Suspension seat questions.....

[mar-tay1]

Looking for a pair of decent suspension seats for my baja, something that fits the OG seat runners in a 70 beetle, that aren't break the bank expensive, relatively durable, and somewhat comfortable. I see a lot of choices out there these days........Thanks!

[dustymojave]

Nothing will fit on stock seat runners except stock seats. For other seats, you have to figure out how to adapt them into the car.

The arched seat supports that have been available for many years really do NOT fit the VW floor pan worth what the dog left in the back yard. Ask my son who decided to ignore what I told him and wasted his money on buying them, then discarded them once he tried to install them. Then he went to work at Crumco and learned how to fabricate so he didn't NEED to BUY seat mounts.
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Richard
Offroading VW based cars since 1965
Tech Inspection 1963 - 2012 SCCA/SCORE/HDRA/MORE/MDR +
Retired from building Bajas, Fiberglass Buggies and Rails in the Mojave Desert. Also Sprints & Midgets, Dry Lakes, Road Race cars. All types New and Vintage
SoCalBajas Member
Kicked Cancer's A$$...1st and 2nd round...Fight ain't over yet.

[Dale M.]

A good suspension seat is made by PRP... I have PRP high back "Roadsters" in my FG dune buggy and find them very comfortable...

https://www.prpseats.com/

But there is a dozen seat manufacturers out there so its hard to choose....

And as Dusty says, there is nothing out there that fits your VW tracks..... Its fabrication or stock seats (or modification of stock seat hardware)...

Also seat mounting hardware prices vary widely, shop around.... I found some of the best prices for seat hardware at Speedway Motors....
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“Fear The Government That Wants To Take Your Guns" - Thomas Jefferson.

"Kellison Sand Piper Roadster" For Street & Show.
"Joe Pody Sandrover" Buggy with 2180 for Autocross (Sold)
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All suggestions and advice are purely my own opinion. You are free to ignore them if you wish ...

[petrol punk]

I wish someone would sell what amounted to a lower seat frame. Something that fits stock seat rails and has a base so you can weld whatever is necessary to fit your seats of choice. Unfortunately that doesn't seem to exist, the closest I've seen is CIP1 offers a new low back seat but it looks like it has its own slider assembly and you drill into the stock floor pan seat rails and bolt it to them.
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36hp '56 European DeLuxe oval, '70 bug 1835cc dual 36DRLA, and a '98 4x4 5spd single cab Tacoma

[dustymojave]

Nobody needs to make a product like that. Just take a pair of stock junk seats, and strip them down to the base, than add steel bar to attach the seat to.
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Richard
Offroading VW based cars since 1965
Tech Inspection 1963 - 2012 SCCA/SCORE/HDRA/MORE/MDR +
Retired from building Bajas, Fiberglass Buggies and Rails in the Mojave Desert. Also Sprints & Midgets, Dry Lakes, Road Race cars. All types New and Vintage
SoCalBajas Member
Kicked Cancer's A$$...1st and 2nd round...Fight ain't over yet.

[MI-Bug]

The original Beard style Super Seat is probably your best bet. Race Trim, Corbeau, PRP and others make facsimiles of these. Here's a couple of images lifted from the Gallery that shows a stock seat base modified to mount a Race Trim seat. Even has the ability to tilt the seat forward for rear seat entry...

[Dark Earth]

Here's how I did mine with Race Trim suspension seats ...

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...p;start=13

It made installing the carpet more challenging though.

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My Build: '69 Baja - Dark Earth Version

~I'm almost done. I just lack finishing up.~

[dustymojave]

[MI-Bug]

[mar-tay1]

Thanks for all the info.

[petrol punk]

[dustymojave]

By the way, regarding adapting other seats to the VW seat bases...

The early seat tracks through about 1969 or 70 are single rail tracks. Later ones are double rail tracks which are FAR stronger. For use in offroad race cars ever since the 1970s, race rules have required that such seat tracks have a u-bolt through the floor and over the top of the tracks to ensure that the seats can't come off the tracks.

They got stronger rails in the early 70s because they had a history of occasionally coming off the single rail tracks in crashes. Then starting in, IIRC, 1974 year model, the seat mounts were changed to a 3-point mount with a large pyramid structure under the seat that REALLY is not adaptable to other seats. Those are best to cut out if you want to replace the seats.

In my '58 Bug, I've had to weld cracks in those single rails a couple of times. But with 950K + miles, Baja Bug since the mid 70s, offroad used hard since 375K miles, the original tracks are still hanging in. I really SHOULD reinforce or replace those tracks at least with double rails.

But again, there are universal mounts that really don't fit a Bug right that you can get from Moore Parts, Pacific Customs, Appletree and many other VW parts houses as well as from hot rod supply outfits like Summit, Jeg's and Speedway. But whatever you get, you had best be prepared to do some fabricating to get them to fit in a Bug.
_________________
Richard
Offroading VW based cars since 1965
Tech Inspection 1963 - 2012 SCCA/SCORE/HDRA/MORE/MDR +
Retired from building Bajas, Fiberglass Buggies and Rails in the Mojave Desert. Also Sprints & Midgets, Dry Lakes, Road Race cars. All types New and Vintage
SoCalBajas Member
Kicked Cancer's A$$...1st and 2nd round...Fight ain't over yet.