Angling the seat slightly...
Angling the seat slightly will help reduce fatigue in the longer races because the g-forces will be distributed over a wider part of the body than just on the side of the rib cage.
We chose to install the seat further to the right than the old one for added safety but at a slight angle to the centerline of the car. Angling the seat slightly will help reduce fatigue in the longer races because the g-forces will be distributed over a wider part of the body than just on the side of my ribs.
Mounting the seat is a relatively straight forward process. With the seat in the car, I climbed in and mimiced my driving position, being sure to angle the seat like planned we also set the steering wheel in place. This is an important step because the new seat is completely different than the old one and it could alter how I grip the steering wheel, but the fit turned out to be perfect.
We used a Sharpie to mark where to drill the holes in the new seat so they line up with the original mounting points. Speaking of the mounting points, we welded steel brackets to the rollcage for the original seatback and will reuse these same brackets for the new one (top photo).
We're using grade-8 bolts with large diameter washers exclusively for safety purposes. These hardened bolts are stronger than conventional bolts and since we believe that you should actually mount your seat as opposed to just placing it in the car, we're using them.
With the seat in place we...
With the seat in place we mark where to drill the 3/8-inch hole using the tabs as a guide.
Now you'll notice in the pictures that there is a good sized gap between the back of the seat and the back wall of the cockpit. In order to fill that gap we fabricated a pair of aluminum brackets out of the same 1/8-inch 5052 aluminum as the seat. One side of the bracket is welded to the seat and the other side has a 3/8-inch hole drilled for the bolt. These brackets are nice and big to help dissipate energy in the event of a crash. And since they're welded, they become part of the actual seat. A hurricane isn't moving this seat.
Before drilling, we measured and test fit everything twice just to be sure we had the correct placement. Recommended mounting procedures use two bolts in the bottom; two bolts on the right side; and two bolts in the back, along with large diameter washers on each. That accomplished, our new Ultra Shield seat is in place. The seat is extremely comfortable, and while the new left side halo will take a little getting used to for me personally, I barely even notice it, and getting in an out of the car is a snap. I can't wait to get on the track with it.
 These mounting tabs for the...  These mounting tabs for the seat are welded to the roll cage providing a solid and safe point. |  When mounting a new seat in...  When mounting a new seat in an old car you can run into this problem-note that there is a pretty good sized gap between the back of the seat and the back wall of the cockpit. |  Our solution is to fabricate...  Our solution is to fabricate a brand new set of mounts. They're made out of the same 1/8-inch 5052 aluminum as the seat, and since they're welded to the back of the seat they are literally part of the seat. |