Bead seats

Where are you getting your bead seats these days?

I called Pennon but they are now apparently closed.

What do you recommend for a bead seat?

Bald Spot Sports : CREAFOAM SEAT KITS

I've been selling quite a few of the HANS seats from Raceparts UK.

http://www.racing-stuff.com/hans_seat.htm

Speed Seat Factory... Very high quality and fantastic service. :thumbsup:

http://speedseatfactory.com/Full_Cir...mula/Home.html

Ethan

Just ordered a Creafoam seat kit from Pegasus Racing today.

Feff

A+B seats provide a feel of the car/track better than nothing or a not-fit-to-order seat but IMHO provide little in the way of serious protection because the seat is full of gas-by-product-irregular bubbles - my neurosurgeon can use my spinal X-rays as an argument - I can use the roughly $100,000 worth of medical bills

A bead seat can be called a single impact seat - better IMHO

An EPP seat [or multiple impact seat] - best

but nothings perfect - there's the chance of me with an EPP seat still being paralyzed anyway.

But the intent is to get back on that horse again.

Call Speed Seat, your seat is just as important as you're helmet and you don't build your helmet. Jody and Gayle will do you right.

We are working on what could be a better approach to custom seating.

We need to few weeks to finish up the details and we will release the program.

Gents, what does one use as a vacuum source when pouring a new bead seat? I was thinking a shop vac, but please offer experience and/or insight. Thanks!

Feff

Shop vac is too much pressure and you won't be able to move the beads around at all.

The low vacuum pumps that the fiberglass guys use are perfect.

Customers who buy kits from me can rent the good vacuum and hot knife as well.

With those two tools you can pour a seat as nice as the pros 99% of the time. Just spend a lot of time on prepping the car.

Remember you have 45 minutes before the epoxy starts to set. Take your time. If it's not right, get out and reset the bag. Don't forget to operate all things in the car you'd want to when belted in. One guy I knew couldn't turn the car with the new seat. Felt great but no spot for the elbows to go.

You can use a shop vac if you rig something to be able to control the amount of vacuum. It is very noisy though. I can't remember if you have to hold the vacuum overnight with a bead seat. That would make for a very noisy night. I thought one of the bead seat companies had a tool kit for rent that included a vacuum pump.

EDIT: Cooley beat me too it.

Simply put......Speed Seat

http://speedseatfactory.com

Call Jody today!

You do not need to hold a vacuum overnight, the valve on our bag holds it long enough to set, and then some.
With the HANS seat you can use either a shop vac or a foot pump model (at track).
We pull a slight vacuum first, set the driver, then pull the rest.

I did use a shop vac with a garden hose y fitting/ball valve gizmo thing.. It works great, but is noisy as hell!! Someone suggested attaching a long garden hose so you can run the vac in a shed or something and save your ears. Or do as the smart people above do :)

I use the beaded seat like the Taxi drivers use, large rollers woven together, allows ventilation and posterior muscle movement to work the pedals as well as a groovy feeling after a session!! ........... OK, enough humor, my breathalyzer on the mouse is zero sooooo .... 100 mph straight in a tire wall shunt, kicked my nose straight up into the air, experienced sense of humor made me giggle, wanted to push a button on the dash to launch into space, came down with a harsh sLAAaammm on heels and forward legs, ouch!!, was glad I had a nomex covered sculpted bead or foam seat under me, in the seventies had a folded quilted bedspread, $0 ... LOL!!!

Ralph:
I have a lab grade vacuum pump you can use.
Give me a call at home 330-563-4313

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Feffman

Just ordered a Creafoam seat kit from Pegasus Racing today.

Feff

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Well that was a bust, even with "experienced" assistance. :mad:

Off to Speed Seat Factory Saturday.

Feff

What happened? I'll be doing my own seat soon, so it's good to know what can go wrong.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by stephen wilson

What happened? I'll be doing my own seat soon, so it's good to know what can go wrong.

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Simply didn't work. Bag wrapped up into the beads, too thin in a few spots, too thick in others, not sure the resin/hardener mix was adequate, etc., etc. Let's just chalk it up to lack of experience.

I'm always saying to people "If you have a $100 head, buy a $100 helmet". I'm pseudo taking my own advice, hauling to Milwaukee Saturday morning to spend 4-5 hours having Jody at Speed Seat ( www.SpeedSeatFactory.com) do a proper seat for me. It's not cheap but then my wife for some reason thinks I'm nuts not to do it.

Fortunately, I was headed that way for our Autobahn track day anyway.

Feff

Anybody doing them out west. I have tried twice with bead and not quite right both times. Last one i thought would be better but came out too thin in areas and not enough wrap around. Getting frustrated at getting it right.

I haven't done my seat yet, but I would think you can correct any problems by shaving material, or adding it where required. You should be able to mix a thick bead/Epoxy slurry to build up thin spots, it just won't be vacuum bagged. I don't know what it costs, but I think Bald Spot will create a copy of this "pattern".

I've only done one seat but it came out almost perfect..

The gardening ball valve y-fitting thing is great cause it lets you vary the amount of vacuum.. After you mix the beads and epoxy, apply a small amount of vacuum and shape it to roughly the shape you need (did you draw the lines in the bag, etc?). Put the seat inside the car and sit on it.. There should be enough vacuum that it mostly holds its shape, but can still mold to you with enough force. I just kinda twisted and turned until the seat felt perfectly adjusted. Crank the vacuum to full force and take a nap!

If you don't apply enough vacuum while you're doing the final fitting, you'll sink through the beads and end up with thin spots..

my experiences here

Rick:

What a great write-up. These are the best directions to making a bead seat that I have seen. You should publish it. Better than any directions out there.

Thanks! I'll be doing my seat this afternoon.

:thumbsup:

That bedspread is looking better all tthe time, COMFY

We did my beadseat on Sunday and it turned out to be quite comfortable. However, is doesn't look very good. I found it tough to smooth out the poly bag and eliminate or reduce folds.

I would also recommend using something more rigid than corrugated to seal off. The pressure from me in the seat pushed the corrugated out and caused the beads to surround a frame member. Very difficult to remove. Took me 90 minutes to get the seat out the first time with some colorful language.

Aaaah ! Colorful language. That's the key ! Thx for the heads up. I was using a crow bar & a torch.... :)

Two tricks I learned that might be useful.

After you block off the frame members with cardboard or your material of choice, put a thin blanket or sheet in the cockpit before you put the bag of beads in.

Then when you are ready to pull the bead bag out, pull the corners of the sheet togther in the center like a hobo bag and pop it right out. It also offers any layer of isolation from the bag going into the corners of the frame.

To trim the seat you don't need a hot knife or any thing fancy or expensive. Go to the sporting goods store and buy a Rapala's fish filet knife or go to Walmart and buy a cheap electric carving knife. Works like a champ.

Or, I could use my wife's high end carving knife in the kitchen!