Finally pulled out the Lotus seats from their box after a damn near two year hiatus and mounted them on the Flipside brackets I picked up from forum member one two. SUPER good guy and a great seller. He threw in factory rails and 94+ seatbelt receivers as well.
The entire combo weighed quite a few pounds less than stock. No surprise there. Since I had an extra set of rails I instantly thought, "This shouldn't take more than hour or so tops." Of course that never really works out and the eight of these little bastards contributed to the frustration.
EVERY. SINGLE. BOLT. looked just like the one above after we (my bro and I) removed them. Thankfully, no heads snapped off or rounded off to the point where a drill would have been the only solution.
After a LOT of swearing and knuckle busting, we finally removed the stock seats.
side-by-side of the driver seats.
Some more fiddling and tightening the adjustable bits, we finally got the seats in. Don't they look glorious? I think so. They really do complete the interior and are the perfect complement. All that's left is to replace that old iPod deck for something a little more "Sharka-ish".
And now for a breakdown *insert sick beat*
Brackets:
Build quality: A+
-They're well built and light to boot. Form = function.
Looks: A
-They're black, stealthy and look fantastic. Very minimalist. Me likey.
Functionality: A-
-They mount directly to the stock sliders without modification. The only issue is I've lost a good 3-4" on seat travel on the back end (closest to the parcel shelf). Not a HUGE deal since I fit with plenty of room. Anyone 6'1 and taller might be a tad cramped in the drivers seat. My brother is 6'4 and he barely fit. So a word of warning to the giraffes out there.
Overall: A
-Light, stylish and work as advertised. Having the sliders included was also a HUGE plus.
Seats:
Build quality: A
-They're fiberglass seats with minimal padding. On the plus side, they're STUPID light on their own.
Looks: A+
-Elise seats look great. Period. A great compromise between stock and a real race seat. Key word being compromise.
Functionality: A
-They sit a couple inches lower than stock. Good. They're lighter than stock. Better. Finally, they hold me better than stock seats. Best. They're also incredibly easy to get out of compared to a race seat.
Overall: A
So there you have it. If you want good seats, but don't want a full on bucket, then these might be the seat for you. Even more so if you can spring for the probax. Ever so slightly more comfortable, but they do lack the penisss err lumbar pump.
*Disclaimer - In no way are these the best seat out there. If you want uncompromising support, I'd suggest you buy a real bucket like a Recaro SPG or something. The Elise seats are good for DD, canyon carving and the casual autoexer.
Greasemonkey2000 (12-30-2015),Phatmiata (03-27-2015)
Second update:
"Operation: Spring Clean" was green-lighted once I knew we'd have a couple 70* days and they just so happened to be my two days off this week. Sooooo… I decided to give Kimi a much needed bath.
After I was done…
During bath time I decided that I'd freshen up her tired looking wiper arms. It's a project I've been wanting to do for a while, but I've been lazy. Today, however, was not that day. I sprung to action and pulled off the arms.
Old and faded. If you look closely, you'll see what I mean. The driver's side wasn't much better.
Driver's side after a little scuffing action. Paint came off surprisingly easy.
Same went for the wingy thing. It's all nakey.
A little self-etching primer and a steady hand does wonders. I set it in the sun to dry and bake.
A few coats of semi-gloss paint later and viola!
I can't tell you how happy I am that they turned out as nice as they did. It really classes up the cowl area. The next piece is the cowl piece itself. Just as nasty and faded. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to do it with the wiper arms. But rest assured it will be done before the annual Cruisin' Sherwood Classic Car show in June. 500 cars and over 20,000 people come every year. In addition to the local populous. I entered Kimi last year and nearly won a prize in the import category. I'm hoping for a better result this year. It's little details like the wiper arms that go a long way.
A few more items are still on the list for completion. Namely getting a new soft top. I might break down and buy one in the next couple weeks. But who knows. For now, I'm going to enjoy the new seats and clean wiper arms.
And on that bombshell… it's time to end. Thank you! Goodnoight!
I've repainted my wiper arms so many times! I need to find a good uv protective paint.
that interior looks great!! nice work on the wipers, I have had to do that on pretty much every miata I have owned.
You finally got the seats in! Awesome! I was almost ready to try to buy them back from you
You rated the seats and the seat parts highly, but how do you like the seating position? I'm tall (6'3") and fit in my foamectomy seats just fine, but wanted a little more headroom so I could wear a helmet with the hardtop on. I found that any position that gave me more headroom also moved my hips forward and my knees up around the steering wheel. That was fine for short drives or autocrossing, but for some of the longer drives I do, it sucked. I could easily do a 12 hour stint in the modified stock seats, but the Exige seats had me out of the car every two hours and by the end of the day, my legs were killing me. It was bad enough I eventually sold them and put the stockers back in the car.
