Tillet seats in S3

[Kpcseven]

I'm filling Tillet B6-40 seats into my '93 S3 HPC Vauxhall.  It's an incredibly tight fit.  I've searched the archives for relavent posts and found some tips but none mentions how very tight a fit (width wise) it is.  I'm mounting them on the Tillet adjustable runners Any tips?  I found a thread where it was mentioned that extra spacers were put in on the outside to tip the seats a bit. I can see how this would help the seatback with clearing the side and the door snap. suggestions greatly appreciated       

[Tazio]

Hmmm, mines an imperial chassis like yours and they pop in an out easily with space too spare. I do not have any tunnel carpet fitted though.

[Tony Whitley]

Are they Caterham Tillets or standard ones?  I’m just wondering if the Caterham ones are a slightly different shape as I’ve never had a problem with them, even with lowered floors and carpets.  I have the original seat adjuster but I don’t think that makes a difference to fitting them.  I have used the spacers to tip the seat back a bit but never had any reason to tip them sideways.  The rear door popper can be a problem depending on where the seat is adjusted but that’s just that it’s covered and you can’t close the door properly, the seat slides past it without any interference.

[elie boone]

For a Caterham the rolled edges should be trimmed, so maybe try to trim some more of the sides ?

[Kpcseven]

Thank you for the replies. They are not the Caterham version, but they are the cut down version and I have already removed the rubber trims and trimed the edges about as much as I can see making a difference. The carpet does take up space and it would be an easier fit without it. 

What are thoughts now on just mounting through the floor, vs making supports to put the load on the front cross member and the two tabs at the back. I’ve seen a few previous posts with Flintstone stories due to the stress on the rivets stretching and tearing the floor. Is that an expectation with direct floor mounting?

Thanks again

[elie boone]

You could fabricate a flat piece of alloy 5 mm thick ) that follows the contours of the floor and chassis tubes, so that the load is on both chassis tubes.

[CharlesElliott]

They are tight and the Caterham version is a bit narrower. Tillet will shave a bit more off a B6 if you ask them but too late for that now! I’d recommend 8mm of washers on the right hand side to tip the seat away from the side panel. I would also recommend 5mm thick strips of aluminium underneath the floor longitudinally to help spread the mounting load. 

[SLR No.77]

KPC, if your floor rivets are good (and preferably steel not ally) you shouldn't have any issues mounting directly to the floor.

[Kpcseven]

Thanks again for all of the replies.  Having spent an inordinate amount of time now reviewing old posts and thinking about the situation, my plan now is to see if I can trim a bit more off of the edges, leave the rubber trims off, and see about bridging the front cross member to the tabs on the rear cross member with aluminum, mounting the runners to them and filling the space between the floor and the aluminum straps with stainless washers.  And I'll try the extra washers on the outside to tip the seats.  Of course, yet another trip to the hardware store.  This is the most annoying job ever.  I sure hope all of this fussing is worth it.  Thaks again!  

[Jonathan Kay]

Did you find the recent thread about the failed floor which included some photos of bridging supports?

Jonathan

[Tony Whitley]

 This is the most annoying job ever.  I sure hope all of this fussing is worth it.

Oh, it is

[Kpcseven]

I suspect that I did if it was the one where some nice bends were put into steel to go down to the floor from the chassis rail and tabs.  Quite a bit of work to make the bends so I'm planning on just using a straight piece of aluminum and taking up the gap to the floor with washers where the seat track bolts go.  Still thinking it's quite a fuss when so many just go through the floor without any apparent problems.

Thanks  

[Golf Juliet Tango]

I fitted one of the Caterham Tillet seats and:-

-certainly worth it
-fitted easily

[CharlesElliott]

Put the strips underneath the floor, i.e. on the outside of the car where the bolts from the seat rails through.

[DJ.]

If it helps, the Tillet seats supplied with my car are a bloody tight fit in my metric S3. The sidescreen retaing strap studs made using the seat runners useless, so I ditched them.

[Gregs79]

Hi,

I have just come to this thread and I have been through the pain! It was a royal pain in the back side and I find it incredibly hard to move the seats back and forward. I used 8mm washers on the outside to tip the seats a bit, but may need to revisit re the metal strips under the floor! I also noticed that my B60's have a somewhat more relaxed feel too them, but have also put my knees nearer the ignition barrel, which has caused me to switch it off whist driving a couple of times!

Hope you have managed.

Gregs

[Kpcseven]

Job done.  Quite a pain.  The aluminum bars spannning the crossmembers weren't stiff enough to be of much help so I canned that idea.  Mounted to the floor with aluminum plates under the floor.  The passenger side (right since my car is a LHD) was significantly narrower than the left.  Had to trim down the seat further.  Made aluminum templates to locate the rear holes after the fronts were marked.  Didn't have to tilt with extra outside spacers but the snap for the rear door strap does interfere.  

[Kpcseven]

So I had a close look at the floor from below and noticed that there is some deformation of the aluminum mostly under the rear attachment points.  I used large washers under the seat runners and an aluminum plate below the floor.  My suggestion now would be to use something larger under the runners to spread the load on the floor more.  I put honeycomb aluminum in now on both sides and my aluminum plates under the floor for safety in case of an accident.  I do need to lose some weight but do people with plain floors who have simply bolted through the floor and not added more support really not had any problems?