pole positions into a 996.....few fitment questions!

Ive had a bit of a look around and can't really find any definitive info after my searches.... I'm trying to put a pair of Recaro Pole Positions into a 996 carrera, so I've got myself the seats, back cloth with a smaller logo, from Capital Seating, look great. Also have the BBI seat bases/side mount/slider kit. (Car is just going to run standard 3 point belts and not harnesses.) This is then supposed to be 'plug n play'......well not exactly, firstly when you sit the BBI 'base' into the car (attached to the seat etc at this point) the holes don't line up exactly with the mounting points in the floor of the car, they kind of line up but its all a bit of a struggle with the treads of the bolds tight up to the sides of the holes, just dosen't seem to sit nicely on the floor, obviously i could open up the holes where required but before i start doing anything 'custom' dose anyone who's fitted these know if you either need to cut away some carpet to get them to sit down nicely, or, as there are some nylon washer/spacers included in the pack, are these designed to sit under the bases at the mounting points to aid alignment?? Then the more important question really is; what have others done about the seat belt receiver mounting? There is a mounting point bracket in the box of bits which I've built up with the base/sides/sliders....what have you used to mount the receiver to this with? there are no bolts supplied, obviously i can make it work with suitably rated bolts/nuts but when you look at the Porsche set up the receiver is held with a stepped washer type bolt which looks a much better idea.. Also on the receiver, when i mocked it up with just a bolt and put the seat into the car, it sits very tight to the centre tunnel so no real room for the receiver, i tried poking the receiver through the hole in the side of the seat, but that's just going to jab you when sat in the seat..... So do i therefore order some receivers with longer 'tails' and either come up through that seat hole or on the outside of the seat next to the tunnel? Any suppliers and length info appreciated! When you look at a GT3 clubsport with the factory bucket seats they have the receiver between the seat and the tunnel, i would have thought that the lower part of the Pole Position ABE is the same width so should be possible? Finally, will i be able to have the seat belt warning light working? As in, can i connect up the wiring from the receiver into the seat loom? Sorry for all the rambling questions but i guess that if you have done this job then the above might make sense! laurence.

I bought the 964 seat belt receiver mount, then edited it a little with an angle grinder. I've got some bungs that I'm going to get welded into the 5-point harness bracket that you get with the BBI mount, but I've not got round to it yet. I found that the BBI plate married up precisely to the holes in the floor - are you offering the plate to the floor on it's own, or built up with the mounts and the chair?

Thanks for the reply! These 'bungs' sound interesting...tell me more... I'm mounting it into the car with the seat etc attached to the base, I'm assuming this is correct as i can't see how else you could mount it all up? The holes do kind of line up but the base just seems slightly held off the floor, the ends of the bolts that attach the runners to the base touch the carpet, i just followed the BBI photos/diagram and this is the way they had them... Do you know what the nylon washer/spacers are for? Also where have you got your receivers? Inside/outside of the seat side and are they the standard length receivers? i perhaps need to play around with it some more and maybe things will become apparent.... Did you find that the side of the seat is very close to the centre tunnel? Wondering if i can adjust it all outward from the centre tunnel?

I built it up gradually, put just the plate in the car, checked it all fit, then looked at where the runners had to be for the seat etc. My plate sits directly on the floor. I put the brackets between the side mounts and the runners IIRC. I'll dig the photographs out, but they're in my thread which is linked at the bottom of this post.

Here's how I did mine:

I did mine with Recaro 996 specific hardware but the logic is the same. I documented the install here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l2OTcQimt8 seat belt lap belt + receiver through the seat harness holes for safest fitting other standalone solutions to mount the seat belt buckle is the 964 option bracket 964.521.065.00 spacer 999.025.231.03 Or some universal Recaro brackets https://arperformance.co.uk/product/recaro-seatbelt-receptacle-brackets/

You probably dont want to hear this, but if you get to a point that you give up with the BBI kit, i have a full setup using OE runners, new side mounts with integral seatbelt/harness mounts and complete with hardware. Its designed specifically for Recaro Pole Positions and designed to look as OE as possible. Could be a solution for you. I have been using a set of these in my car for 6+ years and over 14k, including trackdays, with no issues. I recently updated them and made a spare set to go on a set of OE 996 runners i have. They use the OE 996 seat belt buckle so you can just plug the cable back into the block under the seat and the light goes out as std.

