heinzboehmer's 2002 Topaz 6MT Coupe

[Obioban]

... iphone really exposed for the wrong area of that picture, but the statement stands :P

[Obioban]

I'm pretty sure I can package a fire extinguisher and the slider handle, there's a ton it space under there. I'll mess around with the CAD later to make sure.

I don't know how standard the bottle size is, but mine is basically the exact same length as the space between the slides.

[dhoke1]

Really nice work

[heinzboehmer]

I'm pretty sure I can package a fire extinguisher and the slider handle, there's a ton it space under there. I'll mess around with the CAD later to make sure.

And I'm immune to your peer pressure, Bryson. It really is just a preference thing, I like having the manual sliders. E82 has manual seats too and I've had no desire to change that.

One bonus that comes from being stubborn is that if I can package everything for the manual sliders, it should work for the electric ones as well.

[Obioban]

The real cost of power is speed of back seat access.

[George Hill]

Instead of the channel locks, use a ratcheting 8mm box end wrench on the allen socket. ***I assume its an 8mm, if its 7mm, then switch to 7mm wrench, etc

It’s literally the location where weight matters the least too. I’m betting less than half a pound difference.

Agreed, would be nice to have the actual data too.

[Bry5on]

It’s literally the location where weight matters the least too. I’m betting less than half a pound difference.

</peer pressure>

[George Hill]

Any body got a set of manual sliders to weight? I can weight some electric ones for comparison.

[Bry5on]

We gonna walk down to .. electric avenue .. and then we’ll make you sliders.

I’m just here waiting for Heinz to come around

[Obioban]

Trade off with the front handle is you lose the ability to mount a fire extinguisher under the front of the seat-- if you care.

[bigjae46]

Yep! String alignments came to mind as soon as I set that up. The way the tool is currently designed isn't ideal, though. The tabs that snap into the wheel are super fragile, but I didn't bother attempting to make that better since I don't really expect to use this tool all that much.

I do worry about stiffness as well with the geometry you describe, especially if you're gonna be resting a level or similar on the flat parts. Could always add a bore for a carbon rod or a bolt to keep things from flexing.

But yeah, shouldn't be too hard to adapt this concept for alignments.

I use a string alignment kit so there's not much weight to support. One alternative is to allow space to stick a bubble
level on and make the base able to move a little bit.

[heinzboehmer]

Bolt in. Double up on the lower fastener of the seat rail would be my vote. A simple part with two break operations should do just fine.

Oh yeah! Great idea. Have to make a spacer for the seat rail nuts to bottom out on anyway, so might as well make the extra part do some work.

[Bry5on]

Yep! String alignments came to mind as soon as I set that up. The way the tool is currently designed isn't ideal, though. The tabs that snap into the wheel are super fragile, but I didn't bother attempting to make that better since I don't really expect to use this tool all that much.

I do worry about stiffness as well with the geometry you describe, especially if you're gonna be resting a level or similar on the flat parts. Could always add a bore for a carbon rod or a bolt to keep things from flexing.

But yeah, shouldn't be too hard to adapt this concept for alignments.



For sure, but that's coming later. I tried to make the CAD as parametric as possible so that all I have to do is go in and change the values of some variables after I test fit the seat. To do this, I constructed an exclusion volume that represents the spaces the brackets absolutely cannot be in.

So what you're seeing above is just a boolean operation on the rough bracket shape (derived from the variables) and the exclusion volume.



Once I figure out where the mounting tabs for the sub strap bar are gonna go, I'll go and clean up all the extra material.



This has been in the back of my mind and I've largely been ignoring it for now

I can't imagine there won't be any left/right movement with a bracket of this geometry, but I haven't figured out how to incorporate the gusset cleverly. I say cleverly cause it would be nice to avoid post-bend welding, so that the fab house can take care of powder coating too.

Might go with a bolt in gusset on the bracket itself or tie something into the sub strap mount, we'll see.

Bolt in. Double up on the lower fastener of the seat rail would be my vote. A simple part with two break operations should do just fine.

[heinzboehmer]

DUDE! Possible you could design these to stick out about 5" and a flat stem instead of round. The top of the flat stem is centered on the part and angled downward at 4.25, 4, 3.75, 3.5, 3.25, and 3 degrees.

What takes the longest when I do my string alignments is getting the strings centered on the wheels top to bottom and left to right. I was about to make something not too different but I was trying to figure out how to account for the negative camber. I also lack the CAD skills.

I found a 3D printing service. If you can do this, let me know how much to send for the STL files.

Yep! String alignments came to mind as soon as I set that up. The way the tool is currently designed isn't ideal, though. The tabs that snap into the wheel are super fragile, but I didn't bother attempting to make that better since I don't really expect to use this tool all that much.

I do worry about stiffness as well with the geometry you describe, especially if you're gonna be resting a level or similar on the flat parts. Could always add a bore for a carbon rod or a bolt to keep things from flexing.

But yeah, shouldn't be too hard to adapt this concept for alignments.

Save some weight, this section is doing nothing for you structurally. There are other places you can eliminate but this is the easy most effective one. While you're in there, you can also make sure you have some extra bend relief in there to prevent distortion during the brake form operation.

For sure, but that's coming later. I tried to make the CAD as parametric as possible so that all I have to do is go in and change the values of some variables after I test fit the seat. To do this, I constructed an exclusion volume that represents the spaces the brackets absolutely cannot be in.

So what you're seeing above is just a boolean operation on the rough bracket shape (derived from the variables) and the exclusion volume.



Once I figure out where the mounting tabs for the sub strap bar are gonna go, I'll go and clean up all the extra material.

If you find that you have left-to-right motion, you'll want to add a gusset to the outer seat support. I did it differently in mine, but you get the idea:

This has been in the back of my mind and I've largely been ignoring it for now

I can't imagine there won't be any left/right movement with a bracket of this geometry, but I haven't figured out how to incorporate the gusset cleverly. I say cleverly cause it would be nice to avoid post-bend welding, so that the fab house can take care of powder coating too.

Might go with a bolt in gusset on the bracket itself or tie something into the sub strap mount, we'll see.

[Bry5on]

Save some weight, this section is doing nothing for you structurally. There are other places you can eliminate but this is the easy most effective one. While you're in there, you can also make sure you have some extra bend relief in there to prevent distortion during the brake form operation.



If you find that you have left-to-right motion, you'll want to add a gusset to the outer seat support. I did it differently in mine, but you get the idea: