Jump to content

litp.jpg

Lotus in the Peak
28th - 30th June 2024

Fitting New Seats And Harnesses


Phil S1

Recommended Posts

I'm in the process of fitting some new seats and harnesses into my S1 so I thought I'd post a few photos up for anyone who's interested.

I've always liked the look of the Exige/340r style seats and wanted to fit harnesses, and the 2 really go hand in hand it seems.

I opted for the Willans harness kit as sold by Elise-shop, combined with a pair of crutch straps to make them into a 6 point harness.

Here's what I received:

 

IMG_1100.jpg

 

and here's my car before I started taking it apart......again :)

 

IMG_1101.jpg

 

Seats out:

IMG_1106.jpg

 

You have to take the speaker pods out in order to fit the harness bar, being a Lotus they're only held in with velcro and a couple of self tappers so it's not a major job ;)

Self tappers shown below:

IMG_1109.jpg

 

and the velcro on the edges:

 

IMG_1108.jpg

 

IMG_1107.jpg

 

I'm going to see if I can get on with just the harnesses and remove the inertia belts altogether so the seat belt warning sensor will be redundant. I've taped up the bullet connectors and tucked them under the tunnel:

 

IMG_1116.jpg

 

Harness bar installed and the speaker pods back in, getting the top 2 self tappers for those speaker pods back in was a bit of a challenge:

IMG_1117.jpg

 

And here's a couple of photos of the harnesses in place......there's still 2 vital components missing though:

 

IMG_1122.jpg

 

IMG_1124.jpg

 

No prizes for anyone who spotted the lack of seats :D

 

After putting out some feelers for secondhand Exige / 340r / 2-11 style seats with harness holes Chris at Lotus Racing suggested I contact a chap by the name of Emmanuel at LMSC That's Le Mans Sports Cars, not very local admittedly but he said he could trim me some new seats up for not too much more than I'd be paying for secondhand. On top of that he is also a fellow Type 49 fanatic :)

Anyway, they've taken a little longer to be made than anticipated but, tomorrow is the day I go to meet him and collect the seats, I'm a little excited!

 

To be continued.....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 17
  • Created
  • Last Reply

I would take a cushion with you on the way down.

 

I love the black Willans harnrsses by the way. By far the coolest imo.

 

Think I'll go in the daily driver, it'll be a bit more comfortable than just the cushion :D

 

 

Phil, do the new seats have harness holes ? If they do i would have gone for a wrap around harness bar personally.

 

They do have harness holes Martin but I think the spacing of the holes in the seats looks pretty similar to the harness bar mount points so I'm assuming it won't make much difference either way?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Phil

 

You seem to have some strange, furry stuff beneath your seats?

 

I think I've heard of this stuff before - I believe it's called "carpet"? :P

 

Car looks great BTW. I really must do something about my worn sill pads...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

^^ exactly my thoughts, carpet, you must be getting soft - there's not one square inch in mine, and its the daily. looking good phil - and seats look really smart too (i've seen a preview pic)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes I know, I'm getting on a bit now and I'm afraid I succumbed to fitting the carpet under the seats and up the bulkhead to make things a bit quieter. What nobody ever notices though, is that I've even double glazed the rear window :P

 

Anyway....the seats.

I had a rendezvous with Emmanuel of LMSC today. He came over from Le Mans with his trailer to take another S1 back to France and I travelled down to meet him at Essex Autosport, which is only just off the M25 and dead easy to get to. He's a really nice chap and a proper Lotus enthusiast. The seats took 6 weeks in all rather than the original 3 week estimate but he kept me well updated along the way and I'm really pleased with the end result. Being piccy, there is the odd little crease in the alcantara but I guess they'll be a few more once I got my derriere on them :lol:

Here's some photos for you to peruse, I just need to get them fitted now!

 

IMG_1138.jpg

IMG_1139.jpg

IMG_1141.jpg

IMG_1140.jpg

IMG_1142.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

good job the house extension is running later than planned phil, good idea to get the car expenses sorted before evaluating the kitchen funds blush.gif

 

Too right, it's all a matter of priorities, although I'm not sure the family would see it that way if an impending lack of funds meant we have to have an al-fresco kitchen :blush:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finally got the seats fitted over the weekend. Took longer than I anticipated mainly because the threaded inserts within the seats were set deeper than the original Lotus ones which meant sourcing some longer bolts.

As Martin made reference to earlier, there is a slight misalignment between the fixed harness positions and the holes in the seats but only to a slight extent on the outboard positions so in that respect maybe wrap round harnesses were the way to go.

Here's a photo of them installed anyway....

IMG_1195.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. Terms of Use