Tranquil

iTrader: (1)

Well I randomly decided to buy a F1Spec Fiberglass Race Bucket the "Type II". Quite a damn good deal for $250 shipped. I'm going to break down this write up in three parts, my review of the company's service, my review of the product, and my installation of the product.

F1Spec, who what and why

F1Spec or "WU'S INT'L TRADE LLC" (I got the second name from the invoice attatched to the USPS shipping confirmation) is a company that makes pure copies of well known seats (Spoon, Recaro). The company itself needs to work on communication within itself, but communication with the customer is pretty damn good. Reasons why I say this are

1. When I ordered the seat I used a Visa Gift Card. They called me to ask why the address of the credit card didn't match my address, well that's why. But props for them actually calling me, and not at an ungodly hour either, it was only 7:00 PM.

2. When I received the seat I just got the seat... no sidemounts, or sliders. It took me an extra week to recieve the sidemounts and sliders, but they sent them to me. So that's alright.

3. When I received the sidemounts and sliders... I didn't get brackets. It could've been that I asked them for sidemounts and sliders... but I told them I received nothing but the seat itself... uhhh okay. Another weird thing is that I got one left and one right sidemount, and two left sliders. No way to attach any of them to each other. No bolts nuts or screws were included. Oh well. Hardware store trip only cost me $4.30 in the end.

I don't know what's going on with the company, they could just be busy, or it could just be because they're new. I think they've been around for two years now, though... so most of these kinks should be out of the way. But everyone makes mistakes, right?

The seat

The seat is fantastic. I'm very very surprised of how awesome the quality is. The cover is kinda cheap, but knowing that this is a replica of a well known brand (Spoon), if I need to I can buy new covers for the seats from Spoon. The harness slots are sturdy and wouldn't pop out at all, and the seat has very little flex in it. No flex at all when actually mounted inside the cabin. This is perfect for me to use as a daily driver seat, and at 250 shipped all I can say is "hells yeah".

When sitting in the seat, it easily sits two inches lower than the stock seats. The steering wheel literally looks a lot smaller than it was before. I think that contrary to what everyone believes, the stock steering wheel isn't too big for the car, the seats are just too high! Also using the stock seatbelts with this seat was very easy, too. The stock seatbelts are made by Tanaka, so they'll keep you planted better than any other OEM seatbelt anyway. That and I don't have the money for Tanaka 4 point harness, so I'll settle for OEM Tanaka 3-points.

Installation

Very easy... kinda. I took the sidemounts that they gave me and I threw away the sliders. I just decided to use the stock brakets/sliders from under the stock seats. I had to drill one new hole on the sliders on each side, left and right. I lined it up with the sidemounts they gave me, so use one stock hole and one new drilled hole. I used the second slot on the sidemount from the outside.



Mounting inside the car took an hour. This is because the #@%#@^%# carpet kept bunching up and prevented me from screwing the bolts in!!!! I ended up taking a utility knife and re-cutting my stock carpet to accommodate my tools. But at least I didn't have to drill any new holes in the chassis. The stock sliders were able to find their way into the stock locations. This is partly due to the very nice design of the sidemounts. The sidemounts have slots in them so you can angle it a little to accommodate any mounting situation.

Each side of the sidemount has three mounting holes. On the front I used the middle hole and on the rear I used the very bottom. Excellent seating position for me.



Here is the seat mounted in the car. Note how I have the lap belt routed through the side. This is very useful, because it allows the sash belt to rest on top, and I don't have to reach and look for the seatbelt if it falls behind the seat when I take it off.

Tranquil

iTrader: (1)

Here is a comparison between the stock seat (left) and the F1Spec Seat.



Lastly, I'm able to close the door without it hitting the seat, although I can only fit one finger between the door and the seat.

nick812

Nice looks great.

83rx7boy92

nice

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

Good write up, we need more of these.

Now the questions, lol. How thick is the padding compared to the stock seat, is it firm, medium, soft, and what do you expect the comfort level to be on long trips? Do the side bolsters make getting in and out any harder, remember, I'm old and not as flexible as the young whippersnappers, and how is the width between the bolsters. Relating the width between the bolsters to your body size would help.

I had a TII seat in the widebody for a long road trip and couldn't stand it. The side leg bolster constantly poked my thigh. These seats look like they might work better. Are they FIA certified?

nick812

whippersnappers LOL been forever since I heard that. All I can say is I love the look but after looking closer I dont think My fat @ss would fit in them. LOL My GF has been telling me if I really want to do a weight reducation on my car I should lose 30lbs. LOL

Tranquil

iTrader: (1)

1. Padding

The padding is very very firm. It is actually just a thin layer of foam between the fabric cover and the fiberglass. The ergonomics of the seat, more than make up for the lack of the cushioning. Its fits you so well you feel very very comfortable. It also fits up to a 40 inch waste, so no bolster will be poking you anywhere, only holding you nicely.

The stock seats have foam supported by archaic spring thingys. This seat is a lot better than that shizat.



2. Getting in and out

The seat's fiberglass is strong and flex free enough that you can swing your left leg over it to get out. If you have a hard time manuvering yourself you'll have to slide the side all the way back and then get out. I find it easy, considering I hurt my back last week. All you have to do is with your left arm support yourself on the bottom of the door opening as you get out and its not hard at all. Unless you're a fatass. Then it *might*. I don't know.

