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If you're shopping for aftermarket seats, which most of you probably are not, then you might've discovered that finding good-quality, correct-fitting seat brackets and sliders can be a challenge. Many brands are designed generically and don't fit as claimed, but Wedge brackets and sliders fit 3rdgens perfectly.
I've had a new seat project in progress for about a year now, but it wasn't until a web search last Monday, which led me to a 4thgen forum, that I learned of Wedge, brand, seat brackets. I emailed, and Judd got back to me immediately and sold me on Wedge. So I ordered on Tuesday, received them Friday(yesterday), and test-fit them Friday evening(last night).
The driver seat went in perfectly!
Next was the passenger seat, where other brands fail, and it fit too!
Seat height tends to be the issue for aftermarket brackets, with seats mounting at different heights, or just too high. But with these brackets, seat height was consistent for both seats, matching each other's height as well as can be expected, stock-ish, right where they should be.
Wedge also offers sliders for its seat brackets. Strong, good-quality and double-locking, but only with bolt patterns for Recaro and Corbeau seats. Turned out, the brand I'm installing matched the Corbeau bolt pattern. And I'd suspect most racing seats probably use one of those two bolt patterns, too, considering most seats are clones. So get in touch with Wedge, because they might fit whatever seats you want to install. If not, then for a small additional fee, the sliders can probably be drilled to match the seat you're going to install.
So the seat brackets fit my Formula perfectly. And the sliders fit my new seats perfectly. So for people who are looking for great quality seat brackets and sliders that really do fit 3rdgens correctly, allowing for a clean, proper installation of your aftermarket/racing seats... get Wedge!
Last edited by LAFireboyd; 03-06-2020 at 01:59 PM.
The Thirdgen community is one that would rather bolt in used seats from another car before getting their original seats reupholstered. When you start talking about $100 for a set of seat brackets, the audience goes into sticker shock. "My dad is a TV repair man" followed by some random mention of welding something to the stock brackets, probably flows like a raging river behind the blank expression.
This is a really nice write up! I don't know why nobody else has posted. What seats did you install, and which sliders did you use?
DR.K.
I would guess this is a big factor...
Originally Posted by LAFireboyd
If you're shopping for aftermarket seats, which most of you probably are not...
But it is a good thread, very informative, and lots of good images. This site has SO MANY answers for those who come here looking for them....Thanks for sharing this LAFireboyd.
I would also be interested in what seats were used and some additional pictures of how high the seats fit in relation to the roof. I'm doing aftermarket seats eventually and was just planning on reworking the stock brackets but this has me intrigued.
Oh, hey! Like Dave highlighted, I didn't expect this thread to be of interest to most people, but nice to see a few people.
I'm not quite ready to reveal my seats. You see foam in the pics because Princess has the upholstery. She's tailoring custom leather for them. She and I have become like brother and sister over the last 8 months! She... is... a.. trip!!!
I propped the seats up on the stock sliders, and height and width were both good. They're taller than stock, but not too tall for the interior. I have a pic through the windshield that shows them with good clearance. But resting the seats on the stock sliders vs mounting them on the stock sliders would be different, due to the curvature of the stock sliders, which would've formally mounted the seats too high. So my search was on for seat brackets and sliders to mount them appropriately, and I had just about given up, when I found Wedge.
The supposed "number one" brand, after which most ebay brackets are cloned, took a lazy, universal approach to the passenger seat bracket. Our passenger side has a protruding brace on that side of the trans tunnel, and those brands mount the passenger seat high, over that brace, rather than using narrower brackets that would fit low, like our stock sliders do. And other brands mount the driver's seat too high, for whatever reason, or so I've read. But Wedge told me their brackets were designed to fit like stock, and they really do. So with these brackets, the seat bottoms mount at almost exactly the same height as our stock seat bottoms, on both sides, which is nice.
