+2 1969 front seats

[grahammay2]

Hello once again Who can advise of whch car the front seats where originally sourced.

Also what others are available that fit & look good.

Many thanks & cheers

[gerrym]

Graham,

As far as I know, the Plus 2 Front seats were unique to Lotus, i.e. not adapted from some other car.

There are various postings describing the good points and downsides from changing to alternative seats. Some people have tried Jag XJS, other Mazda MX5 etc. Have a search and you will find the postings.

Is it integrated headrests you are after, more comfort. If your seats need repair, most faults such as frame breakage, foam wear, rubber split or vinyl restitching can all be addressed. Again there are postings on this forum that can describe what repairs were carried out.

Regards

Gerry

[mikealdren]

Graham,
I think Gerry's right about the seats being unique to the +2 but I think they were adapted from elsewhere. I think they're MGB frames or very similar, can anyone with an MG confirm?

It would make sense as few parts are Lotus specific except where they have to be and seat frames should be something of a commodity from a 3rd party manufacturer. The period trim then lifted the +2 to a (slightly) higher level of luxury, albeit still with plastic trim.

The challenge of alternatives is to fit them on the floor moulding which is adapted for the standard seat rails. I know others have put a flat piece of timber over the mountings and mounted new seats on this.

I've got some Boxster seats, very comfortable and high backed but a bit heavy and I'm contemplating the more radial step of modifying the floor pan to suit.

Mike

[syrius]

About +2 seat

i belive its possible to install a Elite front seat
this seat its also equiped with headrest ( better security )

BR

Serge

[TimButDim]

Here's a question - if I need to replace my knackered driver's seat, can I use a passenger seat from another car? Is it possible to switch the driver's fittings (e.g. the 'tipper' mechanism for accessing the rear seats) between driver and passenger seat?

Thanks!

Tim

[mikealdren]

Sorry Tim,
I'm pretty sure they're handed. The recline lever is fitted onto a square boss and screwed in place. The screw comes loose and the square boss sounds off but I'm sure careful welding or brazing could build it back. Of course the drivers seats always wear out first.

Mike

[JJDraper]

As my +2 is fitted with MGB seats I can confirm that the Lotus ones are not derived from this source. The frames are very different, and frankly the MGB ones are better (fingers in ears for howls). The lotus frame is poorly designed and will snap/bend towards the rear of the lower two rails, especially if the driver is a little hefty (must go on a diet!). The thought of the seat snapping at this point in a moment of heavy manouvering is worrying... I have seen many attempts to repair this flaw and most are doomed! To cap it all, even with head rests the MBG ones are lighter!

Jeremy

[Carlos A]

As my +2 is fitted with MGB seats I can confirm that the Lotus ones are not derived from this source. The frames are very different, and frankly the MGB ones are better (fingers in ears for howls). ...cap it all, even with head rests the MBG ones are lighter! Jeremy

Can we see some pictures?

Carlos

[FEDUP]

Tim
Yes you can use the passenger seat as a replacement for your drivers side seat all you need to do is remove square drive from one side and replace it onto the other side i ground away old peg purchased some 0.250 or 0.375 mild steel square bar .Prepared the opposite side of the frame by filing area flat drilled and tapped 4mm hole in seat frame drilled and tapped one end of square bar 4mm and drilled and tapped other end 6mm screwed some 4mm all thread into frame screwed square peg onto allthread set the peg into position for lever and finally welded peg into position worked fine for me .
regards ian

[JJDraper]

As requested - pics of the MGB seats. These fit easily and do not require any permanent modification to the Lotus. I used the standard Lotus seat sliders, and slightly modified the MGB seat frame to fit by drilling a suitable hole in the front seat rails so that the normal bolt allows the seat to pivot as well as fold.

The look is close to the Lotus, with the addition of period headrests.

Jeremy

[Shiny_kit]

There was a catalog in with PPC magazine this month for Merlin Motorsport, and they have a Cobra "Classic RS" seat which looks very like a modern version of the Elan seat, with head rest.

No idea if it would fit, I'm just going by the picture in the catalogue, but it looks as if it would be a good choice to replace worn out originals, if it can be made to fit... Europa spares have them too - google "Cobra classic rs seats".

[TimButDim]

Tim
Yes you can use the passenger seat as a replacement for your drivers side seat all you need to do is remove square drive from one side and replace it onto the other side i ground away old peg purchased some 0.250 or 0.375 mild steel square bar .Prepared the opposite side of the frame by filing area flat drilled and tapped 4mm hole in seat frame drilled and tapped one end of square bar 4mm and drilled and tapped other end 6mm screwed some 4mm all thread into frame screwed square peg onto allthread set the peg into position for lever and finally welded peg into position worked fine for me .
regards ian

Many thanks Ian!

That's quite a relief as I've just bought another pair of seats the same as mine (knackered driver's, good passenger)!

Phew...

[TimButDim]

Sorry to come back to this point again but are the levers on the seats actually supposed to do anything? Mine don't seem to do much, the seats tip whether the lever is in either position. Is this supposed to happen, or in fact fairly dangerous?

If not I might just shove my spare passenger seat in and let it be!

[andyelan]

Tim

Levers on the seats, at least on the Plus 2S, are for forward/backward adjustment and back rest adjustment. There is no lock to prevent the whole seat tilting. The idea of locking tilt seats must have come in in the early '70s but it was certanly not common place in the late 60s when the Plus 2 was first introduced. Just another reason, I suppose, why many of the '60s designed cars were on borrowed time by the early '70s as safety requirements became more stringent.

To answer the other question, aren't the Plus 2S reclining seats, although unique to Lotus, actually based on Ford seat frames. I always thought they were from the Mk2 Cortina or Escort.

Andy

[TimButDim]

Tim

Levers on the seats, at least on the Plus 2S, are for forward/backward adjustment and back rest adjustment. There is no lock to prevent the whole seat tilting. The idea of locking tilt seats must have come in in the early '70s but it was certanly not common place in the late 60s when the Plus 2 was first introduced. Just another reason, I suppose, why many of the '60s designed cars were on borrowed time by the early '70s as safety requirements became more stringent.

To answer the other question, aren't the Plus 2S reclining seats, although unique to Lotus, actually based on Ford seat frames. I always thought they were from the Mk2 Cortina or Escort.

Andy

Thanks Andy!