150cc Buggy Seat Bucket Seat Upgrade
Hi everyone. I scored a sweet pair of RCI Racing poly bucket seats, similar to the ones sold by JEGS and Summit racing for cars & trucks. I originally bought them to save away for the next project car I dragged home, but then I wanted to try to see if they fit my old Baja Reaction 150cc buggy.
I bought the buggy used & abused, left outdoors for while, so the original seats had been waterlogged and ruined. Ran it that way for a while but its hard on the butt when there's no padding between it and the floor pan! I have been searching for factory seats, but they are crazy expensive and still just kids size. I was just about to pop for a pair of used RZR seats but these mint poly racing buckets were way cheaper. These are adult size but my kids like them better also. Light also.
Step 1 of the seat mod project was to unbolt and remove the old seats and seat belt harnesses. I have a set of used Simpson 4 pt harnesses stashed with the new seats. The factory ones are poorly made and just not safe for kids or adults to be using. I got them so I'm using them too.
Step 2 was unbolt the original driver seat slider mechanisms and reinstall them back into the buggy frame. I need to fabricate an adapter plate that bolts the slider hole pattern to the poly seats pattern. The poly seats came with 1/4" thick aluminum adapter plates from the drag car they were in, so I'll cut those down and re-drill to fit.
Step 3 As you can see from the 2 photos the seats barely fit. Tight to the sides of the roll cage frame and no gap between the seats to reach the factory E-Brake handle. I could leave it like this but I'm going to try & jack out the sides of the frame to create clearance. Hopefully this alone works but if not not plan B is a little cutting and re-welding of the frame. I want 1" between the seats and say 3/4" to 1" gap between each seat and the side cage. Note - keep in mind that the front of the seat bottom is wider than the back, so in order to allow the drivers seat to have the slider adjustment I need the seats not to touch or overlap at the front edges. The steering wheel shaft clamp will need to be loosened also to shift the steering wheel to right enough to align with the new seat position.
I'll post pics on the setup of what I used to push out the frame this week, and how the project progresses. These seats really make the buggy look and feel so much better.
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