The sliders are already attached to the brackets in my pics. They're also from Wedge, sent attached. They're double-locking, safe for racing. They bolt up to Recaro or Corbeau, each with a different bolt pattern. But for $15 each, they would've drilled the sliders to fit my seats. But when he told me the bolt patterns, mine matched Corbeau. So like I said in my original post, since most aftermarket/racing seats are clones of one another, there's a good chance that whatever brand seats somebody wants to install, these sliders will fit them. If not, then Wedge will drill them for you. But my seats are not clones. They're, well, pretty cool, I think, and it took three months to get them made. And Princess has had the covers for about 6 months. But it wasn't until about a week before I posted this thread that I found Wedge brackets and sliders, which took a huge load off of my mind.
New carpet is due to arrive Monday, so that will be installed long before the seats are ready. Then when everything is installed, and the interior of my Formula has "that new car smell" again, of carpet and leather, that's when I plan to reveal in another thread that already exists for aftermarket seats. I prefer to post things when they're ready, not sooner. And I'm not good with progress pics. But knowing the seat brackets and sliders are 100%, it was ok to post them now. But it will be a few months before the seats and interior are ready to show.
They look great and I'm glad you found a solution. They look taller than the stock brackets/rails. Maybe Wedge could do some extremely low profile seat rails if asked nicely, but those would never work for me. I swapped my GTA seat rails with Fiero seat rails to get more headroom.
They look great and I'm glad you found a solution. They look taller than the stock brackets/rails. Maybe Wedge could do some extremely low profile seat rails if asked nicely, but those would never work for me. I swapped my GTA seat rails with Fiero seat rails to get more headroom.
I heard about the Fiero seat sliders solution back in 2006. I found a set on ebay for 25 bucks and bought 'em. I was initially disappointed, they were only 1" lower then the stock rails.
I was amazed when I put them in the car though. The difference was amazing! Was that your experience?
I'm greedy though ... still lookin for an extra inch or two.
LA Fireboys ... a couple of questions
1. Are you French, or do you live in Los Angeles?
2. In the pics, it looks like the seats are spaced up off the brackets. Is that right? If it is, did you do that to raise the seat height?
Hi Sean. I'm not French. If I was, I think it might be spelled L'Fireboyd? I work and live in Los Angeles, but I've been a resident of Nevada for two years now. So after more than three decades in **** California, my Formula has finally escaped and resides happily in the emissions-free Nevada desert.
Wedge installed a 1/8" spacer between the brackets and the sliders, I'd guess to account for possible variances within the steel framework of the brackets, and possible variances within the steel construction of the sliders. And the seat manufacturer's hardware includes a 3/16" spacer for use between the steel framework of the seats and the sliders, most likely for the same reasons. But all construction looks precise, so all of those can probably be removed, potentially lowering the seating position by up to 5/16", which, like you stated, might not seem like a lot, until you make the adjustment. As for the framework of the seats, that's just the way they're constructed. I'm not familiar with other brands of aftermarket seats, but I'd guess other legitimate brands are constructed similarly.
Given all of that, the seating position/height seems relatively "normal" as assembled. So with thicker, thinner, or no spacers, it would appear that the height could be slightly adjusted, if necessary. I'm 6'-1"/175#, and I'm comfortable, but with such variables in mind, I would be able to make minor adjustments later, if I feel the need to do so.
I doubt these would fit our stock seats. These and other aftermarket brackets and sliders have a flat profile. But our stock one-piece bracket/slider is curved, and the framework on the underside of the stock seat is curved similarly, but it's not very apparent until you disassemble them. So if someone could get stock seats to fit on aftermarket brackets/sliders, the seats would probably sit an inch or so higher than the stock height. Same with trying to mount our stock bracket/slider onto the underside of aftermarket seats. But if one or the other might work, then it looks like there's more of a possibility to mount stock seats to aftermarket brackets.
I'm not familiar with Fiero seat brackets, but if they're flat, and people are mounting stock 3rdgen seats onto them without issues, then that would confirm that our stock seats apparently can be mounted to flat brackets and sliders. Since you've worked with the Fiero brackets, then you probably have more insight on this than most people.
Hi Sean. I'm not French. If I was, I think it might be spelled L'Fireboyd? I work and live in Los Angeles, but I've been a resident of Nevada for two years now. So after more than three decades in **** California, my Formula has finally escaped and resides happily in the emissions-free Nevada desert.
