KRviator
Well Known Member
After a year flying the -9 for a year with nothing more than a sewed-by-yourself set of seat cushions, I was on the lookout for a new set of seats to begin the process of finishing off the RV. Unfortunately though, a nice pair Classic Aero seats are out of reach for the moment, so the search began.
An epiphany was had one day recently when being driven around by the KRviatrix. She has a fluro yellow Suzuki Swift Sport (which, by the way, is the only thing besides the Great Wall of China that can be seen from space!) with those form-fitting bucket seats. A tape measure was brought out, and with fingers crossed, measurements taken. Give or take an inch, they looked like they would fit, and as she forbid me from knocking off her seats that day (wimmen!
), a set was purchased from eBay for $300.
The obligatory before shot.
Now, first off, a word of warning: these seats are fitted with SRS Airbags on the outboard sides. I would recommend you carefully remove these before putting them in your RV. Cut the wire near the base of the backrest, and you can unzip the upholstery from the backrest, and unbolt (2 small nuts) each airbag & set them aside somewhere safe.
To use the seats in your RV, you have two choices depending on your height. If you are tall, you will need to remove the seat base cushion from its' steel frame and simply sit on it as you would normally. The foam holds its shape quite well without it. For shorter pilots, you can leave the steel foam base in place, it only weighs a pound or two, which has the added advantage of keeping a pair of steel hoops in place to hold the seat foam against your thighs as well, but you do tend to sit up 1-1.5 inches higher than otherwise. If you are choosing this option, remove the height-adjustment mechanism and as much extra weight as you can. You will need to drill out 2 x pop rivets on each 'side-track' as well, until you are left with a thin sheet-metal form that does nothing more than hold the foam in shape.
Either way, you will need to trim about 2" from the rear of the seat base to enable a better fit, and you will also need to remove a 6" x 6" portion of foam from the forward-centre portion to allow full aft control movement. The seat still looks normal by doing this, but you would be better served by having an automotive upholsterer sew a U-shape there - something I will be having done in a few days.
For the back rest, remove the steel frame completely by unzipping both sides, unclipping the headrest sockets from their steel supports and removing them and then removing the entire steel frame from the foam. It is then a simple process to insert your normal backrest into the seat foam, and install that in your RV.
Working on the Coey's seat. If you find they are a little too high, you can trim an inch or two from your aluminium seat back to bring the backrest down to suit you.
You can use the Suzuki headrests with these seats if you so desire, by using a pair of Adel clamps rivetted to your seat back at the appropriate spacing to capture the legs of the headrests, then installing the plastic sockets for the factory look and finally sliding the headrest into position. One benefit of these seats too is they come with a map pocket sewn into the back side.
You will need to trim a little foam away from the outboard shoulder area if you have a tip-up, to allow the aft canopy frame to clear without snagging the seat fabric & tearing it. For a little more backrest angle, you can also cut away a little bit of foam from the seat where it rests against the F-705F channel.
Once you have done this, which will take you all of an hour for both seats if you're having a good day, you will end up with something like:
And for eagle-eyed readers: NO - I do not have them in backwards! The canopy lock is on the right because I fly my -9 PIC from the right side.
An epiphany was had one day recently when being driven around by the KRviatrix. She has a fluro yellow Suzuki Swift Sport (which, by the way, is the only thing besides the Great Wall of China that can be seen from space!) with those form-fitting bucket seats. A tape measure was brought out, and with fingers crossed, measurements taken. Give or take an inch, they looked like they would fit, and as she forbid me from knocking off her seats that day (wimmen!
), a set was purchased from eBay for $300.The obligatory before shot.
Now, first off, a word of warning: these seats are fitted with SRS Airbags on the outboard sides. I would recommend you carefully remove these before putting them in your RV. Cut the wire near the base of the backrest, and you can unzip the upholstery from the backrest, and unbolt (2 small nuts) each airbag & set them aside somewhere safe.
To use the seats in your RV, you have two choices depending on your height. If you are tall, you will need to remove the seat base cushion from its' steel frame and simply sit on it as you would normally. The foam holds its shape quite well without it. For shorter pilots, you can leave the steel foam base in place, it only weighs a pound or two, which has the added advantage of keeping a pair of steel hoops in place to hold the seat foam against your thighs as well, but you do tend to sit up 1-1.5 inches higher than otherwise. If you are choosing this option, remove the height-adjustment mechanism and as much extra weight as you can. You will need to drill out 2 x pop rivets on each 'side-track' as well, until you are left with a thin sheet-metal form that does nothing more than hold the foam in shape.
Either way, you will need to trim about 2" from the rear of the seat base to enable a better fit, and you will also need to remove a 6" x 6" portion of foam from the forward-centre portion to allow full aft control movement. The seat still looks normal by doing this, but you would be better served by having an automotive upholsterer sew a U-shape there - something I will be having done in a few days.
For the back rest, remove the steel frame completely by unzipping both sides, unclipping the headrest sockets from their steel supports and removing them and then removing the entire steel frame from the foam. It is then a simple process to insert your normal backrest into the seat foam, and install that in your RV.
Working on the Coey's seat. If you find they are a little too high, you can trim an inch or two from your aluminium seat back to bring the backrest down to suit you.
You can use the Suzuki headrests with these seats if you so desire, by using a pair of Adel clamps rivetted to your seat back at the appropriate spacing to capture the legs of the headrests, then installing the plastic sockets for the factory look and finally sliding the headrest into position. One benefit of these seats too is they come with a map pocket sewn into the back side.
You will need to trim a little foam away from the outboard shoulder area if you have a tip-up, to allow the aft canopy frame to clear without snagging the seat fabric & tearing it. For a little more backrest angle, you can also cut away a little bit of foam from the seat where it rests against the F-705F channel.
Once you have done this, which will take you all of an hour for both seats if you're having a good day, you will end up with something like:
And for eagle-eyed readers: NO - I do not have them in backwards! The canopy lock is on the right because I fly my -9 PIC from the right side.
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