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How to put a Kirkey Drag Race Seat in a Challenger

DRAGRCR

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#1
I was hesitant to do this until I finally sat in one in a couple Freinds cars. Most of us use the17" wide seat. All of us have a little extra but not much overweight. Shortest is 5'7" and.......One friend is 6'6" tall and he can sit in my Seat with 1/2" clearance to the headliner (Helmet on). But he DOES want the seat back farther. In his own car I am pretty sure he uses the same seat, but 18.5" wide.
I wanted my setup to be as light as possible and to be as versatile as possible. So I extended my steering column back/out all the way. I have to extend my foot to get WOT but can get hard on the brake pedal. Arm length is fine. With this setup I am thinking 6' drivers should fit ok. Much shorter than me and you will need 2" foam behind your back and we do have it handy.
I am going to ramble a lot and be sure and read all before each image.

Seat is a Kirkey 55170 Pro Street Drag. It has an 18 deg lay back and based on my Brackets the layback is even more. But I dislike the seat to be reclined a lot so I bet most will be OK with this setup.
I chose a Black Tweed KirKey seat cover. It has intergal foam that fits awesome. So,100% reccomended. 5517011.
Use a Mopar 1VL12DX9AE Seat Belt Buckle. Dremmel off the clocking pin or drive it out. Do NOT cut the wires off, since it makes it less useful.
Brackets are OMP HC925 36 hole, tall, aluminum. This is the ONLY Bracket that I found was tall enough and long enough to span the floor bolt pattern.
Floor mounting bolts are 10X1.5X30mm and I got TI here : https://www.ebay.com/itm/133507068513?var=432966129557
Seat mounting bolts are 5/16X1.25 UHL. I used TI fine thread.
Seat Belt Guide Mopar 1UV47DX9AA .


The first go round I used the Planted Steel Base for 2008+ Challenger Driver Side and their Aluminum Side Brackets. But that stuff is HEAVY. If you just want something to bolt in this would be the way to go. But you are still going to have to drill four 5/16" mounting holes in the side of the seat. I bet that setup unmodified would be 10-12 pounds heavier. It can use the same seat belt buckle. If you do not want to fabricate anything then most of the following will not be of much help, except the mounting bolt holes you could follow the same procedure, I think.

I also am going to talk about a wider seat. The next size up is an 18.5". One good thing about using the spacers with the 17" seat is it moves the bracket out from being flush with the side of the seat. If you did not use spacers it would be a good idea to dress down that weld bead some with a flat file because it sticks out a little. So this setup could easily be used with the 18.5" seat. You would use NO spacers between the brackets and the side of the seat, and the enlargments in the base slots where the floor mounting bolts go would move over .25". Then the bracket to seat mounting bolts would be 5/16X.75" UHL (under head length).

I made my Brackets and then ended up making 2 more sets. I layed out the cut lines a little different for the last 2 sets and I like they way they look way better.

This is the first set. If you pay attention you can see what holes are used and copy these. Except I would lay the cut lines out slightly different as you will see. This is MY SEAT SET for the 5'9" driver (give or take). I am 5'9" tall and 185 pounds. This bracket weighs 1.2 pounds, or less as pictured.

0516221712 (1).jpg

Here are the second sets. You can see I layed out the cut line more direct and it turned out much better. Also NOTE, one of these sets is for a taller Driver and is moved back ONE SLOT. This is as far as you can go back with these brackets since that was the last slot available. But be advised you COULD get the seat back about 3/4 to 1" farther by drilling the mounting holes farther forward on the seat.

0529221022.jpg

OK, the floor mounting bolts fall right in line with the side of the seat. So in order to use these brackets you will need to use 1" of spacers total to move the brackets out. I used the remnants to make the spacers. So, two 1/4" spacers between the bracket and the seat on each mounting bolt. They must be large OD so you have lots of shear for strength. Here is a finished pic so you can see the result.

ALSO NOTE, the slots in the bracket do not line up exact with the floor bolt pattern and they are not wide enough, since they are for a 3/8" bolt VS the 10mm we are using. You have to enlarge the slot anyways, so kill 2 birds with one stone. I split the difference and file both end holes 1/8" twoards each other. This is clearly shown in this Pic, lower right.

0603221016.jpg

The next thing is, I did not want the bracket sitting on the carpet and crushing the carpet and possibly the result is the bolts come loose. So, I used some of the other Remnants to make 1/4" thick Aluminum floor spacers. You could carefully cut the carpet and that way the bracket would sit metal on Metal and the bracket/seat would sit 1/4" lower.

Floor spacers seen in the pic on the right.

0603220949b.jpg

If you go the full route I will give you some tips. It is easier to lay out all your cut lines and cut the bracket down BEFORE trying to hole saw and drill any lightening holes. It's fits on the drill press table better. It is also WAY EASIER to lay out your cut lines for the FLOOR SPACERS and cut them first or at the same time as the basic shape of the bracket. I even drilled the holes to 10mm before cutting since that is easier too. I used a scribe and just scratched the black paint for my cut lines. I also buffed all the paint off with an silicon carbide deburring stringy disc in a hand drill. This de burrs all the holes. As seen in the one pic. Then I hit them on a belt sander etc to dial them in.

Now you need to drill the holes in the seat. 5/16" holes. Measure from the farthest back flat surface 3/4" and then measure up 3/4". It's important to do a nice job here, so take your time. I used a punch to locate the canter and drilled a 1/8" pilot hole, then 5/16. Now go to the correct location in the front and draw a line 3/4" up on the side. Next put a temporary short 5/16 Bolt and nut in the back hole you just drilled. Use the bracket as a template and center on the line you just drew. I also center punched and did a pilot hole first just to be sure. A transfer punch would be ideal here. I did this complete setup for a Friend and it turned out great. The seat with brackets installed does not rock on the bench. My personal one did. Not sure if my mounting holes were skewed or if my seat is slightly warped.

