Seat Upgrade Info - Evo Recaro, FTO, ect.

[ARC]

Because of interest in CE seat upgrades & options with questions to and fro in other threads, makes sense to have an all inclusive thread.

So this threads aim to eliminate the questions and give answers... Or ask further questions if needed. :think:

I'll start by adding what I know, If anyone else with knowledge wishes to add, correct and fill some gaps, please let me know and I'll update the first post.

So I'll list what seats can fit easy enough.
MR seats, Evo 4-6 Recaro seats, SR3 Recaro, GTi Satria Recaro, FTO seats
CC seats fit into CE's, this includes GSR, Evo1/2/3 and Proton seats.

Bride and other racing seats, will require EVO4-6 seat rails.
CE sedan, coupe and hatch all share the same floor pan. So any aftermarket seats only require the corresponding Evo rails to suit your seat.

A good starting point if you do not have a MR is to get MR Seats, a bit more adjustment and comfortable than your regular poverty pack seats.
They come in a few colours, here's one example.

Evolution 4, 5 & 6 Recaro seats are all direct bolt in for CE Lancer's and Mirage... No mods required.
Evo 5 & 6's only forward backward with the little side knob, not like your standard or MR seats that have a leaver to quickly slide for rear passengers.
Evo 4 however, has the latch on the back of the seat allowing for rear passengers to sneak through, see pics below.

In case your not familiar with your Recaro's.

Evo 4 - Dark Grey/Red pattern

Evo 5 - Black/Grey

Evo 6 - Black/Blue

Evo 6 TME - Black/Red

SR3 Recaro's
You'll need a seat frame to make them fit, But as far as I've read, they are easily available.
SR3's also have the side leaver making it easy for your rear passengers to hop in and out.

Proton Satria GTi Recaro seats.
IIRC they also bolt right in and slide like your normal Lancer coupe or Mirage seat, added bonus, get the rear seats and its a matching set for a Mirage.
I think also the seat belt latches are different and need to be swapped over.

FTO Seats - I know these fit, anymore info anyone ?

HOW TO FTO DRIVERS SEAT
Front measurements are more or less spot on (+/- 0.5mm)
Rears are somewhat approximate, as they move both X and Y, but should be withing a couple of mm, its sorta trial and error, took me about 6 trials of putting the seat in the car.

If you want the seat aligned with the steering wheel, none of the factory holes lines up.

Have to move;
front right, 15mm left.
front left, 70mm left
rear right, 25mm right, 60mm forward
rear left, 55mm forward, 110mm left.

More detailed post after I took pictures, excuse the dirty carpet.

Pictures of how I mounted the FTO seat - For John (this is all for drivers seat)

y axis is in the direction of car travelling forwards.
x axis is in the direction of driver exiting the door.
z axis is in the direction of being ejected out of the roof.

Front right mount. moved approx 15mm (-x).

Front left mount. moved approx 70mm (-x).

Rear left mount. moved approx 110mm (-x) and 50mm (+y)

Rear right mount. moved apprx 25mm (+x) and 60mm (+y)
{ Forgot to take a pic, sorry}


Due to the seat mounts moving largely in the x direction on the rear, I put a braces to help stop torsion of the sliders.

Picture of brace mounting to rear left. Noting the brace has a kink in it to clear the rear seat base adjustment rod, and to compensate for the height difference between the left rear mount and right rear mount. Left side is higher by approx 30mm (+z)

Picture of brace in the middle of the seat.

Brace mounting to the rear right seat mount.

All seat mount extensions are made of 35mm flat bar (7mm thickness)

I am 100kgs and there is no flex in the seat while sitting, or getting in or out.
I am 6foot 4inches tall, and if anything my head is lower than stock seats due to the added adjustment of the FTO seats, despite adding 7mm to all mounts. I also have the same amount of leg room as stock seats (this depends on how you adjust your seat)

These mounts are NOT ADR approved. I just know my welding quality. Each connection between mounts and braces have 45mm length of weld and 6mm throat thickness or greater.


EDIT: Forgot to mention, using these guidelines will place the center of the seat in line with the center of the steering wheel. It is possible to adjust the dimensions so that the front right mount does not need modification and the FTO mounts straight to the Lancer floor mount. This will obviously shift the seat towards the center of the car. When I did this the side of the seat upright was hitting on my centre console, wont be much of an issue for those not running consoles with lids.

EDIT #2: You need to swap the FTO seatbelt lock with the Lancer lock from your current seats (or Proton Lock if using Proton seatbelts)

 

[rigby]

All CC seats fit into CE's, this includes GSR, Evo1/2/3 and Proton seats. Also, When I fit the GSR seats into my CC I didn't have to swap over the buckles at all, they fit without modification. Straight in, ready to go.

