Black & Tan 332iT

[Bry5on]

Looks great!

I've always wondered what that thing that looks like a fan mount on the CS is. It's like they planned to offer ventilation, but, as far as I can tell, they never did.

Thanks!

I'm 99% sure you're right. Seems like sort of a funny idea but sure why not!

Now to remove them for powder coat and drop the steering column another half inch

[Obioban]

Looks great!

I've always wondered what that thing that looks like a fan mount on the CS is. It's like they planned to offer ventilation, but, as far as I can tell, they never did.

Need to scan and 3D print some trim for the switch panel

[Bry5on]

Okay, we have a resounding success. The brackets bolted in as planned and fit perfectly. There's about 1mm clearance to the seat motor, a few millimeters clearance to the closest factory mounting nut, seatbelt position is perfect, no contact with anything that shouldn't have contact and the seat is absolutely as low as it can go with the factory sliders. And it's the perfect height for me (6'2-3" depending on time of day). This seat is a full 1.5" lower than the Brey Krause adapters, and almost 3/4" lower than my prior version. On to some pictures to share the process..

First, we laser cut a fixture template, printed some fixturing tools, printed a drill template for the lower bar to locate the mounting holes, then fit everything up for welding:

^ side note: The milkwaukee portaband saw is absolutely an amazing tool to have. Highly recommend if you need to chop metal. Love this thing.

Okay, then we take some final measure thrice measurements before we commit to sticking everything together with my cheap flux core harbor freight MIG. No need for a bigger welder since the material is 3mm thick and these welds won't be visible:


And last, we bolt into the car for a fit check. A side note that the Recaro fasteners are 12-pt internal M12x1.25 bolts. So be sure you have those tools if you're doing this at home. Millimeter perfect fit:


Voila!

[Bry5on]

slightly off topic, is there a build thread on that jag? Looks like another cool project

I am pretty sure this is the thread for it - https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...roject-184994/

Yep that's the one! Sadly I wasn't as good about detailing that as I am about the wagon. Lesson learned and one of the reasons I'm posting so much here is because I wish I'd done the same for the jag.

[Ramage]

slightly off topic, is there a build thread on that jag? Looks like another cool project

I am pretty sure this is the thread for it - https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...roject-184994/

[enjoy_m3]

slightly off topic, is there a build thread on that jag? Looks like another cool project

[Bry5on]

Quick photo drop while I'm short on time. All the parts arrived for the seat base weldment, including the weld fixture:

[Obioban]

You might like the previous version, which is about 3/4” lower than the Brey Krause brackets, no welding and much easier to install: https://cart.sendcutsend.com/fsud8iqarj9k

He’s working on an e39 for the CS’s.

already got him ~1” lower than the BK’s— have been discussing replacing the Recaro frames to get them lower still.

Surge is 6’6. 🤪

might request your part files when you’re done so I can pull the Recaro seat mount point dims…

[Bry5on]

I have the same issue (just lack of skills) so very interested in where you end up!

You might like the previous version, which is about 3/4” lower than the Brey Krause brackets, no welding and much easier to install: https://cart.sendcutsend.com/fsud8iqarj9k

[Surge709]

Once again because I am OCD and tall, it's been bothering me that I knew technically I could find a way to drop the Recaro sportster seats by another half inch if I designed a replacement for the lower support frame even though I'm still dead set on using the factory electric seat rails with position and mirror memory. Well it so happens that kaiv had some of these lying around, so here we go. This part will be a weldment that will replace the three parts I currently have mounting my seats. This is about 4-5x the cost and a bunch of extra work to gain that extra half inch, but oh well.

Factory part for measurements:


And some shots of CAD. Will keep you all posted on how it goes:

I have the same issue (just lack of skills) so very interested in where you end up!

[Bry5on]

Once again because I am OCD and tall, it's been bothering me that I knew technically I could find a way to drop the Recaro sportster seats by another half inch if I designed a replacement for the lower support frame even though I'm still dead set on using the factory electric seat rails with position and mirror memory. Well it so happens that kaiv had some of these lying around, so here we go. This part will be a weldment that will replace the three parts I currently have mounting my seats. This is about 4-5x the cost and a bunch of extra work to gain that extra half inch, but oh well.

Factory part for measurements:


And some shots of CAD. Will keep you all posted on how it goes:

[Bry5on]

Okay, seeing natural brown from the trunk and not having a spot to velcro the leather to was bothering me. So I added back a half pound:

[Bry5on]

Quick and easy 4lb weight savings by removing the ski pass:

[heinzboehmer]

This looks way better:




Ribs in line with loads and has space for fasteners in the corners of the topmost + frontmost surfaces.

The above parts should weigh ~300g if made of 7075. Add in weight of welds + rivnuts and you're getting awfully close to the 428g weight of the machined part. So yeah, really only worth exploring this route if you want to drive cost down. Otherwise, I'd stick with the proven machined design.

[heinzboehmer]

The cost of drill bits and rivet nuts (or rivets), plus the cost of Heinz's design Just shoot a few strategically placed holes through it - although I think one of those holes would have to be right under the plastic windshield cowl which is not super great.

+1. Just add some holes and run some bolts through.

All of the red locations look like they'd be fair game in the sense that the bolts wouldn't run into anything in the chassis:




Blue spots would land under the cowl, like Bryson said. Maybe some (big) rivets in these spots would be low profile enough to not interfere with the cowl? You definitely want fasteners up front though, that's the part of the mount that most wants to peel away from the chassis.

If you're going through the effort of redesigning for bolting, I would be inclined to attempt a sheet metal version. You don't need material along the top if you're not bonding, so a "sideways J"-shaped piece might work (maybe add a couple weld-on ribs for extra strength). The resulting parts is probably gonna be similar weight, but should be much cheaper to produce.

Give me a sec, let me draft up something real quick, just to explain the idea better.

Edit: Super rough, but something like this:


Maybe rotate the ribs inwards a bit to have them be more in line with the loads.

Here's the machined version overlaid, for reference: