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

[mrgizmo04]

I ordered some E30 switchs, going to try the power sliders to see if fitment is any better..what a bummer.

My driver side is on power slider and I had to also crowbar it to get the rear bolts into the floor...

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[Cubieman]

My driver side is on power slider and I had to also crowbar it to get the rear bolts into the floor...

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

How far were your rear seat rails holes off? On mine if one side is lined up the other is off the entire width of the hole in the floor.

My theory is that the inboard bracket (at least mine) sit up at an angle, once installed to seat this pushes the rails out at an angle causing the fitment issue, interesting the front is fine and the back isn't.

I'm about to take those fucking brackets, vise them up and bend them so they don't kick out so much.

Sure wish I had metal fab equipment/skills right about now.

[repoman89]

My technique for reinstalling the seats is to loosen the outside two bracket to seat bolts enough so that the rails can line up easily. Then torque them to the floor and retighten the seat bolts after.

I’ve had my brackets for a few years now so it’s not a recent thing, quality has been shit for a while. Every BK part I’ve bought (three now) has either required a grinder or a machinist. Wish there was any competition at all.

[heinzboehmer]

How far were your rear seat rails holes off? On mine if one side is lined up the other is off the entire width of the hole in the floor.

My theory is that the inboard bracket (at least mine) sit up at an angle, once installed to seat this pushes the rails out at an angle causing the fitment issue, interesting the front is fine and the back isn't.

I'm about to take those fucking brackets, vise them up and bend them so they don't kick out so much.

Sure wish I had metal fab equipment/skills right about now.

Which side of the bracket did you place the black spacer washers (the ones that go on the stud with the 10mm nut) on? My seat rails were pretty far off from the bolt holes, then I swapped the washers over to the other side and now they're only slightly far off. Still had to pry a bit to get the bolts in, but I was able to just use my fingers for that.

Also, like repoman89, I had to install the rails with everything loose and then tighten all bolts/nuts without removing the rails from the car.

[Cubieman]

Which side of the bracket did you place the black spacer washers (the ones that go on the stud with the 10mm nut) on? My seat rails were pretty far off from the bolt holes, then I swapped the washers over to the other side and now they're only slightly far off. Still had to pry a bit to get the bolts in, but I was able to just use my fingers for that.

Also, like repoman89, I had to install the rails with everything loose and then tighten all bolts/nuts without removing the rails from the car.

I have the spacers on outside which makes the fitment closer, but still terrible. Not only is my inboard bracket sticking up at an ~15° but it doesn't sit parallel to the rail causing the rails to taper toward the front. Not happy at all with this stuff especially for the price.
I will say the GT3 install went fine, but this is something else entirely.

[timmo]

I have the spacers on outside which makes the fitment closer, but still terrible. Not only is my inboard bracket sticking up at an ~15° but it doesn't sit parallel to the rail causing the rails to taper toward the front. Not happy at all with this stuff especially for the price.
I will say the GT3 install went fine, but this is something else entirely.

That's insane how far yours is off. Adding another data point, mine are just like Heinz - use fingers to pry and then start the bolt. If I have to take the seat out I'll try to "relax" the joints by sliding the seat forward/back with things loose as mentioned and see if that gets it to line up fully

[Cubieman]

That's insane how far yours is off. Adding another data point, mine are just like Heinz - use fingers to pry and then start the bolt. If I have to take the seat out I'll try to "relax" the joints by sliding the seat forward/back with things loose as mentioned and see if that gets it to line up fully

I ended up sloting the holes as far as I could without interfering with the hardware and the rails still taper but only about half as much now, so I suppose that'll have to do.

[mrgizmo04]

How far were your rear seat rails holes off? On mine if one side is lined up the other is off the entire width of the hole in the floor.

It's a few mm, but it's enough to require a crowbar to hold it in a position that brings the rail away from tranny tunnel to fit the bolt in. Just holding crowbar while starting the bolt is not enough, there is enough tension in the entire assembly that I can feel the threads scrubbing if I screw it in without holding the rail with a crowbar the entire time. Definitely not in a state where I am comfortable taking the seat out several times a month...I guess bolts are replaceable, at least I haven't converted rears to studs yet (and prob won't with this fitment).

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[Cubieman]

It's a few mm, but it's enough to require a crowbar to hold it in a position that brings the rail away from tranny tunnel to fit the bolt in. Just holding crowbar while starting the bolt is not enough, there is enough tension in the entire assembly that I can feel the threads scrubbing if I screw it in without holding the rail with a crowbar the entire time. Definitely not in a state where I am comfortable taking the seat out several times a month...I guess bolts are replaceable, at least I haven't converted rears to studs yet (and prob won't with this fitment).

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Yeah, I hear that, I worry about the bolts going in sideways and damaging the female threads which would be a shitty state of affairs.

Finally got some seat heat action that works pretty well, a factory E39 M5 mat provides heat to the bottom and lower back. The great thing is the connector on the M5 seat heat will fit a stock E46 harness with one little tab shaved off.

Added a third pin to what was a 2 pin connector and stuffed the seat heats into the cushion, no upholstery work required for this which is awesome.

[Casa de Mesa]

Got mine installed today. I'll detail it out on my build thread at a later date, but wanted to share a couple of things:

• I wish I had gone the manual slider route. I'm regretting the power slider decision...
• The quality control on MTC switches leaves a lot to be desired. They are terrible.
  • One had the arrow labels on the buttons pointing the wrong way (towards each other). It worked though.
  • The second switch was shorting to ground. After spending 4 hours blowing fuses, rechecking wires, tracing things back with multimeter, I finally figured out that the brand new switch was bad.
• I had to clearance the holes on one of the seat mounts like others have. They were off by about 2-3 mm.
• I bought the fabric marker pens to dye the thread but haven't done it yet.

The end result is awesome. With the seat in the most tilted back position (lowest holes on the back, highest hole on the front), they are perfect and almost identical to how I drove the car with the stock seats. I sit pretty upright.

I haven't driven with the seats yet (34 degrees and raining today) but can't to give these a shakedown.

MTC Switch Home (reversed labels/arrows):



MTC Switch Forum I opened it up after I figured out what was going on and you can see where it was shorting.

[Cubieman]

Got mine installed today. I'll detail it out on my build thread at a later date, but wanted to share a couple of things:

• I wish I had gone the manual slider route. I'm regretting the power slider decision...
• The quality control on MTC switches leaves a lot to be desired. They are terrible.
  • One had the arrow labels on the buttons pointing the wrong way (towards each other). It worked though.
  • The second switch was shorting to ground. After spending 4 hours blowing fuses, rechecking wires, tracing things back with multimeter, I finally figured out that the brand new switch was bad.
• I had to clearance the holes on one of the seat mounts like others have. They were off by about 2-3 mm.
• I bought the fabric marker pens to dye the thread but haven't done it yet.

The end result is awesome. With the seat in the most tilted back position (lowest holes on the back, highest hole on the front), they are perfect and almost identical to how I drove the car with the stock seats. I sit pretty upright.

I haven't driven with the seats yet (34 degrees and raining today) but can't to give these a shakedown.

MTC Switch Home (reversed labels/arrows):



MTC Switch Forum I opened it up after I figured out what was going on and you can see where it was shorting.

Very nice, did you have any issues as far as the brackets kicking the rails out at an angle causing the bolts/studs for the seat rails to not line up?

Brey Krause is sending me another set of brackets to try out as mine are so far off. I sent them a few measurements they requested and they were indeed quite off from the response I received.

On another somewhat unrelated note I like to reclined position of the seat but found that it sits me too low, in fact even in with the seat bolted to the top two holes I still sit down a bit too much for my liking, that is unfortunate as there really isn't a lot to do about that.

I may try shimming the rails up a bit, I'm 5'10", but I guess that's not enough, I love the seating postion of the Nogaros in the 996 GT3 but too low in the M3 for me.

[Obioban]

Lol at the switch!

iirc you could reverse the arrows on the switch when you have it opened up.

… I eventually ended up using manual sliders on both sides.

[Casa de Mesa]

Hey Cubieman glad to hear BK is listening. That says a lot about them.

The rear floor bolts were cantered out a bit, but not horrible. I guess I'm used to generic side mount / seat mounts so I was expecting it to be worse, actually. I was ready for battle and didn't even get to break out a pocket knife.

I can't help but wonder if some of what BK is dealing with are the tolerances of another manufacturer (i.e., the Cobra seats). Your case seems a bit extreme though.

Also, I reread my last post. No clue what combo of words I chose ended up putting links to Nam3's home page, ha

Obioban - Yeah, I thought about opening up the "good switch" to reverse the arrows, but I think I'm gonna put it in the passenger seat so I can mess with anyone who sits there 😜 ...at least until I get manual sliders.

[Casa de Mesa]

Cubie - one other thing re: the seat height, have you driven the car? I like to be as low as possible and would go even lower if I could. I'm 6' even and don't see the height being an issue.

Drive it some, Heinz has similar observations as you and I believe he's come to appreciate the low height.

I don't need to tell you, but the M3 is a vastly different thing than your GT3. Even tho the seat is the same, it's definitely not an apples to apples comparison because the cars are so different. The M3 is a sedan masquerading as a sports car!

[heinzboehmer]

Drive it some, Heinz has similar observations as you and I believe he's come to appreciate the low height.

Yep! Definitely liking the seating position a lot more now.

Cubieman if it's still too low, you can always stuff a towel or some foam in between the lower seat cushion and the seat.