Butler seat slightly off-center

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Novice Typer
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Posts: 14
Joined: Tue Apr 03, 2018 10:07 pm
PostPosted: Mon Apr 09, 2018 10:55 pm
Is it normal for a Butler seat to be mounted slightly off-center? Mine is mounted about 1”-2” towards the left side of the car. Maybe it’s to better clear the shifter?

Thanks.
SRF #852 Gen2 (current) - purchased 3/18

SRF #835 Gen2 (previous) - owned 2000 - 2003

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PostPosted: Tue Apr 10, 2018 9:13 am
My guess is that whoever installed the seat did it to avoid contact with the shifter. You have two choices to avoid the problem. None of them ideal. One is to move the seat over as yours. The other is to modify the seat at the point by the shifter and then bend the lower back of the seat slightly so the linkage doesn't rub on the seat. Not all cars are alike. You can also adjust the shift linkage pivot point as I did.

My frame is #855, which is relatively new. I had the problem as most do. You would think the seat would have been designed to avoid this issue, but it wasn't. Like I say neither fix is ideal. On one hand it's never good to have to change the shape of a designed engineered part. On the other hand moving the seat 1" to 2" should not be necessary.

Pat

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PostPosted: Tue Apr 10, 2018 9:38 am
Pat, thank you, what you write makes sense. I think I'm OCD when it comes to car stuff (the vents in my cars have to all be angled similarly, etc.). I don't really care what the seat looks like from the outside but I can tell the steering wheel is a tad off-center. I don't remember my #835 car being that way but I had the fiberglass seat back then.

I'll take a look to see what the clearance is like between the linkage and seat.

Thanks again.
SRF #852 Gen2 (current) - purchased 3/18

SRF #835 Gen2 (previous) - owned 2000 - 2003

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PostPosted: Tue Apr 10, 2018 11:03 am
I took Aluminum sheet and formed a partial tunnel for the shift linkage to pass through in my GEN2, basically a just bit of a notch, never felt it when sitting in the car. I had a Lotus Europa where the seat was both off center and angled a bit, never really liked that setup. My Gen3 has the fiberglass bathtub, hoping Enterprises comes through with the basic seat back for the poured foam soon. I have a poured foam seat in my ESR and it's great.
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Location: Greenwich, Connecticut
Chassis:
860
PostPosted: Wed Apr 11, 2018 3:05 pm
When I installed the new Butler in my first SRF, I positioned it about 3/8-inch off-center to the left and used a stout ANCRA ratchet tie-down strap fed through the seat belt holes to bend in the side bolsters. That cleared the shifter.

So, anyway, that might be another solution for you.

That said, you'll need to redrill the seat bottom bolt holes, so be careful to leave at least a quarter-inch of meat between the original mounting bracket holes and your new ones and use beefy, wide fender washers underneath (floor pan side) the new mounting bracket holes.

If you doubt there's enough metal between the holes, bite the bullet and buy a new floor mounting bracket.

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