For Sale SEAT LIFT MOD

[Southernboy]

I am repeating the offer of these seat lift mods I supplied some while ago..I will have 10 sets made up (10 cars)...they are designed and made to lift the front of the seat up slightly so as to improve the posture and comfort while driving. They decrease the tendency to slide forward on the leather seats under breaking, and also to prevent slippage and slouch whilst driving distances....the parts require absolutely no alterations to your OEM status of the car, and can be fitted by anyone with 20 minutes and a COUPLE OF spanners...no seat removal is required.
Please don't tell me you can do the same job for £5... I know all about those mods, and they are potentially lethal. The kit I supply are specifically designed to fit the Z3 cars. They are machined parts which comply to the OEM design of the seat rail and the floor of the Z3. Also, they are made from EN88 steel which is the correct material for the application. Once fitted, the security of the occupant is not compromised in any way and the safety aspect in the event of a collision is no different from the OEM status of a fitted seat.
The height by which they will raise the front mounting position is calculated to provide improved comfort without compromising the seat movement back and forth or the extent to which the backrest section can be adjusted.
I will be making up 10 sets (there are two per seat - one on each rail) The cost including postage to the UK will be £27.00. Anyone wanting a set, please PM me.

 

[5harp3y]

Hi there, how much do they lift in mm?

Also is that £27 all in for both seats?

 

[Southernboy]

The cost is for 1 set. ie. 1 seat.
The total lift is between 14 and 16mm. I say between because it'll depend on the state of the fitted floor carpet. Some positions seem to be well compressed under the rail, some less so. The floor has a small recess in it into which the "nipple" you can see on the one spacer in the pic fits. The reverse side of the spacer has a machined recess to accept the nipple under the rail. When this mod is fitted, and bolted down using the "sex bolt" shown in the pic, the spacer is "locked" between the rail and the floor, so it cannot slide or move out of position. As I said above, these were designed and made specifically for the Z3.
I originally made a higher spacer, but the adjustment of the backrest of the seat lost some functionality because in the reclined position, it banged up against the bodywork behind the seat. This meant the whole seat had to be moved forward to allow the backrest to be reclined.
With the spacer provided, it allows all the seat functions, and still allows the reclined backrest to be fully moved, whilst still giving a small leeway between the backrest and the bodywork even with someone sat in the seat and leaning back into the seat.
So, it's the "perfect" height without compromising the seat adjustment, and yet it raises the front of the seat just sufficiently to make the seat base tilt from front to back and provide a really comfortable driving position.

There are many members here who have bought these from me, perhaps some of them will come along and give their opinions.

 

[Bozzy]

I bought 2 sets of these and they are easy to fit and i feel they do make an improvement in comfort,also once fitted they are so discreet that you don't see them.
Being over 6 foot tall they help the seat support my legs far better than without them as it raises the front of the seat and as Barry said this helps to stop you sliding forward under braking and just improves the over all feel.

Steve

 

[Southernboy]

Thanks Steve... nothing like a referral from someone who has them fitted..

 

[Althulas]

I have them fitted in mine, they are nicely made and look like a off the shelf bit of kit. They fit how Barry says without compromising safety and give some added support for your legs.

 

[t-tony]

They are a nice bit of engineering, but HOW can you say they don't compromise safety? On WHO's authority? Has anyone compared these with any others which have been involved in an accident? I guess that's a no then.

Tony.

 

[miller1098]

I have these fitted,and enjoy the feel of them.I made up some first out of some long nuts and other bits to see if I liked the lift .these feel much sturdier than what I made up,but that could just be me

 

[FRANKIE]

I have these fitted,and enjoy the feel of them.I made up some first out of some long nuts and other bits to see if I liked the lift .these feel much sturdier than what I made up,but that could just be me

These seemed to have held up very well in your car as far as I have seen from personal, first hand experience. They seemed to hold up to the rigors of being in an accident without actually BEING IN AN ACCIDENT. Frankie

 

[Southernboy]

They are a nice bit of engineering, but HOW can you say they don't compromise safety? On WHO's authority? Has anyone compared these with any others which have been involved in an accident? I guess that's a no then.

