Sunday morning: update time.

Time to finally finish up the stitching on the roll bar. Originally I designed the main harness hoop to be one continuous piece of leather from side to side, however I realized I needed to change this to three separate pieces so that the harnesses would rest on the bare metal itself and not rub the leather and stitching over time.

While using harnesses that mount to or drape over a roll bar you want to install a collar system to ensure the belts stay precisely where they’re supposed to be. I had some silver collars but once mounted to the bar they stuck out like a sore thumb.

Easy fix; paint them in a wrinkle black finish to match the bar itself.

Once everything was coated and cured, I noticed another little quirk that needed to be addressed. The black hardware had become crusty and unsightly. I thought a little bit of polished silver hardware would be a nice accent on these.

Much better, right?

Next up on the interior was something I have been wanting for a long time and putting off.

The factory Vader seats are cool looking seats but that’s about as far as it goes in my opinion. They’re uncomfortable, absurdly heavy, provide nearly no bolstering, and my biggest gripe: they sit so high that my head brushes against the headliner.

For a long time my plan was to get Recaro SRD’s since they are period correct and provide decent bolstering, however as my needs have evolved I found that ultimately these wouldn’t provide the level of support I’d like for track days. I switched my focus to another period correct Recaro, one that is still tolerable for a street car but provides a far better hold on the occupants; the Pole Position. The Pole Position has been used as a factory seat in many euro cars and are especially popular in 80’s/90’s Porsches as well.

Since the rest of interior is composed of leather & vinyl, I knew that I would need to get the same for the seats, otherwise the fabric seats would look out of place. For a long time I was considering the newest generation Pole Position, called the ABE, which flares out the lower bolsters to make room for the factory seat belt receptacle. Functional, but looks a little funny in my opinion. Finding a non-ABE in vinyl/leather was proving to be a tough feat, as most of the Porsche guys snag them up quick. I was ready to order a set of ABE’s and call it a day when a listing popped up in one of the BMW groups and only 20 minutes from my house!

I went by the sellers’s house the next day and as I pulled up I found not one but two IMMACULATE E90 M3’s. I’m clearly in the right spot. After chatting for a bit we struck a deal and I came back the following day with some cash and a lot of excitement.

I got home and quickly ripped the Recaro SPG out. I quickly learned a few things:

1. The design of the Pole Position bucket sits lower / the mounting holes are higher than the SPG and the Sparco I had used previously. The shell of the seat base was rubbing on not only the hardware the locates the VAC side mounts to the VAC seat base but it was also so much lower that even without any hardware installed the seat would rub the lower portion of the side mount bracket itself. What this meant was that the lowest rear mounting position possible was on the highest possible hole on the side mount.

2. Doubling down on this inconvenience meant that I was limited to a nearly vertical seating position, as the best I could do with these mounts was all the way up in the rear, all the way up in the front. The seating position is low, but there’s next to no recline with this setup.

Still, I was very happy to get this mounted in the car and sit in the seat I’ve wanted for a couple of years now.

However, the seat mounts needed to be changed. I searched for a while for manual E46 seat sliders to use with the Brey Krause mounts but gave up and secured the regular fixed mount from BK. Originally I was on the fence about this fixed mount but then I realized no one else drives the car and I never change my seating position anyways.

While waiting for the mount, I pulled the seat back out and put it on the bench next to the SPG and learned some other notable things.

• The Pole Position, while still a fixed back bucket seat, offers a noticeable amount less bolstering around the thighs. Great for a street car, less ideal for a track car. Looking at the photo above you can see the sides of the seats tailor down at a 45-degree angle on the PP, while the SPG ends with closer to a 90-degree angle down.
• The PP is almost two inches wider throughout the base of the seat. The mid section is nearly identical and the cushions are interchangeable here.
• The shoulder harness openings are a couple of inches lower on the PP than the SPG.

Eventually the BK seat mount showed up. No glamour shots of these as they’re pretty straightforward, but lots of putting the seat in, sitting, taking the seat back out, making an adjustment, putting the seat back in, sitting…..you get the picture. Finally I landed on a great seating position with a comfortable recline and right where I want to be. The BK mount is slightly off center, like most E36 mounts, but not enough to be uncomfortable. It’s a very low mount and allows a lot of tailoring of the seating position.

Last thing to do was to add the bolster protector and a little flair with some badges I had laying around.

A previous acquaintance stopped by for a conjugal visit.

Lastly, while the weather is still cool I’ve been getting up early on Sunday mornings to go drive uninterrupted. It’s been a pretty enjoyable watching the sun rise from the drivers seat.

Brought my friend and his track prepped AP2 along for the ride last weekend.

Until the next update!