body and interior E21 Recaro seat brackets

[tashakes]

_{That's interesting, but you do have a LATE '02...}

 

Definitely did not consider that, but it may be the issue.

[pisgahlvr]

In my opinion, they are just right, I am 6-1 and they could be a little lower, but there is no way to achieve that easily.  For shorter folks, then spacers would be possible.  I don't have experience with any other seats, or any other 02 so far, so I could not tell you about the offset, but the way they are now does not bother me at all.  Again, I don't see what benefit specialty adapters will bring to this issue, unless using other Recaros that are not out of an E21.

 

That is interesting that yours bolt right up. My car is a 76, and my recaros do not, unfortunately, line up at all. I believe the reason is that the sliders that came with my seat are not the OEM sliders that come with the E21 recaro seats. I purchased some massive adapters for a clean look/install this morning while I was at work. They will be here Wednesday.  

[MalagaGorilla]

Yeah my recaros were about 2 inches too narrow to even sit on the welded in frames, you must have some wider than normal seats.

[02Les]

Well....the game is afoot then. Do your seats sit really low or are they perfect height? How tall are you? Are your seats shifted left or right of the steering wheel?

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I have E21 Recaros in my Touring (built Nov '73) and '76 Beater. I'm a good 5' 6", maybe 5' 7" on a warm day, and no problems. If they are not centered, then I just do not notice.

There's a different roof height between the Touring & Saloon, but my head is not up against the headliner by any means in either of them.

[rms_sandiego]

My recaro seats similarly did not bolt directly to the '02 seat rails (I have an early roundie) because the hole spacing on the seat base was too narrow for the rails. I think that is true for most of us.

 

I fabricated some brackets out of 3/8th aluminum flat stock which work like a charm, I made them asymmetrical to offset the seat more toward the transmission tunnel to correct for the uneven placement of the stock rails (do a google search for recaro seat offset and you'll see a lot of the prior discussion. As opposed to the brackets on the Massive site or by Aardvarc, they also drop the seat by another inch or so which I also preferred.

[jmr_1602]

I have a 71 1602 and to fit the e21 Recaros I just removed the e21 rails and added my 02 ones. Im about 5'10" and never noticed being off centered.

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[SRC60]

Recaro seats need an 'adapter' to bolt in a 2002 and in an e21.  The 'adapter' most people use are the factory ones bolted to the Recaro seats in e21's.  This 'adapter' allows the seat rail from either the e21 or the 2002 to be bolted to the Recaro seat and then bolted into the car.  This 'adapter' is shown in the 4th post of this thread.  The posters who said their e21 Recaros bolted in without 'adapters' probably had the factory e21 'adapters' already bolted on their seats.  Some people prefer to buy or make flat 'adapters' to allow the seats to sit lower.  You can also make these 'adapters' to move the seats over to center them better.

Hope this is useful info, Steve

[pisgahlvr]

Recaro seats need an 'adapter' to bolt in a 2002 and in an e21. The 'adapter' most people use are the factory ones bolted to the Recaro seats in e21's. This 'adapter' allows the seat rail from either the e21 or the 2002 to be bolted to the Recaro seat and then bolted into the car. This 'adapter' is shown in the 4th post of this thread. The posters who said their e21 Recaros bolted in without 'adapters' probably had the factory e21 'adapters' already bolted on their seats. Some people prefer to buy or make flat 'adapters' to allow the seats to sit lower. You can also make these 'adapters' to move the seats over to center them better.

Hope this is useful info, Steve

That makes a lot of sense actually and proves my theory that the sliders that came with my seats are not E21 OEM recaro sliders. Mine don't look anything like the ones in the 4th post.

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[joeconejo]

Just another point of reference and to reiterate what SRC60 said-

 

I have a 75 and installed E21 Recaros without an aftermarket adapter, exactly like post #11 using the OE E21 bracket that came with the seat along with the original 02 slider . 

Seats are not centered but neither were the seats that came out, and not at all noticable while driving. I don't think any of the available adapters will center the seats, that is up to you to do.

 

It definitely looks like your seats don't have the original E21 bracket or slider  so you will need to purchase the adapters  (Aardvark or Massive) or make them.

[pisgahlvr]

I got my massive adapter brackets in the mail yesterday. Got the passenger recaro fitted after a bit of fiddling. Looks amazing in the car though. The seats are incredibly comfortable. I will install the drivers side today.

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[Nesset127]

The seats are incredibly comfortable. 

 

They really are. They get even better when you are going around corners

[pisgahlvr]

They really are. They get even better when you are going around corners

I believe that! I got the drivers seat in today and I love it. Although with the massive adapters it does sit lower than stock. I may have to put in some 1" risers.

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