 

[EVL20T]

CC and CE buckles are different, I had to swap the EVO5 buckles off my EVO5 seats and throw the CC buckles on

 

[Bratlee]

So what you're saying is, the FTO seats are the only ones that are abit difficult to position?
Great write up!

 

[Jazza]

SR3 recaros ARE evo 3 and 4 seats.... SR3's also come in type R civics I think and whatever else but just coz they're SR3's doesn't mean they'll fit a CE lol... Better change that.. So where you say SR3's will fit if you find a seat frame, well so will any other recaro basically...
And as evo 4 seats are SR3's they have a folding mechanism to let passengers in the back, as do evo 3's. The only seats that don't fold are evo 5 and 6. That is obviously only a problem in a mirage or coupe.
CC seats, so Evo 1-3 seats only fit a CE/mirage if you hack saw off a small triangular edge in the rail. You'll see this when you try to fit them. Also need to swap the seat belt buckles (also requires a bit of grinding). After that they bolt in.
And yea FTO seats do not "fit easy enough" as seen. A bit of custom bracketry is required for a seat that isnt even that much more supportive over the stock seats. I'd never be bothered.

Just some things to fix up

 

[Trondabron]

^^^ This guy, not sat in an FTO seat, I reckon they are mad comfy, and have front to rear base tilt adjustment, to get that bankstown lean on.

 

[Jazza]

^^^ I have sat in an FTO seat, and I thought they weren't all that supportive compared to a recaro seat.

 

[7R3N7]

have front to rear base tilt adjustment, to get that bankstown lean on.

:lol:

 

[EVL20T]

Pfft FTO seat lol

 

[ARC]

And yea FTO seats do not "fit easy enough" as seen. A bit of custom bracketry is required for a seat that isnt even that much more supportive over the stock seats. I'd never be bothered.

Easy enough was a loose term, not meant to be literal...
But with the many forums I've sifted through the last few months looking for my own purposes, it seems to be a popular alternative. So it cant be too hard.

 

[ARC]

SR3 recaros ARE evo 3 and 4 seats.... SR3's also come in type R civics I think and whatever else but just coz they're SR3's doesn't mean they'll fit a CE lol... Better change that.. So where you say SR3's will fit if you find a seat frame, well so will any other recaro basically...

So your saying that Evo 3 or 4 seat frames will fit the SR3 no problem, hence making it a perfect fit for a CE ?

And as evo 4 seats are SR3's they have a folding mechanism to let passengers in the back, as do evo 3's. The only seats that don't fold are evo 5 and 6. That is obviously only a problem in a mirage or coupe.

I can see what you mean, they have the little levers on the back. Thanks & Added

 

[Spetz]

I used to have FTO seats bolted onto the stock CE MR rails.
I am not sure if this was a direct fit or not (mechanic did it) but from what I understood it wasn't difficult.
The same mechanic had modified FTO rails to suit a CE before and said that using CE rails was a better option

 

[EVL20T]

U can use EVO1/2/3/4/5/6, Proton GTi/M21 rails on any SR3 seats, EVO2/3 seats are SR2, EVO4 are SR3

 

[Numb]

I used to have FTO seats bolted onto the stock CE MR rails.
I am not sure if this was a direct fit or not (mechanic did it) but from what I understood it wasn't difficult.
The same mechanic had modified FTO rails to suit a CE before and said that using CE rails was a better option

Not a direct bolt on unfortunetly. Tried to do that with mine.

 

[onwaylo]

Anyone put MR folding rear seats in a Mirage?

Backrest mounting brackets seem different and folding backs are not equal.

 

[ARC]

Anyone put MR folding rear seats in a Mirage?

Backrest mounting brackets seem different and folding backs are not equal.

I tried, doesnt work.
The fold down leavers in the tops are different from coupe to hatch.

 

[BI65ND]

It's been done with Evo seats a few times but in my opinion it looks like ass. The mounts are completely different so a lot of work or not much gain.

 

[EVL20T]

The only seats that don't fold are evo 5 and 6. That is obviously only a problem in a mirage or coupe.

Yes but you can buy the mechanism to make them fold down

You just got to find a place that will sell them to you

 

[EVL20T]

I made a bar to make my EVO5 seats fold down, all I need to do is lift the bar up and the seat folds down

 

[Spetz]

SR3 recaros ARE evo 3 and 4 seats.... SR3's also come in type R civics I think and whatever else but just coz they're SR3's doesn't mean they'll fit a CE lol... Better change that.. So where you say SR3's will fit if you find a seat frame, well so will any other recaro basically...

So your saying that Evo 3 or 4 seat frames will fit the SR3 no problem, hence making it a perfect fit for a CE ?

I have DC2R Recaro seats bolted onto Evo rails and hence into the CE Lancer without any trouble.
Also has the easy tilting for rear seat passengers