Seat Installation Kartech XL on Birel Ry30

Curry Brown · Joined: 04 Feb 2013 Posts: 24

New to karting. received XL Kartech seat for my birel. Curious if anyone could share their seat placement on similar set up.

I am 6'1" or so and about 215 lbs.

So far I basically visited birel's forum and read their specs on seat placement (62 cm from front rail to front edge/20 cm from rear axle to top edge of back). Which is great if you have a freeline seat, but I have a hand me down starter seat, which happens to be a kartech.

I used their specs and the measurments do not work out on the kartech, for obvious dimensional differences.

I realize I can also take the kart to my local shop to have them install the seat, but thought I would give it a try first and apply the funds to something else as I am just getting going. (not going to be racing, purely rec/lapping).

Any pictures or thoughts/measurements/recipes for success is appreciated.

Doug Ring

Curry Brown · Joined: 04 Feb 2013 Posts: 24

Doug, thanks for the feedback. I still think I want to give it a go to at least get the kart up and running. Or at least to close to "ok/good" as possible.

And yes, there will be beer involved.

Currently it is a rolling chassis, have engine, but not mounted yet, need some odds and ins, etc.

Anyways, the current seat looks like swiss cheese. Any thoughts on material to fill the holes? being that its a fiberglass seat, i would imagine any type of resin would work?

I also found a couple of other posts/sites in europe that suggest measuring the spine indention on back surface of seat to the surface of axle, avg for senior/adult drivers is around 18.5 cm (higher and lower options based on driver and seat). Being that I am a larger driver, perhaps I could at least use this method to base line?

Brian Mead · Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 6:36 pm Post subject:

Curry - Couple of things, you might want to put the motor on and set the drivetrain on as you will run it, with an xl it might get cramped. Are your seat stays open enought to accept the xl seat? If not, there are various methods, I perfer two blocks of wood taped to the stays and a bottle jack in between to get the width needed. The holes in the seat can be glassed in, but I would do that after your fitted in, you may end up using some of the holes. Drop the seat as low as possible and as far forward as you can, don't be afraid to hack at it a little to get it to go. You are the main wt of the kart, the objective to be to get you in the prime postiton to get the inside rear tire up when turning. You can always get an extended porch for more leg room. I picked up several used seats, you can learn alot from what people do to get them to work. Good luck and have fun.

Jim Stine · Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 10:24 pm Post subject:

For reference, my Kartec XL fits inside my Freeline (Birel) L seat, so the Kartec seat will be a little smaller size for size.

The info you find on the MRP forum is going to be best if you're going to try it yourself. It wouldn't hurt to give them a call and see what they advise on measurements for your size. I'd probably go off measurements for a Freeline Large or Medium seat as a starting point.