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MG MGF Technical - Changing the seats in MGF

I donīt like the "F" seats! The look ugly and sportless. When sharp turning they doesnīt give enought support to the driver...and looks a little bit high compared with the steering whell. I wonder if there are other seats (Like reccaro) to fit there that might be a solution to my problem!
Bruno V.

Bruno,

I've seen Paul Sharpe's VVC fitted with Recaro seats. That need modified runners, I think. The work has been done by Techspeed.
I sat in and I must say the support seems excellent.
Have you seen the Recaro seats in the SuperSports prototype ?
These look great !
But I've read that as the top is wider, the lid of the T-bar box doesn't open anymore.

Fabrice
Fabrice

"But I've read that as the top is wider, the lid of the T-bar box doesn't open anymore"-What do you mean with this?
Bruno V.

The cubby box behind the seat does not open on the supersport due to the seat style as they are wider at the top to give more shoulder and head support. On Paul's car the seats are more of a std style and thus the cubby box does open.

I am interested in changing my seats and have sat and driven Paul's car and can confirm the seat are so much better as well as altering the driving position by seating lower.

The only problem is there is no off the shelve item available for a DIY enthusiast to fit the seats.
So far Techspeed is the only company which has done it (apart from rover and the Supersports)
but due to making runners up it is quite costly and time consuming for them and thus they are not too keen (I could be wrong).

Tom
P305 DPB
Tom Randell

Hi,
You can see a little of that point on this image (hope its OK, Paul)

http://www.fortunecity.de/hockenheim/senna/253/spa99/paulint.jpg
taken at Spa last year.
http://www.fortunecity.de/hockenheim/senna/253/spa99/index.htm

BTW the BRG one is mine :) Fabrice is on top left pic.

dk

Dieter

I suspect there may be a number of people interested in better seats - me included of course. I think that driving comfort, position and support is a big factor in enjoyment of a car; and the F could certainly be improved as far as my 6 foot+ frame is concerned.

Does anyone know how much Pauls seats cost?
Peter

1500 quid fitted Peter.

They are great seats, but at that price probably not worth it.

The question really is how much are you willing to spend?

Rob
Rob Bell

Bruno,

Have you tried the MGF y2000 "Oxford Leather" seats?

They are exceptionally comfortable and attractive (espicially in Black).

Some dealers will "swap over" seats from one MG to another, if you were interested.

Francis
Francis

A colleague has bought 2 years ago Momo "street racer" seats for his Alfa.
(look at the momo website, they should be there)
He paid less than 500 quid for 2 seats.
He used the standard runners, but had to build some "adaptators" to fix the seats to the runners.
They have great look and great support.
Fabrice

Bruno

I am surprised that you do not like the seats. Are they leather? My are leather (pre 2000 my) and I personally think that they look great. With the design being based on the good old 1960's look that and the MG is steeped in History and this is well represented in the MGF. Just take a look at what manufactures are doing, they are going away from the boy racer look XR3i etc. Just look at the the S type Jaguar and the Rover 75. it is the Retro look. As for no surport, when I go round the corners fast the centre console and the door holds me in. I find that I do not move around and I weight 11 stone.
Steve

How many kg is a stone ?

Fab

Only used to metric system
But there are sometimes good reasons to explain British choices (like driving on the left side of the road, in order to hold a lance in the right hand ;-))
No flame please ! only kidding
Fabrice

A stone is 14lbs imperial

so 11 stone is 154lbs divide by 2.2 = 70kg

Ted
Ted Newman

I don't know about the new seats but the old ones were quite good at holding me in place, I will admit that the standard cloth seats were a little flat with not much support. Since then I bought a pair of VVC half leather covers (including Foam padding) and they are much better at holding you in place while cornering than the cloth seats I had origionally.

I got my covers from Newton Commercial for around 200 quid, they are easy to fit if you can find a big enough Torx drive to remove the seats with.
Tony Smith

I think the standard leather seats are fine only the headrests need replacing ... with something that adjusts forward
Gaz

"With the design being based on the good old 1960's look that and the MG is steeped in History and this is well represented in the MGF. Just take a look at what manufactures are doing, they are going away from the boy racer look XR3i etc" - STEVE
Retro look??? come on we are in year 2000 not 1960! If i wanted an old MG i would have bought it! I donīt like classics! :o) As boy racer look? yep thatīs it iīm a boy (24 years)and racer... well iīll race anyone who wants to race me so iīm surely a boy racer, so why shouldnīt i fit some "Boy Racer Look" seats?. Jaguar s-type and Rover 75 are surely Retro Cars ...they will surely fit Retro guys...like my grand father. Not for me ...iīm 24 ...i do not need retro look on my F. What i do need is to replace my Retro-Ugly VVC seats by some RECCARO... Maybe since they are expensive.....
Bruno V.

