Kirkey Vintage Seat install

[Aussie Mike]

I'm back to working on my Cobra and I needed a feel good project to fire up my motivation.

I bought a pair of Kirkey Vintage Buckets a while back and thought fitting them might be a nice job to get out of the way. Makes it easier to sit in the car making broom broom noises too.

When I had the fiberglass race seats in the car I'd made some aluminum stand-offs to bolt them to the floor. Buggered if I could find them in the boxes of parts in the back of the shed so I machined up a new set.

The idea is that they sandwich the fiberglass floor to the chassis without crushing it.




They will also space the runners up a bit to keep them above the carpet

After trying the seats in place I worked out a position that suited me. I could have just used some L shaped brackets to bolt to the sides but I wanted something that looked a bit more bespoke. This meant fabricating individual mounts.

At the front I machined up some pillars that will be welded to the underside of the seat. These are machined to length and shape on the end to sit the seat at the right angle. They are threaded so they can be bolted to the rails.



For the rear mounts I had to get creative with some aluminum plate.



Here are the mounts welded in place on the underside of the seat.











The mounts are asymmetrical since the seats aren't direct in line with the runners. They are offset on an angle. From my test fitting I determined it was more comfortable to offset the seats on an angle so you legs point towards the pedals. The sides on the seats are pretty high so sitting straight with your legs off to the side to reach the pedals wasn't comfortable.

You can see how they are slightly angled in this pic



I have to say I'm very happy with the results. They are surprisingly comfortable and the seating position is great.



Cheers

[boxhead]

Looks good Mike.

Any luck with my bits?

[Aussie Mike]

Your kit is nearly done Dave. I've just got to check the clearance on where the rod end bolts up before I send it off. This just means bolting up one side of my front suspension.

Cheers

[Modena]

Good stuff. Might as well put the pressure on, did you get that 6061 in yet?
Will be over real soon to pickup the T56

[gsharapa]

I did mine with a similar aluminum spacer in the front to get the tilt I wanted but bolted mine down with out the runners to keep me lower in the car. Know one drives my car and no need for them to move as I have them back as far as they will go anyway. My floor is aluminum so didn't have to worry about that. You did a nice job on yours.

[Philm]

Looks fantastic Mike,

Those seats are perfect.

Phil

[Rebel1]

Mike, looks great mate, what seat tracks are those under the drivers seat?

[Gav]

Great choice in seats Mike, they really have that vintage racer look.

[Tenrocca]

I love those seats.

Gary your car is horn.

[Aussie Mike]

Originally Posted by boxhead

Looks good Mike.

Any luck with my bits?

Hi Dave, Just a quick heads up.

Here's your steering Rod end conversion kit. The bolts I had on the shelf are too short so I'll pick up the right ones tomorrow and post it off.



The kit has threaded collars with a 5/8" UNF Left hand Thread in one end and a 16x1.5 RH thread in the other. This lets it thread on to the VP commodore rack ends with a high quality chrome molly rod end on the other. The Left and right hand threads mean you just need to loosen the lock nuts and rotate the sleeve to adjust your toe without having to unbolt the rod end and flip it over etc.



The kit also has misalignment washers that allow the rod end to pivot further. The top washer is a top hat shape as a safety precaution. If the ball in the rod end some how fails it won't let the body of the rod end come adrift.

This is what it'll look like on the car



Cheers

[750hp]

Originally Posted by boxhead

Any luck with my bits?

Your bits are looking pretty sexy Dave!!!

[justcobra]

It is a pity that Kirkey does not make a headrest model to comply with our ADR 3-03 seat rule.

[sambo]

Highly unlikely that a US seat manufacturer is going to submit a seat for ADR testing, which is a little more involved than fitting a headrest and achieving the right seat height.

[justcobra]

Originally Posted by Rebel1

Mike, looks great mate, what seat tracks are those under the drivers seat?

Les.

Reminds of a Series 3 Jaguar or perhaps a universal set up.

[Aussie Mike]

Originally Posted by Rebel1

Mike, looks great mate, what seat tracks are those under the drivers seat?

They are some universal runners that came with the auto technica seats I bought ages back. They may sell them seperate to the seats.

Cheers

[Aussie Mike]

Originally Posted by justcobra

It is a pity that Kirkey does not make a headrest model to comply with our ADR 3-03 seat rule.

It's just aluminum so it'll be pretty easy to weld a couple of brackets on the back of the seat for a removable headrest. That's the plan anyway.

Cheers

[boxhead]

Cheers Mike.
Ringing now.

[Aussie Mike]

Originally Posted by Aussie Mike

They are some universal runners that came with the auto technica seats I bought ages back. They may sell them seperate to the seats.

Cheers

Autotecnica have them listed on their web page: Universal Seat Adjuster (Slider) Control

Cheers

[PeterAllen]

You will enjoy this - from 6:30 onwards in particular.

Beading Machine Basics - YouTube