Yet again, the ergonomics are so good that this seat will probably keep you both relaxed and very awake (being in a neutral seating position and not reclined) so I would imagine it would be very good on road trips.

FIA Certification

Nope, not *yet*. The company says its working for it, but I think it might be talk. Honestly who gives a **** if it's going to be used on the road and maybe autocross. Unless you need an FIA cert I see no reason to even have this in mind. The seat is safe and comfortable. Because its a fixed back seat I have no reason to think otherwise on safety when compared to an OEM reclining seat.

Personally

I think that having this seat could make my FB an "RZ" type like the FD. The RX edition of the FD had two recaro race buckets. If there were an RZ edition FB I think it would have two of these seats in it.

Tranquil

iTrader: (1)

What is your waist and chest? I had a few of my fatass friends sit in it and they said it was fine.

Pretty much anything up to a 40" waist will be very comfortable in this. I'm a 32" inch waist and I think its amazing. Not tight but still holds well with room to spare.

Rx7carl

Looks nice. Those seats look narrow enough to work in our cars. My aftermarket cheap ebay APC style "race/rice" seats are too damn wide.

Tranquil

iTrader: (1)

Two last note I forgot to add

Dimensions

Here are the dimensions. I would not advise anyone to mount any side mount seat larger than this in their FB.



If the seat is bottom mount, remove an inch or two from the top of the seat, and those are the dimensions you should shoot for.

Headroom

I said that the seat was about two inches lower than stock. This is excellent because the seat back is two inches higher than stock.

This makes the seat's headrest at the same point where the stock seats are.

RE-Amemiya

I like the new seat!

woodonastick

iTrader: (1)

thats awsome. 250 seat PLUS slide sidemoutning. wats the site that u got it from. i saw gona wait for a buddyclub slide sidemount but i dont know when thats gonna happen.

Tranquil

iTrader: (1)

https://www.rx7club.com/interior-exterior-audio-26/f1spec-gauging-interest-being-rx-7-sponsored-seller-full-bucket-racing-seats-579004/

and www.f1spec.com

Their website needs a lot of attention, but it seems the majority of their sales are through forums and other stores. I did a google search and there are a lot of internet aftermarket parts venders that are carrying them, now.

KeloidJonesJr.

iTrader: (8)

Dude! You still got carpets in yoru car? Yes, brackets can get expensive. Good stuff.

legokcen

iTrader: (8)

That rocks! I just bought a Sparco Ultra to install in the RX-7 track car. Kirkey still needs a couple more weeks with the 4-pt bar though.... I just got online to see if anyone had installed a seat in a first gen. Man, you're awsome! Looks great too!



Waiting to go in the car!

gonzz

Good write-up

aussiesmg

iTrader: (1)

X2 Nick....lol

Great writeup and detail, good job, like these seats, keep us informed as you use them Tranquil....

diabolical1

iTrader: (3)

great writeup and i, too, am curious about how this thing feels on long roadtrips. i must say it looks very tempting though. thanks and keep us posted over the long haul.

Kentetsu

Nice writeup. You seem to feel that the seat fits you very well, which brings me to my question(s); What are your dimensions? Height, inseam, waist? Just for comparison reasons because it might not be a good fit for all sizes. Thanks for taking the time to put this together.

owen is fat

awesome write up!
I have the same F1Sped Spoon replica in my FC.
mounting was simple and I modded their sliders and mounts to make the seat as low as possible, I think I'm an inch or two lower than stock FC seats which is a huge improvement.

you were wise to use the stock sliders, as the ones I got from F1spec only lock on one side and the seat moves forward a hair under hard hard braking and I will switch back to stock sliders when I get the time since I feel they are much safer and stronger.

Tranquil

iTrader: (1)

I'm 5'10 with a 32" waist 33inseem, and 145lbs. Obviously I'm not a big guy, but my step-dad sat in it and he's 6'3 @200+.

Tranquil

iTrader: (1)

Update

I realized something that was hidden by Mazda, you could say.

The non locking slider *does* move around, a lot. This was originally hidden by the fact that the $#%$ stock seats were so $%$# heavy. Mazda probably didn't feel the need to have a double locking slider because the seats were so heavy and the consumer wouldn't notice.

Well, I *know* that my one side that locks will never unlock itself because I've never heard of that happening with one of these sets before. Its just a matter of if the minor movement will become annoying if it pops up while driving.

Pele

iTrader: (28)

Look into DSM sliders. I have parts of a DSM seat on my porch. It has dual locking sliders with a cable so that they are actuated by a single lever.

I'll have to look at my Civic's sliders as well. (And my truck's and the Geo Metro's. I have too many ******* cars on my lawn.)

Do you know what Model Spoon brand seat that is a copy of? I need an approved seat.

Tranquil

iTrader: (1)

I think all of spoon's seats are the same. Just in carbon fiber or kevlar or not.

owen is fat

the F1spec seat is much wider than a real deal Spoon seat, probably by 1.5 inches in the rump and 2 inches at the front edge.

if you need an approved seat you are better off buying a Momo Start as they can be had onlinbe for around $250 shipped and are FIA approved as well as able to be mounted super low like these Spoon replicas and theyre lightweight.