Tony.

They were designed in conjunction with an automotive design engineer who also is (or was) a member of this forum. The engineering concepts and the fitment method rely on engineering principles which ensure that the mating surfaces are also interlocking surfaces, which when held together by a bolt, cannot move without the entire mounting being ripped out the floor of the car.
So as you correctly questioned "on who's authority" - then on the authority of the principles of engineering given us by the greatest scientific and mathematical mind ... Isaac Newton.......

 

[Bananasport]

Fitted mine last week very easy an effective Thoroughly recommend them Thanks Barry

 

[Southernboy]

I have 2 sets left - ie enough to do two seats .

 

[Southernboy]

Last set up for grabs - anyone??
( Found a set in my "spares cabinet")..

 

[Hopalong64]

Hi.
Do you have any of the seat lifter kits available? Thanks

 

[Pingu]

One potential issue is the rear bolt fixing. I don't know if you have tackled this. The seat angle changes by about 0.8 degrees for every 5mm of front lift, so an 18mm spacer would tilt the seat by around 3 degrees. You shouldn't be able to get the thinnest feeler gauge in front of the rear bolt between the seat frame and the floor. I found that I needed rear wedges in the lifters that I made.

 

[Southernboy]

Yes, at 18mm you would begin to have a fair gap. Since my lifter is just 10mm - 12mm, this equates to 1.5mm which is negligible. The steel frame which usually rests on the carpet is extremely rigid, and the small "wedge" gap has no effect.
Considering that frame rests on a carpet, it has been designed to be very rigid. If not, it would bow between the front and rear mountings in it's OEM fitted position simply by compressing the carpet under seated load. I wouldn't trouble yourself with your aprox 3mm wedge gap with an 18mm lifter. However, fitting a thin wedge there isn't a negative, except that the wedge would need to be aprox 3mm at it's thickest end and literally zero at it's thin edge. If it isn't zero, you no longer get 18mm of lift at the front, since you're actually raising the rear. If your rear wedge isn't fixed by the bolt going into the floor - as in a washer type fitting, you risk it dislodging and leaving you with two potentially loose mountings at the back.
If you do use washer type fitting, which would be the best solution, you must take into account you are doubling the number of surfaces at which those mountings can move. ie. OEM has 2 surfaces. one between the frame and the carpet and the second between the bolt head and the frame. by fitting a washer wedge, you have washer to floor and washer to frame plus bolt to frame on the top side. Since it's a substantial bolt, this should still be safe, but not OEM safe. The reason for the rear bolts being so much larger than the fronts, is because under common impact conditions, the rear of the seat will be most commonly be attempting to lift away from the floor, whereas the front mountings will be compressed into the floor. If you look back into the development of my lifter, you will find I also started with a 20mm lifter. It wasn't practical since it restricted the adjustment of the seat backrest reclining movement relative to the position of the seat on the sliding frame. The backrest came into contact with the rear wall of the cabin before being able to fully slide backwards. This created an issue for taller people and legroom, so I reduced the amount of lift to allow all seat and backrest adjustment to be fully usable.
Ultimately it's about a compromise between seated comfort and usability of the seat. Ideally, the seats should have been designed to prevent ones butt sliding forward when driving. ie. a deeper "butt bucket" area on the seat section. The M and sports seats are more in tune with the idea of slide prevention in their designs, and really should have been standard on all cars.

 

[Pingu]

I found that even the 10mm lifter could do with a wedge as I could tell as I tightened the rear bolt that the frame was being strained. I used a 35mm square wedge that was 0 at one edge and 1mm at the other. Obviously, the wedge angle increases with the lifter size with 2.45mm being the thickness for a 25mm lifter.

Re the seat back issue. I found that as the thickness went up, the further the seat had to be moved forward. I found this had the advantage of allowing the seat back to reclined further.

At the end of the day, we both seem happy with our solutions. I was just pointing out my observations from when I did mine.