Considering a seat swap.

[Saudio]

I have an SV with the padded carbon fiber race seats and am considering either selling them and purchasing leather seats with headrests or finding someone in the states who might want to swap (possibly with some cash exchange due to the difference in value).  I don't find the race seats very comfortable for my backside and I don't race much.  The reason I say "considering" is that I have not sat in the leather seats so I would want to chance to try one on for size before swapping.  

 

 

[mca]

I'd offer my car for a trial but we're on opposite coasts.  Good Luck!

 

Let me know if you want to sell the seats. I have leather seats and would be open to a swap.

[Saudio]

Thanks for the reply!  Your car is an SV?  What condition are the seats in?  

 

[mca]

Yes, an SV chassis with leather seats, adjustable sliders.  It's a CSR260 shipped to the states in 2014, build finished in 2016. Seats are in good shape but I will snap a photo tomorrow when I get home.

[slowdude]

I'd be interested but I'm maybe 4 hours north of you in NNJ and winterized. Only problem is I am a regular S3, may not swap?

[Saudio]

22 hours ago, slowdude said:

I'd be interested but I'm maybe 4 hours north of you in NNJ and winterized. Only problem is I am a regular S3, may not swap?

I'm pretty sure the seats are different between the S3 and the SV.  I seen to recall them being proprietary when I was considering a new build.  But thanks anyway! 

 

[mca]

On 11/23/2023 at 11:04 AM, mca said:

Yes, an SV chassis with leather seats, adjustable sliders.  It's a CSR260 shipped to the states in 2014, build finished in 2016. Seats are in good shape but I will snap a photo tomorrow when I get home.

 

Apologies for the delay. See photos below.

 

Driver's seat:

IMG_2720.HEIC IMG_2721.HEIC IMG_2722.HEIC

[mca]

Passenger seat has 1 small blemish on right side. Included photo of part number ID sticker for seat bottom.

 

IMG_2723.HEIC IMG_2724.HEIC IMG_2725.HEIC IMG_2726.HEIC IMG_2727.HEIC

[mca]

On 11/25/2023 at 6:35 AM, Saudio said:

I'm pretty sure the seats are different between the S3 and the SV.  I seen to recall them being proprietary when I was considering a new build.  But thanks anyway! 

 

My SV chassis seats are a very snug fit with regards to width, so it seems they are specific to the wider chassis.

[Saudio]

They look nice and I'm still interested.  I need to figure out a way to sit in one somehow.  Thanks for the pics!

 

The four point harness is attached to the car, not the seat, correct?  So the seats would swap out and the harness would remain and work the same way?  My lap belt goes through a slot in the sides of the seat.  

 

[mca]

1 minute ago, Saudio said:

They look nice and I'm still interested.  I need to figure out a way to sit in one somehow.  Thanks for the pics!

 

The four point harness is attached to the car, not the seat, correct?  So the seats would swap out and the harness would remain and work the same way?  My lap belt goes through a slot in the sides of the seat.  

 

Did the pictures come through on your end? My computer doesn't show them.

 

Yes, the harness is attached to the car, not the seat. AFAIK, seats will swap and harness will remain. I have had the seats out when cleaning the cockpit (rocks/pebbles/general debris) so can confirm seats and harnesses are separate.

[Saudio]

So as not to mislead, I don't see any immediate way to test sit one of these and It's winter here, so it's likely that this swap won't happen for a while if it does happen.  I really appreciate you taking the pics though. 

 

Do you (or anyone) have any thoughts on the relative value of the seats in a swap situation?   

[JohnCh]

5 minutes ago, mca said:

Did the pictures come through on your end? My computer doesn't show them.

 

 

Apples .heic format is unsupported so they come through as attachments that people must download.  When uploading an heic from an iphone (or at least mine), or when emailing it, Apple does the conversion to a jpeg, but it appears that Macs, do not and require you to resave the pics as jpeg's first.  

[mca]

2 minutes ago, JohnCh said:

 

Apples .heic format is unsupported so they come through as attachments that people must download.  When uploading an heic from an iphone (or at least mine), or when emailing it, Apple does the conversion to a jpeg, but it appears that Macs, do not and require you to resave the pics as jpeg's first.  

Thank you. I was just researching the heic format. These pictures did indeed go from iphone to Mac, then uploaded here.

[mca]

4 minutes ago, Saudio said:

They look nice and I'm still interested.  I need to figure out a way to sit in one somehow.  Thanks for the pics!

 

The four point harness is attached to the car, not the seat, correct?  So the seats would swap out and the harness would remain and work the same way?  My lap belt goes through a slot in the sides of the seat.  

 

 

I fit comfortably in these seats. For reference, I'm 6'0" tall, 32" inseam, 34" waist, 46" chest, 43" hips. The seat bottom fills all the available width in the cockpit.

[mca]

3 hours ago, Saudio said:

So as not to mislead, I don't see any immediate way to test sit one of these and It's winter here, so it's likely that this swap won't happen for a while if it does happen.  I really appreciate you taking the pics though. 

 

Do you (or anyone) have any thoughts on the relative value of the seats in a swap situation?   

No worries, I'm mostly trying to sort through California registration so the seats are not critical at this point.

 

I'm not sure how to value the seats. This looks like the closest seat in the Caterham parts catalog (unable to find the headrest): https://caterhamparts.co.uk/seats/4742-seat-leather-sv-including-runners.html

Which seats do you have? I see there are multiple options in GRP, carbon, carbon/kevlar, with runners, etc.

[Lancefitzgiben]

I have my original SV seats in black carbon leather/vinyl and am always interested in Tilletts. I have academy Tilletts in the car now so the originals are pulled and stored. They're comfortable seats but I'm pretty skinny and I like the extra lateral support from Tillets.

[JohnCh]

1 hour ago, Lancefitzgiben said:

They're comfortable seats but I'm pretty skinny and I like the extra lateral support from Tillets.

 

One thing to keep in mind is that the carbon fiber seats for the SV are 3-4cm wider than the version fitted to the S3.  I found the SV seats too loose for my taste and special ordered the S3 version for my SV.  More details and a dimensional drawing are available in this post:

 

 

 

[Lancefitzgiben]

Indeed John, the OP says he has an SV but he doesn’t specify the seat size. They’re likely the wider spec but not necessarily. Wider ones would please some of my passengers I’m sure - but I like the narrow ones.