Thinking about seats

[bw_mkiii]

As I spend more time in my Spitfire I have finally admitted and/or accepted that at 6'4" I am a little too tall to be comfortable driving the car for any real distances.

I put in a slightly smaller steering wheel, which helped some, but it is still surprisingly hard on my knees to drive it for more than a couple hours at one stretch. Right now that isn't too much of a problem because when I go on these multi-day trips I have had a friend who comes along, but he is starting to think about getting a classic car of his own.

When that happens I can either (a) find another friend that I can tolerate for long days in the car and that I can trust with the driving of my beloved Spitfire or (b) figure out a way to be more comfortable driving the car. Don't get me wrong, option (a) seems like a lovely dream, but it seems practical to at least do a little research into option (b).

I am no slave to originality - close observers will note the seats currently in my Spitfire are from a Mark IV donor car. I can't help but wondering if there anything I can do to get my seated position a little farther back - short of the stunt from the movie Commando, where Arnold Schwarzenegger rips the driver's seat out of Rae Dawn Chong's Sunbeam Alpine and, oh, I don't know, sits on the floor maybe? (fun movie but doesn't make a lot of sense at times)

Older seats? Frankly I'm not sure the "headrests" in the current seats are doing me any good anyway. Newer seats? Seats from a different car altogether? Take out the seats and sit on the parcel shelf? Thinner foam? What ideas do you have, TTN?

Thanks,

Brad

[ericsbracer]

Well - if you 6' 4" then I'd have to say Miata seats probably won't work for you. I'm 5' 10" and they barely work for me. You do sit up a little higher and they are next to impossible to move forward or back. Nice seats if you're on the shorter side, though.

[John R Davies]

Brad,
Anyne who knows the GT40nstory will know of the "Gurney Bubble".
Dan Gurney was 6ft 3ish and like you I suspect he was too tall to sit inside the cat with the door shut.
(Remember those doors that went into the roof line?)
So they fitted a small domme to the door's roof part.
See below.

Fibreglass "power" bulges are fairly easy to find for adding to bonnets.
EG (from UK) http://www.honeybournemouldings.co.uk/f ... bulges.htm
Cut hole on hard-top, glue in this and make good, repaint - voila!
You have head space.

Best wishes
John

[spitfiremk2uk]

Hi Brad, I find the miata seats ok but then again I am only 5'10" But they are very comfortable seats. I have no trouble in moving them back or forth, but I do believe there are two types of Miata seats.

[bw_mkiii]

I currently have seats that I think are from an early Mk IV in my car, they look fine and are comfortable enough I suppose.

My driving position has the seat all the way back on the rails, and fairly reclined. Not to be indelicate but I am just wondering if there is some way to get my butt further back in the car as my legs start to cramp up on extended drives. I don't really care about my head being over the windshield - I rarely drive with the top up.

Something with better bolsters would probably be an improvement, too, but for starters I'd just like to be a little further away from the pedals.

Brad

[spitfiremk2uk]

This is not as silly as it sounds, but have you considered moving or altering the pedals further back?

[youngbob]

This may be a long shot, but I believe that the MKI-III seat backs were thinner than the MKIV so you might gain a little travel if you went to the original seats.

[bw_mkiii]

This is not as silly as it sounds, but have you considered moving or altering the pedals further back?

John - you intrigue me with this line of reasoning. I am picturing the mechanical throttle links, are you suggesting a wholesale replacement of that mechanism? I am not sure how you could really make much change without changing the geometry there.

Brad

[spitfiremk2uk]

Dont get me wrong Brad, this would be a major undertaking . The way I see it, you would remove the bulkhead from drivers side and reposition it at a point where it would suit your length. This would involve repositioning all the pedals and also the brake and clutch reservoirs plus making sure the steering column doesnt get interfered with. I am not sure it can be done but its worth thinking out aloud and possibly putting it down on paper as a future project Anyone got a spare bulkhead they can chop about to see if this will actually work ? . I know this doesnt help you right now Brad. By the way, I have at least a foot of space behind my Miata seats so have you thought about altering the floorpan to take this into account ?

[bw_mkiii]

Dont get me wrong Brad, this would be a major undertaking . The way I see it, you would remove the bulkhead from drivers side and reposition it at a point where it would suit your length. This would involve repositioning all the pedals and also the brake and clutch reservoirs plus making sure the steering column doesnt get interfered with. I am not sure it can be done but its worth thinking out aloud and possibly putting it down on paper as a future project Anyone got a spare bulkhead they can chop about to see if this will actually work ? . I know this doesnt help you right now Brad. By the way, I have at least a foot of space behind my Miata seats so have you thought about altering the floorpan to take this into account ?

Or... I can just wait until I shrink a few inches. Shouldn't take more than a few decades! (Yikes!)