How to lower the seat in a Elise/Exige

[bruh_la]

I thought this may be useful to some of you so here goes.

I am not that tall (6'1" ) but i wanted to sit as low as poosible. Maiinly coz i like it but also so my crash helmet did not touch the roof.

I decided i would make a fixed mounting like on the passenger side but i would alter the fixing points so that the seat is lower and a bit more reclined. The seat will go lower because of the inclination of the seat rails. Unless the seat is as far back as it will go , there will be room to lower it. In addition to this the drivers eyeline can be lower even further by reclining the seat.

So i started by making rails and brackets that could be eaqsily adjusted and modified as i tried to find my optimum seating position. I bolted the rails in the car and put the seat on the floor. Note: i used the outer most hole in the floor (it would normally be for the passenger seat in a RHD car) this allowed the seat to fit between the rails, which allows it to sit lower. I measured (with the help of a mate...thanks Cheezer) from the rails to the mounting holes on the seat, i then made brakets which replicated these dimensions.

I made the prototype from alluminium coz its easier to drill, file etc. Note: i did not drive the car with the ally frame, it was just to be able to sit in the car and be sure the position.





Then i made up the real frame in steel copying all measurements from my ally prototype and painted it. It looks almost identical to the passenger seat frame. Except it now supports the seat in the perfect driving poition for me.




Then bolted everythin back int the car




If you look at the relative heights of the probax logos in the first pic, and the relative heights of the harness holes in the second pic, you can see i gained about 3cm or just over an inch. My helmet no longer touches the roof and feel much lower. I would estimate half of my gain was lowering the seat to the floor, the other half comes from reclining the seat.

Edited by bruh_la on Wednesday 18th October 18:09

[philygumbo]

Thats better

Edited by philygumbo on Thursday 19th October 15:19

[bruh_la]

Thanks.

[GTRene]

Looks like Pro work Ian indeed we talked about that option because your not that tall but you have a bit longer upperbody and that counts when you sit in the seat, looks oke(you could make a aftersale produkt from it)
GTRene

[bruh_la]

GTRene said:

Looks like Pro work Ian indeed we talked about that option because your not that tall but you have a bit longer upperbody and that counts when you sit in the seat, looks oke(you could make a aftersale produkt from it)
GTRene

Check out Elisetalk, i have half a dozen customers already! They are talking about a group buy!

It would be difficult coz all the measurements are for my driving position, maybe a kit that can be assembled to suit different driving positions.

[GTRene]

grroup buy soon you have to work also in other business
also I think that if you gave your framework more options you weaken the system??
when longer people or people need more headspace I guess your setup will do just fine in most occasions, at least better then the setup they like to change...
good work Ian.
GTRene

[bruh_la]

You are right rene, i do not think it could be done. Nobody will find my seating position perfect. lotus already make a seat rail system that is adjustable to fit everyone...........its in the car as standard. the std system entails compromises but life.

For me, optimizing the seating position has transformed the way i feel in the car. For that reason alone its been worth the effort(which was not so much i have to say)

[pennpromo]

I made a very simple modification to mine in my Exige, I just raised the front mounts by about 25MM with some spacers made from steel tube and replaced the bolts with longer ones. The effect is that the seat tilts back more- gaining headroom and the lift at the front gives more support under your thighs. Works for me and cost virtually nothing !