MGF/TF seat brackets to mount aftermarket seats

[Rob Bell]

Thanks Stan

I think that I am making some headway through all those little jobs that take all the time. But still plenty to do - not least rebuilding the rear suspension! But the car is starting to look remarkably car-like. A biggie will be getting the roll cage installed... but will need to find a qualified welder to weld in the strengthening patches etc.

I have uploaded the latest drawings (pdf format) for those interested, complete with strengthening flange

[J13UTM]

Hi Rob

Been playing around on solidworks today, should be ready by the weekend for you, got a lot of revision going on not to mention my MGF CFD project.

[Rob Bell]

Good luck with the revision James!

The MGF CFD project is one that I am really looking forward to seeing the results of, but get those exams out of the way first

Thanks for looking at the drawings for me. One further modification (!) to the drawing: having spoken to Dave at Jeffark, the 10mm strengthening flange will have to be increased to 18mm due to limitations of the tooling, but other wise everything will be as per the last posted pdf.

In fact I was going to have to re-draw that anyway, as Dave and the lads can't see it very clearly (as you'll probably have noticed too, the pencil drawing didn't scan that well!)

Many thanks!

[J13UTM]

Ok, i can modify the model.

The CFD project is vert much on a back burner for a few months, the amount of work has really taken off already this year!!

That said rob if you can PM me your email address I can send you the assembly drawing and the CAD files, you probably wont be able to use them but a decent engineering firm will be able to do so, so ill post screen shots of it too, once you have given it the green light.

[Rob Bell]

Okay, thanks James

PM sent

[J13UTM]

Thanks rob

I've got the last tweaking to do in the morning and then I can send them over.

I'm hoping the CFD project is finished by Easter, long way off but I've two dissertations to do and then some, so it's very much when time (and the mrs) allows!!

[Rob Bell]

Completely understand James!

Thanks again

[Rob Bell]

Take 3 now! Realised on re-drawing the schematics for the seat brackets that I'd made an error in the measurements - so hopefully all correct now!

Have sent off to Jeffark - hopefully can get the manufacturing process on a roll now

[J13UTM]

Rob your worse than our tutors at changing specs!

Ill remodel the the part in the morning... about 10 secs work

[Rob Bell]

Well, actually it's rather embarrassing: I was just double checking the measurements when I realised that the old figure showed the plates to be too short!!!

Lucky I had this opportunity to re-check things really... phew!

Thanks James

[Rob Bell]

Picked up the bracket from Dave at Jeffark today - and couldn't resist dropping them into the car to see what they look like!

Seat brackets in passenger side - driver's side is a mirror image of these.

Over all, I am very pleased with the fit - although I clearly got one of the measurements (for the mounting hole) slightly wrong - but this is easily rectified by slotting the hole...

Bad light has stopped play this evening - but hopefully will have the seats rigidly mounted in the car this weekend

[Boot Hill Bandit]

Rob, would these brackets enable me to mount the original mgf seats lower in a mgf? Hope that makes sense lol. I have a problem with the seats as standard that make me feel I am sitting on the car rather than in it.

[Rob Bell]

I designed them to fit a base-mounted aftermarket seat. I am not sure whether you could fit a standard seat to them - might be possible. The more conventional way round the problem you have are either to fit an alternative lower seat squab spring, or to use a Vehicle Handling Supplies lowering kit - which I think is the better solution

[Boot Hill Bandit]

Rob, that large raised 'box' section which you have made your plates to mount onto, is that removable? I was wondering if it would be then possible to mount the original seats down onto the floorpan? This would then definitely be those vital 2-3 inches lower for the taller drivers.

Just a thought mind.

[Rob Bell]

Yes, you can cut it out. However the shell would loose a lot of its torsional rigidity, and moreover you'd loose side-impact strength so this is not a recommended route.

On the MGF Cup cars, these box sections are removed, but replaced with a sturdy H-frame welded into place (25mmx25mm 3mm thick box mild steel bars), and the racing seats mounted to that. If you're handy with a welder, you could fabricate something similar for your road car.

Another option could be to cut a channel in the box in which to fit the seat runners - again, you'd need to be handy with your fabrication skills, and of course, you'd need alternative seat runners as the standard items would no longer fit...

Lots of potential options, but none are that straightforward and have knock-on implications elsewhere. The tried and tested seat modifications are the easiest way forward, but if you need an extra drop, then some pretty major surgery may be required.

[Stan_B]

Those brackets look really neat Rob, I'm sure they will fly through scrutimeering, those seats are going to remain attached to the car .
Glad Jeffark worked out for you, he is a really useful contact.

[Rob Bell]

Thanks Stan - I am actually really pleased with them. If making them again, there are a couple of small dimensional changes I'd make, but as you can see in the picture above, they go in really nicely, and the seat when fixed to them is in there nice and solid.

Of course, there are some minor issues that I need to deal with. As you know, when you remove the standard seats, you move them on their runners to expose the mounting points. My seats are not on runners, which means that the mounting bolts are not that easily accessible. I think what I'll probably end up doing is making a small slot in the seat fabric so I can pass a socket through the seat to the front mounts - but I may need to recruit my wife to do some stitching to strengthen the material to prevent tearing (rather like a button hole!)

More updates to come!

The next stage is figuring out how to remount the standard seat belts (MoT for road driving; FIA harnesses are not MoT-acceptable). The inertia reels are retained in the standard position, and I am mounting the lower end of this to the rear seat mount. The trickier bit is the seat belt clasp. As standard, these are mounted to the seats themselves, and contain explosive to pre-tension. I don't intend to refit these, as (a) there isn't an obvious mounting point, (b) they contain explosives and (c) I've removed the SRS ECU and wiring.

At the moment, my idea is to use the lap buckles from the bench seat of a Rover 200 or 400 (25/45), on the assumption that all Rover belts are generic.

Rover 400 rear belt:



MGF belt:



Annoyingly, the two look different, so I am no longer sure whether this cunning plan will work or not... But I have access to the in-law's MG ZS, and will see whether the buckle will fit in the clasp...

Plan B will be to change to a universal type seat belt... but I'd rather not if possible (if only to save on pennies)

[Rob Bell]

This is annoying. The Rover 400/ MG ZS lap belt idea is not going to fly.

MGF versus ZS seat buckle

The two are different sizes. Curiously, the MGF buckle is closer in design and size to those found in our ZT - but this won't work because, for some reason, the MGF buckle won't fit into the ZT clasp. Argh! Are seat belts made to be unique and non-transferable from one vehicle to another?

I've also amended the dimensions on the seat mounting plate. It'll probably be ideal for mounting any Cobra seat, and probably also compatible with the Cobra universal fit seat slider mechanism If anyone else has these made, I'd be very interested to hear feedback.

seat mounting plates tech drawings version 3.pdf

Final version of the seat mounting brackets

(1.62 MiB) Downloaded 105 times

[Rob Bell]

Have now created a new webpage on aftermarket seats for the MGF - came across some pictures I took a couple of years back when we visited Cobra and trial fitted a couple of their seats in an MGF to ensure they fitted. They did!

More here: http://www.mgf.ultimatemg.com/group2/DI ... _seats.htm

[Rob Bell]

Just having a look at Rover 200 (Mk3) seat belts - these look very similar to MGF ones - and perhaps this is the way to go?