I'm going to try to put in a 2" seat lowering kit on Saturday and want to know what to look out for or what will give me trouble. I searched and all I found were people asking for install instructions and others saying they'd PM them. I know this is supposed to be easy but I'm not very mechanically inclined so is there anything at all that'll give me trouble? I know to put a few washers in the front bracket to give the bottom cushion some tilt.
2" Seat lowering kit instructions
- Thread starter slowfrc
- Start date
mjorgensen Woodhouse
Enthusiast
FYI If you go between the seat and back cushions it is MUCH easier to tighten the bolts behind the seat.
Start by removing the entire seat from the Viper. You can get to all 4 bolts (2 in the front, 2 in the rear) by moving the seat all the back or forth.
With the seat out of the car you can remove the OEM brackets easily and install the 2" brackets. Don't fully tighten the new brackets on the seat, do this when the seat is back in the car. Reason being you have to align the bracket mounting hols to the bolts in the floor.
It will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to get to the rear mounting studs once the seat is back in the car because the seat is now lowered to the point where you can get your back/wrench behind the bottom of the seat. At least my sausage fingers couldn't get in there. This is why most recommend lifting the seat cushion.
With the seat off the car, you can cut the two collar rings that holds down the seat cushion to the seat frame at the very front/bottom of the seat. I don't have pics but you'll see them with the seat out of the car. By removing the collar rings, you can pull up the bottom seat cushion. There's a plastic guide that also snaps into the seat frame in the frame. Simply pull this away from the frame and move the cushion up. You will not be able to remove the cushion entirel, but you will be able to lift up enough and get to the rear bolts when reinstalling the seat.
Once the seat is installed and the bracets are tighten down, reposition the seat cushion and snap it back into the place. I recommend using plastic ties to replace the collar rings you removed earlier. Study the collar rings and how they are attached to figure out how you will place the zip ties. I was able to put in the zip ties with the seat in the Viper.
With the seat out of the car you can remove the OEM brackets easily and install the 2" brackets. Don't fully tighten the new brackets on the seat, do this when the seat is back in the car. Reason being you have to align the bracket mounting hols to the bolts in the floor.
It will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to get to the rear mounting studs once the seat is back in the car because the seat is now lowered to the point where you can get your back/wrench behind the bottom of the seat. At least my sausage fingers couldn't get in there. This is why most recommend lifting the seat cushion.
With the seat off the car, you can cut the two collar rings that holds down the seat cushion to the seat frame at the very front/bottom of the seat. I don't have pics but you'll see them with the seat out of the car. By removing the collar rings, you can pull up the bottom seat cushion. There's a plastic guide that also snaps into the seat frame in the frame. Simply pull this away from the frame and move the cushion up. You will not be able to remove the cushion entirel, but you will be able to lift up enough and get to the rear bolts when reinstalling the seat.
Once the seat is installed and the bracets are tighten down, reposition the seat cushion and snap it back into the place. I recommend using plastic ties to replace the collar rings you removed earlier. Study the collar rings and how they are attached to figure out how you will place the zip ties. I was able to put in the zip ties with the seat in the Viper.
Thanks a lot for the response tony, it was helpful but I ran into a problem. I tried this today and it was ridiculously frustrating. I got the seat out and bottom cushion to lift without a problem. Then loosely attached the brackets to the seat and tried to position them in the car. I simply could not get all four brackets to line up. I tried mounting the brackets every possible way on the seat (front brackets in the fixed holes, rear brackets in the sliders, the other way around, both brackets in the fixed holes, etc...) and nothing worked. When the rear brackets were in the fixed holes the seat was too far forward and I lost several inches of leg room, it was even worse than the lack of headroom with the stock brackets.
Finally after hours of messing with it I settled on mounting the rear brackets on the sliders and the front brackets on the fixed front holes. I was able to get the real brackets and the front drivers left bracket bolted in the the passengers side was still about an inch too far back to line up. So now I've got one bracket not bolted down and thus can't get a rake in the bottom cushion. Has anyone had the problem of the brackets not lining up? Where exactly did you all mount the brackets to the seat (in the sliders or what)? I feel like I made some simple mistake but on the other hand I tried everything.
Finally after hours of messing with it I settled on mounting the rear brackets on the sliders and the front brackets on the fixed front holes. I was able to get the real brackets and the front drivers left bracket bolted in the the passengers side was still about an inch too far back to line up. So now I've got one bracket not bolted down and thus can't get a rake in the bottom cushion. Has anyone had the problem of the brackets not lining up? Where exactly did you all mount the brackets to the seat (in the sliders or what)? I feel like I made some simple mistake but on the other hand I tried everything.
What do you mean rear brackets in the sliders? The 2" lowering kit has mounting stubs on each bracket. That mounting stub connects to the seat via a bolt. The shorter brackets are for the rear and the longer bracket for the front. Can you post some pics of what you did maybe we can figure it out? Also, is your Viper a GenI or GenII? It's possible, maybe, you have the wrong lowering kit for your Gen Viper. The Gen1 lowering kit does not work with the GenII seats and vice-versa.
