Review: Cobra Nogaro seats (uniquely street friendly fixed back bucket seat)

[Obioban]

I wanted to install the passenger seat on manual slider (my driver is on power) to see if my experience would be a conducive to that idea...

I have 2 problems.
1) Due to tolerances of parts (and maybe mainly driven by the substrap bar) the slider rails don't sit "parallel" enough to make it an easy job. The front mount holes go onto the studs, which is easy, but the rears are holes/bolts situation (I don't see converting rears to studs will really solve the problem with alignment). To get the rear inboard hole (outboard has a similar problem but especially inboard) to line up to get the bolt in - I have to crowbar the slider away from the tranny tunnel while bolting it up, and even then I feel the bolt struggling. I tried loosening the 4 mount/substrap bar bolts to allow it to realign itself, but that didn't help. And I'd rather not dremel out/expand holes for something that needs to be pretty fixed/stationary. If I ever feel like it, I might take it all apart and grind down the length of the bk release mechanism bar, because I feel that might be causing the issue with allowing only 2 of the holes of the slider to line up easily, but not sure.
2) BK mounts/hardware is $#ittier than expected, I had to do some grinding, but even then, fitting the metal bracket with the yellow connector was a pain, and I had to ziptie a few things. So I'd rather not have to remove every time.

I agree I don't like the idea of constantly rubbing against the seat/interior when moving tires, but I'll figure out some sort of cover, plus I use tire totes.

I know others with bk or other seat/mount/slider combinations have issues getting bolt holes to line up. Did you find the magic tweaks required to make it seamless?

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Make all the nuts/bolts loose (other than seat to seat mount).

Sit in the seat and slide it back and forth, say, 10 times.

Tighten all the nuts/bolts (without removing seat from the car).

In my experience, that gets everything lined up nicely.

[mrgizmo04]

Or just spent 2 minutes removing a seat, stick the tires in super easily with no danger of damage to the interior, and then spend 2 min putting the seat back in. That’s what I’ve transitioned to.

I wanted to install the passenger seat on manual slider (my driver is on power) to see if my experience would be a conducive to that idea...

I have 2 problems.
1) Due to tolerances of parts (and maybe mainly driven by the substrap bar) the slider rails don't sit "parallel" enough to make it an easy job. The front mount holes go onto the studs, which is easy, but the rears are holes/bolts situation (I don't see converting rears to studs will really solve the problem with alignment). To get the rear inboard hole (outboard has a similar problem but especially inboard) to line up to get the bolt in - I have to crowbar the slider away from the tranny tunnel while bolting it up, and even then I feel the bolt struggling. I tried loosening the 4 mount/substrap bar bolts to allow it to realign itself, but that didn't help. And I'd rather not dremel out/expand holes for something that needs to be pretty fixed/stationary. If I ever feel like it, I might take it all apart and grind down the length of the bk release mechanism bar, because I feel that might be causing the issue with allowing only 2 of the holes of the slider to line up easily, but not sure.
2) BK mounts/hardware is $#ittier than expected, I had to do some grinding, but even then, fitting the metal bracket with the yellow connector was a pain, and I had to ziptie a few things. So I'd rather not have to remove every time.

I agree I don't like the idea of constantly rubbing against the seat/interior when moving tires, but I'll figure out some sort of cover, plus I use tire totes.

I know others with bk or other seat/mount/slider combinations have issues getting bolt holes to line up. Did you find the magic tweaks required to make it seamless?

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[Obioban]

Or just spent 2 minutes removing a seat, stick the tires in super easily with no danger of damage to the interior, and then spend 2 min putting the seat back in. That’s what I’ve transitioned to.

[mrgizmo04]

For those trying to fit track wheels into the back seats with Nogaros...

On manual slider with the seat in least reclined position (rear of seat on top hole, front of seat on bottom hole on BK mount).
Jam the seat all the way forward as far as it will go and you can get a wheel in, per first pic. My track wheels are arc8 18x9.5.

You will come to a problem fitting the 4th wheel in, because you can't make that sharp on an angle between the seat, the bpillar and the third wheel, per 2nd pic.

What I did in that case was I moved the third wheel perpendicular to the first two (per 3rd pic), that gave me room to move the 4th wheel straight in toward the 3rd spot, so you basically have to do a switcheroo between 3rd and 4th wheels.

The other trick I tested is that, if you do the center console armrest delete, you can maneuver wheels in between the seats, per 4th pic. With the armrest in place there is not enough room before you hit the headliner.

Of course if you don't have shock tower brace in trunk you could also insert tires that way, or even transport one in the trunk, or even in the front seat. Many options.

Happy tracking!


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[elbert]

Since this thread is turning into "all things about aftermarket seats"

Someone posted this Fakebook ad, selling a complete pair of manual E46 sedan seats for only $200:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/860722727354100/permalink/5790705831022407/?sale_post_id=5790705831022407

[heinzboehmer]

#weightsavings

Which can't be said about you velcro-ing extra towels to the seats 😜

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Lol I took the logo off of the seats so that should make up for the added towel weight, no?

[mrgizmo04]

Yeah, just code it out with ncs

#weightsavings

Which can't be said about you velcro-ing extra towels to the seats 😜

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[heinzboehmer]

Ok, so I just need one of those occupancy sensor emulators OR code it?

Yeah, just code it out with ncs

[Tbonem3]

Correct

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=e46+seat+occupancy+sensor+bypass&_sacat=0&LH_PrefLoc=2&_sop=15

[Cubieman]

Ok, so I just need one of those occupancy sensor emulators OR code it?

[repoman89]

and the occupancy sensor is failure prone

Another one of the reasons I coded mine off. I would rather have both airbags go off in an accident rather than trust an old, potentially improperly installed sensor in an aftermarket seat to protect my passenger.

[Obioban]

What makes you say that?
As I understand my only other option is an aftermarket plug that would make the passenger airbag deploy with or without a passenger in the event of an impact.

You can code it off, to accomplish that as well.

But, yes-- the purpose of the occupancy sensor is to lower insurance rates. It does that by not making passenger side airbags go off if no passenger is in the passenger seat in a crash.

... that doesn't seem like overly useful functionality to me after the initial purchase of the car, and the occupancy sensor is failure prone-- so I was happy to be free of it. A future airbag light I won't have. If I end up in a crash where the passenger airbags go off, insurance will still cover replacing them-- they don't know/care if you don't have the sensor.

[Cubieman]

You could use it. It’s just not very useful.

What makes you say that?
As I understand my only other option is an aftermarket plug that would make the passenger airbag deploy with or without a passenger in the event of an impact.

[Obioban]

You could use it. It’s just not very useful.

[Cubieman]

Is there any reason I couldn't use a factory occupancy sensor mat beyond it not fitting in the cushion?
I would like to use one if possible instead of bypassing it.