Gaz> with something that adjusts forward

Everyone that I know (MGF drivers) think's the same way

Has anyone tried to bend the head rest rods ? Maybe a job for Mike Satur to design/make a replacement head rest that fits into the existing seat holes... Like the SAAB one

Matt
MJM811 VVC 99
Matthew Minion

I was happy with the full leather seats in my VVC until I fitted Bridgestone S02 rear tyres. Now I need something more secure to keep me in the car. The MY2000 seats are a possibility - especially as I don't want to spend 1500 UKP.

Steve
Steve

The options I have found depending on runners and sub frame available are Recaro at http://www.recaro.com/

The other is corbeau at http://www.corbeau-seats.co.uk/

Tom
P305 DPB

Tom Randell

Hi all,

The reason my seats cost so much is because although they are the narrowest that Recarro do (The n-joy) they still only just fit in the F.

Even with these seats, Techspeed had to remove the seat belt mounting off the seat belt runner and fix it to the sub frame - in the same way that the race cars are done. That way the seat still moves back and forth. The seat belt buckle and pretensioner are still on the runner.

Techspeed also needed to make one off mounting brackets for the runners. Although they now have the drawings to do the job again.

The seats cost Ģ800 for the pair
The runners were about Ģ200 for the pair
Installation inc mounting brackets and moving teh seat belt mounting was Ģ500.

Techspeed did say that the whole job was a real bugger to do and they weren't too keen to do another.

I know Tom has investigated some cheaper seats which would reduce the price.

I chose not to go for full leather as it gets very sweaty.

My ideal choice now would be some cloth trimmed Year 2000 seats. Mike/ Stewart at Newton - are you listening?

Paul
P9 VLS
Paul

Bruno, Bruno, calm down, we don't want to force old style (rather than Retro, The Z3 is Retro) seats on you, honest. I think a chrome chain steering wheel and some fluffy dice could give you that 70s look though :-)

As far as boy racing goes, I would think getting the car to go better and faster would be the priority, it's a lot of good having great seats if you keep getting trounced by some hairdresser in an MX5 :-)
Tony Smith

A number of practical things have yet to be raised. The ability of the standard seats to retain the driver is not just a factor of the frame, but a significant effect is added or lost by the trim material, irrespective of any patterns or colours.

For a road seat where reasonable access is desired then there is a big advantage in using a cloth material with a coarse weave. This acts rather like 'Velcro' against your clothes and is amazingly effective in transforming what was previously cr-p driver location.

Here I can draw on the experience of standard pre 1968 MGB leather seats which were just about acceptable with 4 clynider power. With over 200 bhp of V8 power and torque they were lethal, with the handbrake and door liner doing more retention! I subsequently changed the seats for retrimmed B frames using a coarse weave fabric that was originally found on early MG Metro and Maestros. The difference was massive with a perceived need for significant side boltering with the leather reduced to a need for a little more side retention.

I have also developed the idea further with the use of half leather seats, as found in many Rover 220 GTi and Coupe models. For a flat seat they are not quite as good as the full coarse fabric, but look a whole heap better. With a seat like the Rover 220 type you have some additional side bolsters which means a completely secured ar*e!

With the F I have experience with a number of different seat material options and I find the same differences apply as I found with the MGB, so here I would suggest that the right type of cloth weave material will go along way towards providing a more acceptable perch.

Now another factor that should be borne in mind when looking into the use of seats with pronounced firm side bolters is one of rapid wear of the material on the top of the bolster that is closest to the door. Quite simply every time you get in and out you will rub this area much harder than with the standard seat.

A look at any seat of this type which is fitted to a car with a few of years and/or a few tens of thousands of miles will show damage to these bolters, usually on the drivers side. Leather and cloth seem to suffer just about the same. If your sourcing a special seat then you don't want to have to have it reupholstered in perhaps a matter of a couple of years.

As with most things this is a matter of achieving an acceptable balance between what you want and what can reasonably be achieved, and as such the final decision will be an individual one.

Rog

Roger Parker

Some leather seats are excellent (mines aren't) and some cloth seats are crap.

Just a bit to add : some seats are leather / alcantara : alcantara is doing the same "friction" job as cloth, but with a classier touch.
Fabrice

This thread was discussed between 22/03/2000 and 27/03/2000

MG MGF Technical index

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