I didn't take any pictures when the seat was out (and I can't find any online) but it seemed to me that there were basically four different possible attachment points for the brackets on each side of the seat. There was a fixed attachment hole in the forward most and rearward most portion of the seat which is where the stock brackets were attached. Also there are two (tall) cylinder shaped areas about 3-5 inches long which are more towards the center of the aforementioned fixed holes. If you mount the bolts on those areas you can slide them to adjust the brackets. I'm doing a poor job of explaining this but if I can find a pic of the underside of the seat I'll show you.
Anyways, this may all be irrelevant because it appears I had the bolts on backwards. All i got with my order of the brackets from partsrack was a "safety" sheet which said that the longer brackets go in the back and the shorter ones go up front. This is how I positioned them. I guess this is wrong though? You'd think since I'm getting charged $160 for $30 worth of brackets partsrack could include better/more accurate instructions. When I called to ask him about installation before I did it he basically told me that it's impossible to mess up and anyone who says they have messed up "probably is lying and doesn't even own a viper." Horrible customer service.
Oh and my car is a '98 GTS which I told partsrack before making my order.
Anyways, this may all be irrelevant because it appears I had the bolts on backwards. All i got with my order of the brackets from partsrack was a "safety" sheet which said that the longer brackets go in the back and the shorter ones go up front. This is how I positioned them. I guess this is wrong though? You'd think since I'm getting charged $160 for $30 worth of brackets partsrack could include better/more accurate instructions. When I called to ask him about installation before I did it he basically told me that it's impossible to mess up and anyone who says they have messed up "probably is lying and doesn't even own a viper." Horrible customer service.
Oh and my car is a '98 GTS which I told partsrack before making my order.
I'm surprised it didn't come with instructions. Sadly, $160 is a bargain, one site sells the kit for $259.00. I ended up making my own. Even funnier is that the even more expensive 1" lowering kit uses a standard slider mechanism from Summit Racing for about $26, LOL. Are your brackets the top ones in this picture?
If so, the shorter ones goes in the back and the longer (taller) goes in the front. They're mounted to the first bolt hole closed to them....if I'm explaining it right.
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If so, the shorter ones goes in the back and the longer (taller) goes in the front. They're mounted to the first bolt hole closed to them....if I'm explaining it right.
Both pictures look very similar to me. It really doesn't help that they're not taken with the brackets in the same position. Having said that I think I i got the ones in the bottom picture because the longer brackets looked to be about twice as long and as tall as the shorter ones.
Fast Viper Dan
Enthusiast
I slotted the mounting holes for ease of alignment. And yes, add washers under the front.
Dan I'm not sure what you mean when you say you slotted the mounting holes. I spoke with partsrack and they said that although i was initially told the brackets were so easy to install that they didn't need instructions, the owner or partsrack had never installed then himself. He did some looking around and confirmed that the safety sheet was incorrect and the longer brackets do go in front. Looks like I'll be trying this again tomorrow. All i need now is for someone to aay where they were mounted, fixed holes, or in the adjustable area. I'm sure i can figure this out myself i just want to reduce the time this takes by as much as i can.
VYPR BYT 94
Enthusiast
I just bought the 3 piece Lemke... boy after reading this I'm not looking forward to lower my seats. 
I just bought the 3 piece Lemke... boy after reading this I'm not looking forward to lower my seats.
I will attest that it's not complicated but can be if instructions don't exist. Don't be afraid. BTW, I do have the instructions for the 1" lowering kit for the GenII which is way easier than the 2" kit.
VYPR BYT 94
Enthusiast
Thanks. I'm gonna need the 1" kit for Gen1... hopefully it will come with the info... fingers crossed. If not, I'll take the pieces to a local machine shop and have them add a hole where I need it or slot the existing hole. I don't have the means to do it here.
I also bought the Partsrack 2" kit and it only came with the "safety sheet" and note that the taller mounts go to the front and shorter to the rear.
I agree, a simple line drawing/diagram on that sheet would have saved me the trial and error figuring out which direction the brackets pointed and more importantly that it would be best to leave them as loose as possible until you get the seat in the car and the floor bolts/nuts started. I searched the forum looking for what others had done prior to installing them and found that you needed to remove the hog rings and pull the bottom seat cushion up to get to the rear bolts. That would be a nice FYI in the instructions as well.
I agree, a simple line drawing/diagram on that sheet would have saved me the trial and error figuring out which direction the brackets pointed and more importantly that it would be best to leave them as loose as possible until you get the seat in the car and the floor bolts/nuts started. I searched the forum looking for what others had done prior to installing them and found that you needed to remove the hog rings and pull the bottom seat cushion up to get to the rear bolts. That would be a nice FYI in the instructions as well.
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