996 Drivers Seat plus Helmet

Hi all, I can't be the only one. Is there a trick to fitting in a 1999 c2 996 with a helmet? I have the steering wheel telescoped out as much as possible, and needed to lean the seat back quite and move the seat base forward so my arms could still reach the wheel. I felt like a frog sitting in the car. I am 179cm tall, and of what I would have thought normal build. And yes, I had moved the seat to the lowest possible position. Am I missing something? (I have the electric seats with memory function) PS: Yes, the Sunroof definitely doesn't help, and regret even more now that I had it repaired rather than trying to find someone who could replace it with the "sunroof-less" roof panel.

Duck on entry?

I'm 182cm and have had no issue with the standard electic seats. Sure putting the helmet on inside the car I need to angle my head a bit, but I can't think of a car that I haven't had to do this in. I'm guessing you have a long torso if you're struggling. Do you have the seat bottom tilted and the back tilted? If you have the sports seats then I understand as they sit higher and I still fit, but I'm really close to the roof.

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I had to resort to tilting back the seat bottom and back much more than I wanted, and as a result, moving the seat base further forward so that I could reach the steering wheel. This means I end up with my legs in a frog position. Maybe I just have a long torso. Was hoping there was an obvious solution that I had missed. PS: Yes, I can get into the car/ but if I were to leave the seat in my standard position, would need to angle my head so that my left ear is almost touching my shoulder.

Best option is a new seat, grab a fix back and some rails, you will get back some head room whilst being properly restrained in the seat...

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Yep this would be the ideal approach. I've got an extra 2 inches out of my Velo, although if it's not a dedicated track car and you're driving in traffic or long distances, you may hate life depending on the seat you go for (fixed base or suspension). I prefer my Sparco Sprint over my Velo GPT for both track and long periods of travel, but there's plenty of people who would say the opposite.

I am six foot four and manage to fit in the car comfortably with a helmet when I used to do track days.  I removed the footrest which meant my left thigh was no longer jammed between the centre console and the steering wheel which gave me greater freedom to move the seats backwards and forwards to get optimal seating position.  I know it sounds strange to remove the footrest to get headroom but it worked for me. Also check that the electrics on your drivers seat are working properly.  I had problems with the electrics on my drivers seat and it would not drop as low as the passenger seat.  Simple to check I sat in passenger seat and lowered the seat and it was noticeably lower so I had the drivers seat fixed and voila extra head room.

Best I founds was to lower as far as it goes and tilt the seat back as said by others.... After I changed my seats from the electric standard to the Recaro's I have a bit more room...

Bought a cheap "Racelid" helmet on the weekend. Worked out great. The shell is smaller than the Bell or Stilo helmets I had previously tried, so I was able to find a relatively comfortable position without needing to lie the seat completely down. If this was a track focused car, I would definitely have replaced the seats and probably bought a more comfortable helmet, but for the total driving time of about 4 hours per year, I am okay with having my cheeks squashed a little.

Ok, my "comfort seats" are now broken, blowing fuses, due to the track allowing them to move further forward than they should. So now I have to do something... 1. My preference at this point in time is to get my hands on a pair of 997 sport seats like below, 2. Fit Recaro Sportster CS 3. Just fix the track and live with sitting stupidly when wearing a helmet. Does anyone in Sydney have the 997 sport seats fitted or alternatively the speedster CS to their 996 and could drive me around the block with them so I get a rough feel height and comfort? Extremely grateful! Thanks Andrew

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I am not in Sydney unfortunately but I have fitted a set of the 18 way adjustable 997 Sports Adaptive seats.  I can highly recommend the seats. I daily a car with SR4 Recaros and always found the 996 standard seats lacking in bolster but didn't want the full Recaro set up on both cars so was searching for a mid point.  I tried the 996 Sports Seats and while they looked good I only ended up keeping them for a month or so as they really were no better than the standard seats in terms of holding you in place. I picked up a set of the sports adaptive seats which are fully electric and have bladders in the side and back to to allow micro adjustment and they are fantastic.  They provide vastly improved bolstering that holds in you in each in much better and I got increased head room because they seem to go lower than the 996 seats.  However wiring in the 18 way electric seats is very complicated and the cost of having this done by PRT doing this was as much as the purchase price of the seats themselves.  The partially electric seats ( 997 Sports Seats rather than Sports Adaptive Seats ) should I believe only require changing the plug for the power and they will bolt straight in. I would highly recommend this modification for reducing driver corner roll and potentially capturing some extra head room.

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Thanks for the comments! Now just to find a set of seats!

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Also having a similar gripe about my 996 seats. What are the visual and performance differences between the two?