Wedge installed a 1/8" spacer between the brackets and the sliders, I'd guess to account for possible variances within the steel framework of the brackets, and possible variances within the steel construction of the sliders. And the seat manufacturer's hardware includes a 3/16" spacer for use between the steel framework of the seats and the sliders, most likely for the same reasons. But all construction looks precise, so all of those can probably be removed, potentially lowering the seating position by up to 5/16", which, like you stated, might not seem like a lot, until you make the adjustment. As for the framework of the seats, that's just the way they're constructed. I'm not familiar with other brands of aftermarket seats, but I'd guess other legitimate brands are constructed similarly.
Given all of that, the seating position/height seems relatively "normal" as assembled. So with thicker, thinner, or no spacers, it would appear that the height could be slightly adjusted, if necessary. I'm 6'-1"/175#, and I'm comfortable, but with such variables in mind, I would be able to make minor adjustments later, if I feel the need to do so.
I doubt these would fit our stock seats. These and other aftermarket brackets and sliders have a flat profile. But our stock one-piece bracket/slider is curved, and the framework on the underside of the stock seat is curved similarly, but it's not very apparent until you disassemble them. So if someone could get stock seats to fit on aftermarket brackets/sliders, the seats would probably sit an inch or so higher than the stock height. Same with trying to mount our stock bracket/slider onto the underside of aftermarket seats. But if one or the other might work, then it looks like there's more of a possibility to mount stock seats to aftermarket brackets.
I'm not familiar with Fiero seat brackets, but if they're flat, and people are mounting stock 3rdgen seats onto them without issues, then that would confirm that our stock seats apparently can be mounted to flat brackets and sliders. Since you've worked with the Fiero brackets, then you probably have more insight on this than most people.
l'Boyd the Fiero seat brackets are flat. So are the "tilt-back" manual brackets that were available on 3rd and 4th gens. I'm 6'5" and somewhere North of 300, so I'm lookin for every bit of headroom I can get!
Those seat sliders look thinner than the stock ones. It appears to me that you could get some additional headroom if you could use them and bolt the seat directly to them without any spacers.
Last edited by seanof30306; 04-15-2020 at 03:12 PM.
Even without the 5/16" worth of spacers, I don't think these will lower you enough to give you the headroom you're hoping to get, Sean. And I couldn't suggest such an expensive experiment. T-tops, if you have them, are probably your head's best friend.
My factory sliders are definitely not flat, they're curved, or maybe it's better to say they have an arc. And they don't tilt, which seems like it should be a feature of the Custom/Deluxe Interior, which my 87 has, but I don't have such sliders. The seatbacks tilt back, but the sliders don't. So they're apparently different than the ones you've described.
But these are very close to matching the height of my stock sliders, so if Fiero sliders lowered you, then that might be the best you'll be able to do with a slider.
There are floor mounted seat brackets that mount on the sides of the seats. They don't slide, but you can mount the seat as far back as you'd need, which you can't do on a bracket without a slider. They would place the seats almost on the floor, too. They're for racing, so most of the reputable seat manufacturers probably offer them. Might be the best option for a tall person such as yourself, but I doubt they'll fit stock seats. And I don't know if any of them would match the 3rdgen pattern for mounting them into the car, without having to modify to fit.
I heard about the Fiero seat sliders solution back in 2006. I found a set on ebay for 25 bucks and bought 'em. I was initially disappointed, they were only 1" lower then the stock rails.
I was amazed when I put them in the car though. The difference was amazing! Was that your experience?
Thanks
I think they were worth the install but I'd still like some more headroom. I removed the pump for the power lumbar because it couldn't fit with the lower rails but if I relocate it further under the seat I may have room for it.
New here and new to the 3rd Gen. I am currently looking to buy the Corbeau seats as its the quickest and most economical way to get a nice new seat. I see a lot about the Fiero seat brackets and how it works for the driver side as well as the 4th gen brackets. Curious if everyone buying used original Fiero brackets with sliders or are they getting them from Wedge? And also what year Fiero or does it matter?
I want to lower the seat and I like the Fiero bracket idea but not sure if that should come from Wedge or a slavage yard
02-29-2020, 02:50 AM
