WARNING: This page is still a work in progress! The seat is installed but I'm still going to need to do a little fine tuning on it before my first track event.

I am not responsible for any problems you experience as a result of trying to do anything described here. The hack documented here worked fine for me but may not work for you far any number of reasons.

Please Note: If you plan on using Recaro SRD seats with a DAS rollbar in a pre-1990 911 I highly recommend you check out my DAS rollbar install page for some important information. The DAS rollbar and Recaro SRD seats don't work well together without a fair amount of work.

After doing several events with a 6-point harness with the standard seat I decided it's about time to move to a real racing seat. I looked at several seats and due to my "stature" I was limited to only a few seats. Since my wife wants to be able to drive the car once in a while I was leaning towards more of a sport seat versus a shell seat. I then ran across the Recaro SRD at Northstar Motorsports and found that it's SCCA and PCA approved for racing yet was adjustable for multiple drivers plus it was available with a sub-belt hole.

I also purchased a slider bracket for my '88 911. In the meantime I decided that I wanted a passenger side to match so I set out looking for a cheap used seat that would fit. I did manage to find one and I'm waiting for a decent day to install it. it now.

Before beginning this hack yourself, you will need the following items:

• Recaro SRD Seat
• Recaro Seat Rails
• 6mm Allen Wrench
• 5mm Allen Wrench

One tip I picked up from another shopper at Northstar Motorsports is to get a Porsche emblem patch, stick it to a sheet of Velcro hooks, then trim off the excess. I learned that the material covering these seats is very similar to the loops part of Velcro. I did that and stuck the emblem on and I was amazed how well it stuck!

Click on thumbnail to view full-size image Pulled the seat out of the box. The boring looking seat without the emblem. The emblem makes the car go faster. Now I'm getting ready to do the installation. One of my goals with installing this seat was to get a little bit more headroom. The bottom of the seat isn't very thick and the rails themselves are pretty thin as well. Removing the old seat was very simple. First, take the 7mm allen wrench and remove the bolts holding the original seat rails to the seat frame. On my car there were two bolts in front and 4 in the back. Recline the seat back as far forward as possible then tilt the seat back. If you're lucky, all the bolts came out ok. In my case, one of the soft brass bolts stripped so I ended up having to drill it out. There were two wires connected to the seat, one for power to the motorized seats and one for the seat belt receptacle. Remove those and carefully pull the seat out. I then put electrical tape over the ends of the wires to prevent a short in the future then zip tied them down so they wouldn't come loose. Don't lose the bolts and other hardware when removing the old seat. You'll need it to install the new seat. I would highly recommend buying new bolts to replace the ones that were removed. I found I couldn't get them to tighten all the way with the new seat rails as they are thinner. Click on thumbnail to view full-size image Seat rails for my '88 911. Seat ready to install. 'Before' picture. Using the allen wrench to remove one of the front bolts. My friend Mark taping off the wires. The wires are taped off and I was trying the new rails on for size. Bolt the rails to the new seat. It's pretty obvious how they attach. I think I put the washers in the right way. The seat bolts in using the same hardware as the original seat. And now for a couple before and after shots. I did seem to gain a little bit of headroom but less that I was hoping for. The lateral support is FAR better than the stock seat. The supports are very stuff and really hold you in the car. Click on thumbnail to view full-size image