Grief update - Custom Cerbera Seats

[MPoxon]

I have always found the original seats very comfortable but lacking in lateral support. Since I have been attending more track days I have struggled with the Griffith seats not only do they not hold me in very well but the seating position is a bit too high and my head touches the roof when wearing a helmet.

Having researched various options I note that popular options for replacing the original seats are Lotus Elise and Mazda MX5 which are both narrow enough to fit. Although the aftermarket options did look appealing in that they are much lighter and offer more support the replacement seats had to be a ‘TVR’ seat for me to maintain as much originality as possible.

Tuscan seat test
A good friend of mine had a pair of Tuscan seats up for sale which I purchased. Another good friend of mine modified the rails and helped me fit the seat. I ran this seat in the Griff for most of 2015 to test it out for comfort and also completed a number of track days. I found the Tuscan seat much more supportive than the originals and being able to take the centre cushion out for track days and sit even lower in the car and wedged in is fantastic.



The issue with the Tuscan seat is for some reason even though the seats felt comfortable they gave me a back ache on long journeys. I also found the seats a bit too wide resulting in me being rattled around in them a bit on track. My main complaint with the seats is the lack of shoulder support, where the bolsters come up around the seat to form the headrest my shoulders sit on the bolsters which is not very comfortable. Lastly although I adore the design of the Tuscan seats I am not sure they entirely suit the Griffith.

Cerbera seat test
I have had a pair of Cerbera seats in the loft for a while now and since had tried them out before but found the seating position a bit too high (about 2cm higher than the standard seats). No good for me as I ideally need to be 2cm lower to accommodate the helmet on track days.

Taking what I had learnt from the Tuscan seats I decided to try out the Cerbera seats again.



I instantly felt the Cerbera seats where more comfortable and I couple of long journeys confirmed no back ache. The shoulder support is good and the seats feel sculpted. The fact the last 100 Griffiths were fitted with these seats from the factory is a big plus for me as technically even though they were not fitted to my car they are an OEM part which did feature in the Griffith.

On the negative side the issue with the height was very apparent as soon as the seats were fitted, I was now sitting far too high, my head was very almost touching the roof without a helmet and the driving position overall not great due to the height. Leg support on the Tuscan seats was also far superior and the Cerbera seats felt a bit short in terms of length.

Knowing I would be getting the seats re-trimmed I decided to modify the bottom foam by removing 75% of the foam thickness from the main cushion but leaving the leg support intact to provide a better support similar to a bucket seat design. The result not pretty but provided a proof of concept. Height wise this was now almost perfect although the very thin layer of foam was not very comfortable at all and very cold. The leg support also worked very well indeed.



Cerbera Seat modification and re trim
Throughout the testing phase of both seats I had been speaking with Dave The Trimmer who I had the car booked in for the seat re trim with. Dave in my experience is not only a very talented trimmer but is one of few individuals I spoke with who was happy to take on the challenge of potentially creating something bespoke.

Looking at the design of the Tuscan seat and the Cerbera seat I noted that one of the reasons the Tuscan seat is lower is because the Cerebra seat has a solid fibreglass base and the Tuscan seat has webbing.

Cerbera seat


Tuscan seat


I arranged to pop in to see Dave to discuss the possibility of modifying the Cerebra seat by cutting out the fiberglass and installing webbing. I also wanted to see if he could make a custom bottom foam based on my butchered original. With the scope of the seat retrim works clearly transforming from a few modifications into more of a complete custom build at this point I was expecting a lot of back tracking and excuses but the answer to both questions was simply “Yeah I can do that”.

The Griff went in with Dave the Trimmer on the 1st February. 1 week later Dave had modified the original seats and was ready to mock up the test foams.



I also asked Dave to replace the rear seat foams to provide additional comfort. Below the seat can be seen with a prototype bottom foam.



A couple of weeks later the custom made foams were ready. Below picture shows the new custom foam (left) original prototype (centre) and the original OEM foam (right)



A week later the seats are finished complete with heated seat elements with the switch hidden at the rear.







Huge thanks to Dave The Trimmer and the team for doing such a fantastic job creating this bespoke product.

[MPoxon]

Thank you gents yes very pleased with them.

Yes decided against the blue and cream combo in the end, I felt there was enough cream and blue going on already. I was drawn back to the the combo at the thought of blue alcantara centres but resisted in the end. Not keen on cream alcantara and I would imagine it would be a pain to keep clean.

Yes of course by all means Mac, I copied the idea of the fluted centres from Joe and his TVR S anyway Give me a shout if you want any more info.

I'll send you a PM regarding an article, I have a few more projects to implement regarding the interior so not sure if you wanted to wait for the whole lot to be done or just focus on the seats.

Heated seats ftw! ..and because I am an old man! They are rather nice though in all seriousness.

[MPoxon]

Andav469 said:

They look great, I'm just having a pair of Cerbera seats retrimmed in magnolia to fit in my car (unmidified seat base, did you have to modify the seat runners for fitting, or drill new holes in the car floor?

Seats fitted to the Griffith are have spacers fitted (figure 1). I am not using these to make the seat lower. When I fitted the Tuscan seats the holes were re-drilled in the rails for the seats to use the correct mounting holes in the car, without the spacer the bolt comes through from the seat in the wrong place (figure 2).

What I did with the Cerb seat for testing was quick a dirty, drill additional holes in the floor rather than adapt the rails to move the bolts. As part of the works I asked Dave to fill the holes in the floor of the car and redrill the Cerb seat rails so the bolts come out in the right places (figure 3)

figure 1

Google Image

figure 2


figure 3

[MPoxon]

roseytvr said:

Nice one Matthew, they look a treat - yer big jessie, do you want to borrow our Janes blanket and scarf whilst your at it

LOL - I am a soft Southerner, what do you expect!

[MPoxon]

Wildfire said:

Looks great Matt! Wish I could find some seats to switch mine out for! I am inspired!

Thank you very much sir, I waited years for the right set to come up at a sensible price. I created an alert on eBay to email me if an auction comes up with a pair for sale. The Cerbera seats I purchased for £200 but they were not in great condition with rips on the leather, broken headrest and showered in glass so clearly from breakers yard. Fine for me as I intended to refurbish them anyway. They do come up from time to time just need to keep an eye out.

[MPoxon]

ChimpOnGas said:

Superb job Matthew!!!!

Here's my XJS seats solution.

Thanks Dave, I missed your thread the first time around. interesting read.

I think you have essentially achieved the same as what I have but for about a fifth of the cost!

I really fancied a pair of Elise seats as per what Peter (Phased) and Christian (7TVR) have in their cars but I am caught between modification to make things better / more suited to my needs and keeping things original so this is where I have ended up.

[MPoxon]

TV8 said:

Looks good.

are the basic seat frames the same Matthew?

Has to be easier and cheaper to change the foams and re-trim than source some Cerbera seats and re-trim?

Yes I think the basic frames are the same as Griff / Chim. What you will need however is the fibreglass that sits ontop of that frame and the foams so not sure if it would be economically viable. You can see the fibreglass sat on top of the frame in this pic:



Adrian at Central TVR has a lot of the parts for the original TVR seats so might be worth speaking to him.

[MPoxon]

Tested out the heated seats today.... perfect for a sunny but cold day like today. I must be getting old.