CSL Seat Rail

[NZ_M3]

Ok .... seeing that the CSL seat rails are now NLA I thought it was fitting to pull one apart and see how difficult it was to replicate.

Turns out ... not very hard at all.

There's basically two parts to the seat rail ...

1.The slider - Basically a modified BMW E46 Coupe/Compact manual seat slider

2. The bucket seat cradle I'd like to call it - made by Recaro.

The tilting mechanism is actually just a simple swivel system and the locking is very similar to what Recaro does on their reclining seats - basically the same fish hook shaped latch principle.

Anyways, thought I'd share some photos:

Slider part

Essentially this has the front and back adjustment lever welded into the actuation bar - the actuation system is exactly the same on any coupe/compact manual seat rails (I'll post some photos later). It also has the same 4 mounting points for the seat pan or in the CSL case the Recaro seat cradle. Except the mounting is shifted slightly forward on two rear most point. Easily done if you want to modify a stock manual seat rail to take the Recaro cradle.

The hard part is the tilt latch - this part is recaro - but it is bolted on. So you could easily unbolt this and bolt it onto the standard manual seat rail, except for the seatbelt receptacle mount which is welded and will need the two spot welds cut off and re-welded - again simple to do.




The Recaro Cradle

This is the part made by Recaro to hold the bucket seat. It is basically two side mounts welded together with 4 pivoting legs properly offset in relation to the slider to position the seat correctly. Very easily replicated in my opinion.

The latch for the tilt is spring loaded with expansion spring - again easily replicated.

The whole cradle is surprisingly light. When I first picked it up I thought it might have been aluminium. But it appears to be to be light weight steel or some sort upon closer inspection. Pretty impressive given the size of the thing.



Anyways, hopefully this information is helpful if one day your sliders need replacing or someone's got enough time on their hands to replicate the cradle and modify a rail and make their own CSL seat rails now that it is NLA.

[select]

Are they prone to break or why would you need replacements?

Either way, thanks for sharing.

[NZ_M3]

The welds on the Recaro cradle are known to crack.

Also from my study of the system I think overtime the tilt latch will wear causing the seat to rattle on the frame. This is predominently because the the latching tube that the hook catches onto is a plastic sleeve over metal tube so overtime this will wear. Much like what happens to the early Recaro SR style seats after multiple back seat tilt and relatching over the life of its usage.

Not to mention if God forbid you have a repairable accident in the car you will need a new seatframe as they are known to bend in a predetermined way.

[select]

Originally Posted by NZ_M3

Much like what happens to the early Recaro SR style seats after multiple back seat tilt and relatching over the life of its usage.

There goes my excuse that i would have used to prevent people on using the back seats

Originally Posted by NZ_M3

Not to mention if God forbid you have a repairable accident in the car you will need a new seatframe as they are known to bend in a predetermined way.

Makes sense, havn't thought about that case.

[Yanto]

Originally Posted by select

Are they prone to break or why would you need replacements?

Either way, thanks for sharing.

Yep, a couple of us have had replacements under warranty.

[select]

I guess weight accelerates the wear

[shimmy]

Originally Posted by Yanto

Yep, a couple of us have had replacements under warranty.

Originally Posted by select

I guess weight accelerates the wear

What you trying to say to young Yanto!?

[Mike R]

That he ate all the pies ?