Z06Vette.com - Corvette Z06 Forum

case2307 · 07-11-2003, 12:26 PM

I am going to install a Harness Bar pretty soon. I want to know if it is best to swap stock seat out with an adj. racing seat?

Thanks

No Doubt · 07-11-2003, 01:30 PM

I have a race seat but I only put it in when I'm going to the track. It takes me about 15 minutes to swap seats. For a while I left it in all the time but it gets to be more of a hassle than it's worth on the street. It's comfortable enough to drive 5 hours to a track but if you get in and out a lot, say around town, it can be a pain.

Just my opinion.

Waterfreak · 07-11-2003, 02:24 PM

Of course I have to post these Caravaggio's.

Mine haven't arrived yet so I can't report on comfort and usability.

Maineiac · 07-12-2003, 07:40 PM

My street seats......I use a Sparco Evo for track days.

**G-Z06** · 10-09-2003, 02:17 PM

sweet seats!

anyone know if Corbeau fits in the corvettes??

They are alot cheaper and look just as good.

http://www.corbeau.com/brochure/index.shtml

T-MAN · 10-09-2003, 02:23 PM

Damn those seats look cool................

KCMAGS · 10-09-2003, 02:29 PM

NO. You can't smoke in them.

How's it going Casey

TX02Z06 · 10-09-2003, 03:49 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by GarettO
sweet seats!

anyone know if Corbeau fits in the corvettes??

They are alot cheaper and look just as good.

http://www.corbeau.com/brochure/index.shtml

Like No Doubt I swap seats. Racing Seats are a MPIA for the street. Racing Seats are the only way to go on the track. When you are well planted and don't have to hold on to the steering wheel your steering inputs are smooth.

I use a Corbeau Forza with custom bracket that I desiged with the help of a friend in our structures department (I work for a Large Aircraft Firm). The seat uses the Sparco sliders and thier adjustable brackets. The Sparco parts are FIA approved. So I can adjust the height of the seat, tilt, and forward and aft position.

We designed it for a 250 lbs person with a 40 g impact. The car guys design to 25 g loads. So it can be consider over designed, I don't.

I have pictures and can put them up. You are more then welcome to copy the design if it is for your own personal use. But you have to be good at welding and steel fabrication. I will not be liable as this is a racing part.

Corbeau does sells brackets, but Corbeau's brackets are not FIA approved and they will not adjust.

Thier Forza is FIA approved.

tlaselva · 10-09-2003, 03:59 PM

Just installed my Carvaggio Racing Seats last week.
I've done an AutoX with them last weekend, and about 500 miles of daily driving with them.

Seats can be tight for daily driving for most people, but I like the way you sit IN them, not ON them like the stock ones.

I've also done some street driving, and I get the impression these seats may be too much for daily use, especially for hours at a time.

Since I AutoX and drag, I really like these seats, and would buy them again if I had to. If you don't race much, the other Carvaggio seats may be a better choice.

I was shopping for seats for my Z for months now.
IMO, the Carvaggio seats are the best overall seat.
Quality workmanship & material, and made for the C5.
These are the seats the Z06 should come with from GM!

And a sincere thanks to John Carvaggio in making this purchase one of the best buying experiences!

case2307 · 10-09-2003, 04:12 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by KCMAGS
NO. You can't smoke in them. How's it going Casey

If I can't smoke in them....I'm not doing it.

Going good...thanks for asking.

Thanks for the replys. I'm going to look into the Carvaggios.

KMeloney · 10-10-2003, 08:38 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by case2307
I am going to install a Harness Bar pretty soon. I want to know if it is best to swap stock seat out with an adj. racing seat?

I've got a BK bar in my Z (along with Sparco belts). The set-up works "fine" with the stock seats. Would it work even better with true racing seats with harness holes in the seat back? Absolutely. But, you can certainly get away with just using the bar, belts, and stock seats in the meantime.

Also, understand that you are VERY limited in terms of what race seats will fit in the Z. The width between the tranny tunnel and door sill is quite narrow. Because of this, very few "adjustable" race seats will fit (usually the adjustment part, itself, is what would keep the seat from fitting).

Of course there ARE the Carravagio seats you've seen here. But even they aren't too adjustable (are they?). And, well, they're kind of expensive. Do I want a set? You bet!

Good luck!

-Kirk

PS -- I met up with a guy from NY at Carlisle last year who had Sparcos mounted to the factory seat-adjustment electronics. It was a bit of a custom job, though I don't remember it being too involved. Nonetheless, the shoulder bolster rubbed ever so slightly on his door panel, he said. So, even that seat didn't quite fit in the car...

rpallas · 10-10-2003, 09:40 AM

Stacey.

Did you ever get the height adjustment worked out on your seats? As I recall, you had a problem with the Caravaggio seats sitting up too tall.

Where did you get the suede pieces in your car? I like that.

Also. How is the seat width compared to the stock seats? Can someone with the Caravaggio's measure the distance between the bolsters (seating width) for me?

Thanks!

Bob

**G-Z06** · 10-10-2003, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by TX02Z06
Like No Doubt I swap seats. Racing Seats are a MPIA for the street. Racing Seats are the only way to go on the track. When you are well planted and don't have to hold on to the steering wheel your steering inputs are smooth.

I use a Corbeau Forza with custom bracket that I desiged with the help of a friend in our structures department (I work for a Large Aircraft Firm). The seat uses the Sparco sliders and thier adjustable brackets. The Sparco parts are FIA approved. So I can adjust the height of the seat, tilt, and forward and aft position.

We designed it for a 250 lbs person with a 40 g impact. The car guys design to 25 g loads. So it can be consider over designed, I don't.

I have pictures and can put them up. You are more then welcome to copy the design if it is for your own personal use. But you have to be good at welding and steel fabrication. I will not be liable as this is a racing part.

Corbeau does sells brackets, but Corbeau's brackets are not FIA approved and they will not adjust.

Thier Forza is FIA approved.

Thanks for the info!

Gary@Ronal · 10-10-2003, 10:05 AM

You do know, that Ken King, at
http://www.VetteEssentials.com
Can take your existing seats, and make them into SPORT SEATS, so that you can run the harness belts through the seat.
A simple procedure, and he has some TOP Quality, Italian LEATHER interiors...that you can design to fit your individual needs...
Just swap out the foam cushion, and new seat cover, and use your existing seat frame, rails, etc....
FYI..--another IDEA...

See the ones I have and use...at
http://www.ronalusa.com/cars/chevy_c5_z06_vette.html

rpallas · 10-10-2003, 11:05 AM

Ken King's seat conversions are very expensive and you'd still run into the problem of not having a pass through on the base of the seat to run a proper anti sub belt set up. I was thinking about this option, but it seems like a waste if I'd only get black seats anyway. I'm not interested in all the colors he has to offer unfortunately.

The best option seems to be the Caravaggio set up if you're going to leave the seats in all the time and have them do dual duty as track and street. Otherwise, the best solution seems to get an inexpensive race seat and do a swap when you do track days.

For those of you that do the race seat swap for track days, do you compromise anything with the stock seats when you put them back in? I mean, do you have to modify anything in the rail area that would change the functionality of the stock seats after you have it set up to swap race seats? Is it really an easy 15 minute swap?

Bob