Jason McDaniel
The seating position is great. It's not uncomfortable by any means. Could have a touch more rearward rake though. Still, its a lot better than I expected.
Quick update.
After driving the car to various meets and things, I've come to the conclusion that the lumbar pump for the driver's seat needs fixing asap. My back was killing me after about 10 minutes because of the faulty lumbar pump. The passenger seat works great and feels perfect with the bladder inflated. The alternative would be to go to the local fabric store, buy padding and do a custom "probax" seat. I'd remove the driver's side seat bladder all together and replace it with nice foam, which would be a more permanent solution. It shouldn't be too hard since the seat inserts are designed to be removed relatively easily.
If anyone has suggestions (aside from buying a probax seat) I'm all ears.
sending some car parts your way today, tracking number sent to your buzzhead email address.
I had the same seat setup as you not long ago (but no lumbar pump). You could easily add some washers to the flipside brackets to get you some of that rearward rake you are talking about. At least I was able to with mine. Keep up the good work man!
As for adding comfort to your seats... its gonna require a bit of tinkering especially when adding foam/cushion to it. I remember stumbling upon a a thread on the lotus talk (http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f92/...el-foam-25711/) forum that talked about modifying your seats to make them more comfortable.
Though I was successful in making my seats more comfortable, I wasn't 100% satisfied with the results. But definitely worth it if you are planning on keeping the seats. Good luck!
Hit me up if you got any questions regarding the seats, I might be able to help.
Last edited by Willywongka; 04-01-2015 at 04:21 PM.
Thanks, Randy. I saw the email. I'll try and get your stuff shipped out this week.
Will do. I'm happy with the seats overall. I inherited my dad's lower back issue where I need extra lumbar support. especially on long drives.
I read that the probax seats aren't all that much different outside of the extra padding. I'm sure it won't take much fiddling to get a piece of foam to fit under the cushion.
It won't take long to put it in... but to get it to where you are comfortable will take some time.
Received a small package from Mr. Revlimiter yesterday. Apparently, my brother took it upon himself to open it before I got home from work. After I got home I looked through the packing peanuts to find exactly what I hoped to find…
A diecast FC RX7!!!
Adam was also nice enough to throw in a free set of his new flush mount window switches.
Fun Dact o' the Day: These are the second set to ever grace the inside of a roadster. That's right. Number two. Numero Dos. El Segundo. They are also famous. They are the ones that graced his latest blog post. I'm a proud papa.
I've always thought it was neat how he throws in extra goodies. Class act that guy.
While both items are very well made, I wasn't too keen on removing the FC from the package so I decided to inspect the switches instead.
Again, they seem VERY well made. They're pretty hefty despite their small size.
The connections are as robust as I've ever seen. Like, it would take all of Thor's hammer lifting power to rip these things out.
As good as they look on my kitchen table I knew they's look much better in the roadster. I could tell Kimi was excited as soon as I stepped foot in the garage. She loves getting presents and loves Adam's the most. Not an ounce of fuss out of her. She knows his parts will fit with no issue.
Goodbye JDM switches. While you looked cool, you just didn't tantalize my fingers the way I hoped you would. I think Kimi was pleased as well. She let them go without a second thought.
So much better!! Kimi and I couldn't be happier
They look right at home in Kimi's interior. They match the RS hazard switches damn near perfectly. A nice symmetry along the center of the car.
I gave the windows a quick up and down to test out the switches. No problems there, but I knew there wouldn't be.
Now for a quick review.
Build Quality: A++
-These are, by a long way, the most robust set of switches I've ever held. Hell, they're one of the most robust, non-engine related, pieces I've put on the car.
Looks: A+
-Yeah. They look perfect. Perfect complement to the car and dare I say a complement to life in general. They are THAT well executed.
Performace: A
-Pretty simple. They move the windows up. They move the windows down. They are a tad stiff to move up and down, but that comes with using industrial grade switches. In no way is it a bad thing.
Overall: A+
-What more can I say? It's a Revlimiter product. It's damn near flawless like everything else he makes. If you want to update those old stock units you won't be disappointed.
Final Thoughts:
I always wanted a set of his window switches, but I couldn't bring myself to buy them. Until now. They earlier versions, while sexy, they just never did it for me. Once I found out Adam has revised them so they sit flush all that negativity went straight out the window. I knew I had to have them. They looked perfect. The new flush mount made everything about these great switches even better. I couldn't be happier. Really. One more small detail that has a large impact on the interior styling. I'm not a flashy guy and I think these fit my style and Kimi's perfectly.
Speaking of flashy, time to do something about that radio……
Demon I Am (04-21-2015)