Hi,

here how it looks like, installed. It ended up more expensive than I expected, $1700 for seat plus $250 for 997 specific recaro mounting brackets.

plus some labor charge for PIWIS work to disable airbags, seatbelt chimes, etc. photos show recaro leather with a bit of greenish tint, kinda odd, on reality it is pretty normal black matte leather and stock seat has kinda gloss leather finish, but difference is very subtle.

seat recliner adjuster kinda pushes into interior mat on lower left side a bit, it can be easily removed but I figured that I do not need to move seat more to the rear than it is so it is OK.

overall I like it - it is a good compromise bucket like seat.

 

Nice seats, should help you a bit on track days and autox events.

 

may be i should have got regular non-foldable buckets.
not sure. but those are great for street and when backrest goes to proper more vertical position it holds great. it will be no more grinding skin off my left knee at least.

 

Those seats look great..mind telling us which vendor you got th seats and mounting hardware from?

 

i ordered it via my mechanic and he is recaro vendor so it came directly from recaro usa i think. cs prices are pretty typical, only thing to consider is that 997 specific bracket you`ll need to get seat mounted.

also thing to consider - if you are higher than 6ft then you may not have much space between roof and your helmet with those recaro sliders and wil need to bolt down seat without them, like a usual racing bucket. it is difficult to say depending of ones height, I am a bit under 6ft and do fit fine but would not mind this seat to be may be inch or 1.5" lower. i will look at that during summer if I will take it out, I think it should be possible to weld a lower brackets which go on top of sliders. will see.

on other perspective i have measured space between stock seat to roof and this recaro to roof and I got 1 inch more of space with recaros - 39 inches vs 38 inches (measured from the deepest base of the bucket). so go figure. but real race buckets do get mounted lower. i think issue is that recaro bracket got more aggressive base seat angle compared to stock.

all in all compared to price of GT2 foldable seats you get here much bang per buck IMHO. but GT2 seats have a hole in the base for 6pt harness - with these recaros you`ll need to feed subbelts from seat sides (yes, such belts do exist). so, there is always a tradeoff.

 

I think that Brey Krause makes some low seat brackets. I am not sure if they work for this set up, but may be worth a look.

 

also not sure but i beleive brey krause has no sliders.

 

I think they are designed to attach to the OEM sliders. I looked at them to use with my 996 Euro GT3 seats.

 

i honestly beleive it is the most comfortable seat on current market.
i was going back and forth with idea to put a gt3 bucket seat in as $ wise it would be good half cheaper but this reclining backrest is just perfect for daily use. I am 210lbs and I fit fine, it is not as slim as SPG buckets where you need to order XL option to be able to fit into it.

brackets is a big question. I do not think anything else than recaro will work - upper bracket part (one with white sticker on a photo) that gets attached to seat itself is literally an integrated seat part. so you need matching recaro sliders.

if you use stock sliders then you`ll need an adapter between sliders and existing recaro bracket and it will result in seat sitting even higher.

or you can skip sliders altogether and permanently bolt it down - but no way jose, i want those sliders.

what sucks to be in USA is - in Europe folks can order those CS recaros with universal side airbags, with integrated heat, with integrated ventilation (fan gets attached under seat base). In USA - _none_. no options other than upholstery choice. damn regulations.

I may do ventilation myself later on if I will give seat base to upholstery shop to make some vents in it, it will be fun DIY as it can be easily attached to what used to be my 'heat' button.

 

i'm learning as i go and trying to visualize what you mean, so pardon my ignorance but...that means there are no belts which run betw your legs from under the seat? i.e. my visual of a 6pt is: 2 over the shoulders, 2 coming up sides/over the lap, and 2 coming betw legs. and all 6 all meeting at your stomach to latch in.

also, was thinking of buying seats and doing this myself. do you have any step by step pix? i heard it's "relatively" easy - a few bolts, a wiring harness disconnect and watch out for scratching the interior. also, i may go with the GT2 seats in which case i wouldnt have to pay dealer for code reset, right? or will there be other faults besides airbag?

 

i got it done at a shop as seats itself were $150 for labor only. but i was doing some other stuff as well at same time.

you can definitely do it yourself if you want to do seats only. old seats come off after you undo 4 bolts - search here and on rennlist for DIY articles, there are plenty.

GT2 seats are probably better from install perspective as it will be a simple bolt-on but from what i understood GT2 seats backrests do fold but they do not adjust reclining position - so you will seat pretty upright in them, like in racing buckets. but i may be wrong.

for harnesses - yes, those in between your legs are 'sub-belts'. recaro CS works fine with 4 point belts but there is some unclear stuff of how PCA DE guidelines accept those 4pt harnesses so it is better to go with 6pt ones.

 

just bolted on this:
http://www.amazon.com/Lock-Performance-Add-Your-Seatbelt/dp/B0010E7OB8

works pretty awesome. you pull belt up and it stays very tight, no movement at all. I beleive i will not need to mess up with multypoint harness after all, this combination of lock and seat seems to be perfect.
downside of cg-lock is - it is pretty heavy and belt with it does not seem to want to retract easily, so I`ll need to watch it.