I did a thing.

[—Bryan—]

Leather or vinyl?

[— kung fu jesus —]

Actually both. I have a line on a pair of black & red MSM cloth seats.

The theory or anecdotal story is that the cloth seats on the 04-05 have softer foam than allows taller drivers to fit better.

I know leather doesn’t give the same way or as much as cloth. So, I will be measuring the headroom in my car between my leather MSM seats and the cloth.

The other issue comes with the flattening seat bolsters. I know Paco Motorsports and IL Motorsports have bolster bolsterers(? Lol!), but I think the foam can be rejuvenated or restored another way...with steam.

I am going to steam clean the upholstery on the new seats and will test this theory on those, then the leather seat. Some disassembly will be required, but I think it will work.

I will be picking up the seats Sunday, so I will try to capture the progress and techniques.

[—Bryan—]

I've got a set of cloth NB2's that I traded for. Interested to hear your results.

[HarryB]

The leather vs cloth rumors are true; tried both. Indeed leather does not stretch as much, and the difference can be attributed to that. Regarding bolsters, I have always wanted to laser cut some Paco-style ones and place them inside the seat so they are not an eyesore. Combined with foamectomy I think they would make up for a very supportive yet comfy seat.

[— kung fu jesus —]

Im surprised no one has printed a plastic support to fit under the upholstery, it would be more forgiving and flexible than a metal one. Actually, I am also surprised no one has made a custom seat pan for lowering the driver. There is a bit of wiggle room and I think eliminating the metal bottom with fabric straps would allow more give and additional sink for the occupant.

[—tsingson—]

Man. I had thought about going back to a stock seat but I still find the Lotus seats to be comfortable to me. I might even have a second pair coming. Definitely want to see how the black and red cloths look with your interior.

[—Bryan—]

Main problem: lower you sit, the higher the seat belt comes up on your hips. That's a safety issue.

[— kung fu jesus —]

This is true, though the receiver is held up by the plastic surrounding it. That plastic sheathing can be trimmed back to help the belt lay lower across your hips.

[—Bryan—]

This is true, though the receiver is held up by the plastic surrounding it. That plastic sheathing can be trimmed back to help the belt lay lower across your hips.

That's a possibility.

[JamieH]

Unless the NBs have different receivers than '94-'97 cars, which last I checked they don't, there's no give to be had. They use the same receiver on a sliding mechanism. The receiver itself is attached directly to a short bit of steel that bolts to a slider bolted to the side of the seat.

Have you swapped to the earlier NA6 receivers, Steven? Just don't recall you posting about that.

[— kung fu jesus —]

I use NB receivers. I don’t have an issue where the belt sits.

[—Bryan—]

I use NB receivers. I don’t have an issue where the belt sits.

I found with my NB1 seats (serious foamectomy) that the receiver sticks up almost enough that the belt attaches above my hip height ("above" if you're looking from the side). That means that the belt cannot fully tighten down onto my hips.

[— kung fu jesus —]

Teaser pics.

It’s going pretty well! The foam is re-expanding nicely!

(Leather is shiny from moisturizer)

Before:




After:

[—Bryan—]

Curious to see how much of a difference that'll make!

[— kung fu jesus —]

Height-wise, I don’t know. I’m restoring these to sell and it is a test for my new cloth ones.

I’m doing most of work with a $40 steamer from Amazon and hog ring pliers.

Refreshed drivers seat on right, untouched passenger seat on left:







I can tell you that after restoration, the seat foam was not manufactured symmetrical side to side. The inner seat bolster is a bit slimmer and steeply flatter towards the transmission tunnel.

What I estimate happens is the outer bolsters compress and ‘stick’ in a compressed form over time. This allows the upholstery to sort of slip over the inside of the bolster and the seams misalign.

Opening the foam with steam returns the foam to new, allows you to realign the seams over the foam as it came from the factory. The renewed volume raised the bolster at least an inch an narrowed the seat width.