Also NOTE: if you want the seat back farther then you can drill these holes farther forward. Pay attention because there is not much practiacl useable room left to go forward.

You can see the seat belt buckle bolts directly to the side bracket with a 1/2" bolt. I used a 1/2" drill bit to do some of the lightening holes and so I had a couple different ones to use. The cover kind of straddles the aluminum so the buckle needs to be a little higher than you might think with the cover off.

0603220950a.jpg

I made a couple small brackets and bolted on a seat belt guide. It has to be shortened but this sould be a reasonable location for most drivers.

0603220950b.jpg

Hellcat Dan's setup, Ready to bolt in. TOTAL 18.8 pounds including Seat Belt Buckle, all bolts and floor spacers etc. Good luck.

0603220950.jpg
 


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DRAGRCR

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In the one Pic you can see the Airbag Light Bypass Harnesses I made for Dan. One is for the Pass side. The other is for the drivers side and that is the one with the small grey connector. If you buy the seat belt Buckle number I listed, it will plug right into this device and then the seat belt light will function like Stock OEM. I call this the divorced setup and I prefer this on my own car.
 


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Ricky Racer

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#3
Great job Ron, PM me if you ever decide to make more of these as I don’t have access to a machine shop. I appreciate all that you do.
 


Ricky Racer

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#4
Ron; I’m going to do this myself, thanks for all the information you provided. I have purchased the seat, seat cover, omp brackets, floor mounting bolts, have not ordered the seat belt guide yet. I think this will be a good winter project.
 


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Its at this point, the SXT looks like a really nice car to buy to cut up and make a race car out of LOL

Looking good Ron
 


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DRAGRCR

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Thread Starter #6
Ron; I’m going to do this myself, thanks for all the information you provided. I have purchased the seat, seat cover, omp brackets, floor mounting bolts, have not ordered the seat belt guide yet. I think this will be a good winter project.
I don't have a machine shop. I only had to use a really good bench top drill press, variable speed with a 5/8" chuck, a 4X36 belt sander and a hand drill and a saber saw, clamps and a drill press vice.

I use this cutter kit. Expensive (shop around) but they will work and work and work.....

https://www.amazon.com/Blair-BLR11091-Diameter-broach-Rotabroach/dp/B005TQWUXU

I also used a coarse saber saw blade. Something like 14 teeth per inch. I would spray a little WD40 right on my cut line and go for it. It's a little massy but that one blade did not load up or even get dull. Clamp the bracket to edge of a table using blocks of wood when necessary. Same on the drill press. You clamp the bracket to the drill press table using a block of wood so the cutter can cut through and not damage the table. I only use the vice to drill the smaller pieces.

Any other questions just ask.........
 


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Ricky Racer

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#7
Will those opm brackets work as is? I already bought your driver and passenger side seat belt harness.
 


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DRAGRCR

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Ricky Racer

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Ron; tell me more about the air bag bypass harness, I bought a buckle for the drivers side of my demon a few months back from you that was supposed to be all I needed, it does not have the small grey connector, it’s a buckle with a large yellow connector,
 


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Here’s a picture of the harness. So this only takes care of the air bag light and not the seat belt light?
 


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Thanks Ron for all the information, your post has inspired me to take on this project. I’m not sure what the drivers side seat weighs but I know it’s a lot. Guessing 80#. I’m still collecting all the part’s needed and will start as soon as racing season is over.
 


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Is there anyway u can make me a set of these for my kirkey seat I have a 17” seat and I’m having a hard time finding much info on these for hellcats! Email:Dazleillusional2@icloud.com so we can talk more I’m very interested in this!!!!
 


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#13
Ron; another seat belt question, I took my drivers side seat out today and it looks like I cannot use the buckle that’s on it, so I have to buy the buckle pictured above correct?
 


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Anybody that knows of anything that is a TAG that needs to be pulled form the Midwest to the Southwest. Let me know. Dropping off a Trailer in Wisconsin soon and will be just me and the Ram coming home........
 


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Got the seat belt guide from Mopar today part number #1uv46dx9aa, and it’s for the right side or passenger seat so I have to take it back.
 


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i finished up my seat install today. I took the brackets over to my friends house yesterday, he has a drill press and a band saw, it took us about an hour and a half to make all the cuts and drill the holes. The install went well following Ron’s instructions. My seat wobbled a little as well sitting on the work bench but once it was all bolted down it was fine. Weight savings about 48 pounds! Can’t wait to see how fast the car goes now. Thanks again Ron.
 


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OK, I had a chance to make a set of brackets for a 18.5" Kirley Seat. SO, you will lose the spacers on the side of the seat. I dressed down the welds some because the bracket sits flush with the side of the seat now. Then you move the notch for the 10 MM Floor bolts over 1/4". Now they are more ideally in the center of the slot.......... 0822221727a.jpg
 


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More pics to give you some ideas as this last set progressed.

0902220710.jpg 0902220837.jpg 0902221047.jpg
 


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Its at this point, the SXT looks like a really nice car to buy to cut up and make a race car out of LOL

Looking good Ron
Haven't raced since the mid 70's...my HC and Demon are just too pretty to mod to any extent...but if my wife gets her way...and I retire in the next year and a half...a very healthy Challenger based SXT..race car would be just what I need to pass the time...
 


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0906221307.jpg
 




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