Hi Ian Ha, yeah I'm in too deep now! I'm pretty sure i can get this working even if i need to get a couple of bits made (luckily i know some good people through work!) The funny thing is, these companies sell stuff that they assure is plug and play but it kind of depends on your standpoint/expectations, they most likely didn't come through the Porsche engineering department! But i guess they are trying to make a product that is adjustable/universal so i can't be too harsh, it's all nicely made at least! After seeing a couple of the pics from Dammit and going through his build thread plus watching 82DVY's vid it's cleared up a couple of things. At least there is some adjustment in the BBI system and i think after seeing which holes Dammit used to mount his runners to the base part i may be able to resolve the issue of getting it sitting nicely on the floor. Is your belt buckle mounting direct to your side mount then? and where dose it end up sitting, inside or outside of the seat side? Any pics would be much appreciated... If its not direct to your side mount and more like a bracket then maybe i could make those work with my setup... On another note, i'd been meaning to message/text you about some more gt3 arms and shims! will do that later.... :thumbs: laurence

My setup has the seat mount onto the side mount, as per stock Porsche on GT3 brackets etc. The seat belt buckle sits outsuide the seat, not through the harness hole, again, as per stock Porsche GT3. The Motorsport Pole Position isnt designed to have the seat buckle inside the seat, you would need the ABE version (as fitted to some road cars), this has the seat side molded to accept the buckle.

Thanks for the reply, yeah I'm almost there....just trying to refine it a bit! Your vid was useful, always good to see how someone has got it sitting in the car....do you find that the buckle digs into your side slightly? when i tried mine like that it didn't look very inviting! Perhaps your seats are a slightly different shape in that area?... I think i need to play around with it a little more as i was slightly rushing last time! Ps, some good vids on your youtube

My seat is an SPG, so (as noted above) the opening in the side is not large enough to feed a conventional seat belt receiver through, so it sits between the seat and the centre tunnel, which tbh I find absolutely fine in use. The SPG is narrower than the road Pole Position IIRC, so you might want to mount the seat one set of holes over to the right on the BBI base plate to give yourself a little more clearance - although without the seat I can't say that with any authority. I will say that my SPG is amazingly comfortable, and I have driven to Morzine and back in it, stopping only for petrol+coffee.

I had a little look through your thread, firstly...awesome car you are building! great attention to detail From your pics i realised that you used slightly different holes to mount the runners to the base, this could be why mine is not sitting so nicely on the floor, looks like you used the middle holes of the three and i used the outers, perhaps this is why the ends of the bolts from the runners were not sitting in the floor indentations and therefore the whole thing just seems to sit up a few mm and be slightly under tension when fastening it down to the floor, i will play around with this..... I like the look of your 'bung' you made up and therefore you can use the OE bolt to mount the receiver to the bracket..... i might do something like this....might even get that whole bracket re-made and slightly longer so that the receiver can poke through the seat side but slightly higher up to get it sitting nicely/user friendly but still allow me to use the OE receiver so it can be plugged into the car properly for the seat belt light. I reckon your seat is a fair bit narrower than a Pole Position ABE hence you have the receiver between the seat and the centre tunnel, I'd quite like to get mine here ideally from a comfort point of view... in theory its better closer to you in case of the seat crushing etc but a GT3 clubsport has it on the outside anyway! This is mainly a fast road car with very occasional track time, probably don't want harnesses in it, as then it will need a heavy cage and you should defiantly be waring a Hans device when harnessed up!!

I think the SPG is a lot narrower, I had a go in another members car and he had the Recaro PP's from (IIRC) an Audi TT in his, which were leather trimmed and very comfortable, but were sitting much closer to the centre tunnel. Of course, you need to be able to fit into the SPG, I'm ~80kg and 187cm tall for context there.

Evening I have the car with the Pole P's that Dammit is referring to. I'm not sure this will help but I too had your quandary re seat belt receiver when trying to fit mine in. I used the standard seat sliders and made custom alloy spacer blocks between them and the design911 side mounts. I was able to move the seat slightly away from the centre tunnel, enough that the receiver doesn't jamb between the seat and the tunnel. BUT, pye21's solution was much better and the way I would go if doing it again. This was to still use the standard sliders from the original seats, but make up some custom side mounts. That way it'll be easy to mount the seat slightly offset as well as mounting directly to the correct holes in the sliders. Cheaper than the BBi efforts as well I imagine. Though that might not be an issue for you. Good luck

The mounts that i have made replicate those made by Brey Krause, as seen below. I would say mine are neater though, it helps that i have made mine specific to one seat in Pole Positions. It allows you to use the OE trims to cover the ends of the runners, which makes them look neater. The only compromise i made, is access into the rear seats. To get the mounts as low as possible, i moved them back on the runners, meaning access to the rear is reduced. I thought that wouldnt be as much of an issue though, as bucket seats reduce access anyway. https://www.design911.co.uk/fu/pt26...C2-3-4L-1997-08-01/Brey-Krause-Seat-Mounting/