vitesse sit about 1 cm higher than stock, so be careful with these if you are tall.

[spiderrey]

They are beautiful.

[Redline]

Here is the thread showing the installation of the Abarth-style seats in a Spider:

http://www.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic ... urburgring

(towards the end of page 1)

[spiderrey]

Thanx for the link. So No bracket was necessary? It seems a few holes were drilled and it bolted right in.

[Redline]

Correct. There are four threaded holes in the base of the BF-Torino seats which are the correct diameter and thread pitch for the Fiat tracks/bolts. I upgraded to new low-profile hex bolts of the correct strength rating. The left-right spacing is correct. However, the fore-aft spacing is slightly less, so you need to drill one new hole in each runner, which is easy and I have no concerns about the safety. Mounting them can be a bit of a fumble, especially for the reclining ones I have, as the cushion is a bit longer than the fixed-back bucket, but again it just requires a little bit of fiddling and cursing, but all goes in ok.

[spiderrey]

Thank you.

[garygu35]

Good afternoon, thanks for the advice. The Abarth seats have really dirty inserts see attached photo and one of the seatbelt guides has pulled through the vinyl cover. Any ideas for a supplier is I can recover for the centre section? Can I get them mail order and fit them myself?