Racing Seat Safety experts - seat modification question:

[JakeL]

Hey Guys - I posted this over on CorvetteForum too, but I wanted to get as large a sample set as possible.

I have an OMP RS (www.ompusa.com) racing bucket mounted in my C5, with a Speedware motorsports bracket. It uses Recaro sliders and Sparco sidemounts. It works great, with one exception.

Due to the very tall leg side-bolsters, the upper/inner thigh bolster rubs on the center console to the left of the shifter. It is a tight enough fit that moving the seat forward and backwards at all is actually pretty difficult. As well, the cloth has rubbed through, and the fiberglass is starting to be exposed/rub a bit as well, and this is only in a few months of use/movement. (my car is codriven somewhat regularly with guys taller than me)

The seat cover is easily removable (lucky thing since my cat crapped on it once...argh!), and I was curious to see if it would be possible for me to remove some of the fiberglass of the seat without seriously compromising its structural integrity.

I believe that only a relatively small slice of material would need to be removed - maybe an index-finger sized slice at the right spot. But, I didn't know if removing material from the lip might cause undue stress-risers, weaknesses, or other problems. Plus, I don't know if the fiberglass shell is baked in some way, and I might end up with some nasty ragged fiberglass edges?

I ask because so far the seat is working well, but I want to replace some interior trim pieces at some point, and I don't want to replace that particular one if I'm just going to keep scraping it up with the seat. I may have to move to a different seat if there isn't a workable solution with this one.

Do any of you that race have experience with Caravaggio's seat? I always swap back and forth between my bucket seats and the race bucket for race days, so it'd only do duty as a racing seat. I've had a few Corbeau seats (Forza, A4) in other cars, and thought they where , and it looks like the nicer Recaros don't fit in the C5.

Any suggestions about the seat modification and other ideas are highly welcome.

Thanks for listening,

-Jake

[MySR71]

I don't know about your question with regards to triming your existing seats. Check out the following thread though, it has some info in other seats. I haven't had any troubles with the Caravaggio seats, though I have not had them for too long. If oyu have any questions about the Caravaggio's, let me know:

Any race seats fit the stock rails?

[Subdriver]

I highly doubt filing a 1/4 inch or so off of the lip of the thigh bolster would impact the integrity of the seat, but I really don't know, so this is just a guess.

Can you modify the bolt holes slightly and slide the front edge of the seat outwards (towards the door) an 1/8 inch or so?

FYI, I have a Cobra Suzuka seat mounted on special seat rails and it barely fits as well. Not much clearance at all between the center console and the thigh bolster.

[troyz]

I'll bet you roll you windows up now!!!

Troy

P.S. How's the cat???

[DJWorm]

You can modify the seat. You should be able to file sand or cut the excess off. The trick is to then camfer, smooth, and round the modification leaving NO sharp edges, dents, divots, dinks or depressions.

[JakeL]

Sounds good. That should make life with that seat easier...

-Jake