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Joe, suggest you have a look back through the 9werks Youtube clips, Lee Sibley did a conversion in his Irish Green 996, and there is a video about it.

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I tried the 996 sports seats and TBH I ended up selling the seats in less than six months as they were no better than the standard seats in terms of holding you in. The 997 seats however are much better.  They actually have some good bolstering which holds in in corners.  I daily with SR4 Recaros and would say the 997 Sports Seats are halfway between the standard 996 seats and the Recaro SR4's. After fitting the Numeric Short Shifter, this is my favourite modification to my car and as a tall person has made a huge difference in terms of leg room and reducing driver body roll I have the sports adaptive seats and they are slightly better than the standard sports seats as they have bladders in the bolsters and the seat backs and they allow you to micro adjust the seats and get it even better.  However, they are more expensive in terms of purchase price and the wiring of them up is not simple as the drivers seat has a memory that needs to talk to the cars computer which will not accept the 996 computers input.  So you have to essentially access the electric wiring and bypass the computer to get the functions working.  It is complicated and cost me a lot to pay PRT to do the wiring. The standard sports seats are only powered for the fore and aft of the seat backs and don't have memory so it is straight forward to simply change the plugs from 997 plugs to 996 plugs. From what I have seen the seats are more expensive then they were when I bought them, so I would not recommend buying the sports adaptive 18 way electronic adjustable seats simply because of the hassle and cost of fitting.  Unless you are super good with electronics and patient to go through a lot of trial and error.  ( Since PRT did mine a few years ago they may have kept the details on how to do it and it may be cheaper to get them to do it now since they experimented with me? ) This describes how to do the swap for the standard sports seats: https://www.renntech.org/topic/30979-how-to-how-not-to-swap-996-seats-for-997/ This describes how to do the swap for the sports adaptive seats: https://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/box_997_seats/box_997_seats.htm From a purely aesthetic point of view the new seats look good and are obviously much more OEM than a set of Recaros.  There is however a very slight difference in the tone of black of the leather in my car and the style between the back seats and front seats is subtly different.  If you are particular you could pick up a set of the 997 rear seats in black which would presumably have the same tone and style.  They are exactly the same in terms of fitment so swapping them should be straight forward and do a search and you will find them. Here is the video in question:

I've got a single great condition genuine 996 GT3 seat with rails which will solve all problems with helmets. And the grip on the driver is amazing. PM if any interest.

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Thanks for your detailed response 😊 As much as I love the seats I’m wanting to have as stock as possible look inside.

I was never able to find a 997 2way sport seat. I ended up getting my hands on a 996 GT3 seat, and with the standard rails and brackets that come with it, I am still not really any lower due to how vertical you sit in the seats. I can at least take out the bottom seat cushion so I can sit in the car with a helmet on. I can probably get them a bit lower with the Brey Krause brackets, which are a bit lower, but also allow putting the seat on a bit more of an angle. The seats themselves are great for spirited driving as you can really feel how they keep you attached to the car! However, I feel that my shoulders are too wide for the narrow ears at the top of the seat, and feel like my shoulders are being pushed forward the whole time. I also found out that the Recaro sportster seats don't seem to provide any extra height... I will try it for another month or so, and if it doesn't get better, probably go back to the stock seats, and for the rare days I am on the track, just lay back much further. I recently installed a steering column extension, so I thankfully won't have to sit so far forward when leaning the seat back. Long term I will probably end up looking for a UK import, as a lot of them seem to not have sunroofs...

I reckon these are a great Porsche option in terms of both aesthetics and not being too racy, plus they are in Sydney so you might be able to go and sit in them: https://retroautotek.com.au/shop/recaro-seats-lxf-wu110-a-r-black-brand-new-pair/

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Thanks! Will definitely have a look at this in the next week or so! 996 GT3 Seat in 996. And now, installed last week, 2 way seats from a 981:

How are the 2 way 981 seats in terms of head room? They look great in your pictures.

The 981 seats are still too high, but better than than the original comfort seats. Will need to put on my helmet and give it a go. I might just get away with leaning the seat back a little more. This works now that I have the steering wheel extension installed - you may be able to see the black boss just behind the wheel. It does make grabbing the indicator a little unusual to start though! https://spacershop.com/en/prodotto/steering-wheel-spacer-for-porsche-carrera-996/ And yes, the 2 way seats look like they belong in there! As for the comfort, need to drive them a little longer. PS: I wish people wouldn't order sunroofs when they buy their 911s new, so I can pick up ones without later! 😄

Australian delivered non-sunroof coupes are rare as hen's teeth - I guess most people buying them don't plan to wear a helmet ("helmet hair" looks soooo uncouth!! 🤣 )