Wider Seat

[davrianman]

Hi all,

Just been trying to fit the seats into the car and having real problems.

I'm pretty big (19St) and when sat down I am the same height as a 6'6" tall bloke (although I am only 6'1" - if tham makes sense...

Anyway, I ordered a wider seat for the drivers side but I just can't see how it fits. I've measured it up and it's 40mm wider than std! I thought the wider seat was 25mm but I may be wrong...

With the seat on it's runners and fitted with the LH runner tighy against the chamfer of the floor pan I have 20mm between the seat and the side of the car. Nowhere near enough to fit the gear linkage (RH change G50). The only way it may possibly fit is to raise the seat by about 2" so that the linkage passes under the side of the seat. Problem then is that the headroom won't be enough for me.

Any ideas other than getting a smaller seat? Has anyone else fitted a wide seat to their car OK? Help appreciated!

Mart

[Steve_D]

What is stopping you moving it further into the middle of the car?

Steve

[GTWayne]

What about putting a narrower passenger seat in?

[davrianman]

Can't move it further over as already up against the rear bracket for the handbrake and also the edge of the floor pan (it's a lowered pan with a 45 deg chamfer - think it's std on the newer chassis now). If I raised 1/2" I could get it another 1/2" over, but after that it hits the handbrake which is already spaced over by about 15mm with washers.... Still not enough room for a gear linkage :-( Don't know what to do.

Have sent some pics to the factory, but not heard back off Andy yet.

Mart

[davrianman]

Hi Wayne,

Already have std seat in passenger side. Only other option is to change them over, but kind of gets away from the comfortable seat I wanted!

Mart

[GTWayne]

Depends how far you are prepared to go but I would strongly advise that you build the car to be as comfortable as possible. It sounds like you may need to alter the floor pan but I have a man that can if need be, let me know if you would like to talk to him.

[davrianman]

If it's the same man I think you mean, I'm seeing him on Friday. I bought the engine, wheels, gearbox and other bits off him.... :-)

[GTWayne]

davrianman said:

If it's the same man I think you mean, I'm seeing him on Friday. I bought the engine, wheels, gearbox and other bits off him.... :-)

No, it isn't Clivey but he knows the fella in question better than I so good luck!

[steve_d]

davrianman said:

Can't move it further over as already up against the rear bracket for the handbrake and also the edge of the floor pan (it's a lowered pan with a 45 deg chamfer - think it's std on the newer chassis now). If I raised 1/2" I could get it another 1/2" over, but after that it hits the handbrake which is already spaced over by about 15mm with washers.... Still not enough room for a gear linkage :-( Don't know what to do.

Have sent some pics to the factory, but not heard back off Andy yet.

Mart

Modify the dropped floor pan by removing the 45 degree angle. That will move it over and if the handbrake then becomes an issue then you may have to find a new home for it.
Comfort and driving position are very important. It's a long drive down to LeMans.

Steve

[gtrclive]

Redesign the chassis to have a wider cockpit there-fore more room, and so bigger seats then no problem....... Thats what I'm doing....

[splatspeed]

suggest getting a thinner wife

although i know the negative trade in value can be painfull

[davrianman]

Do Ultima sell thinner wives?

Think I cracked it. Mada a 40mm wide x 3mm thick adaptor plate for the runner next to the handbrake to move the runner further over. had to drill two 12 mm holes in the base of the seat to clear the bolt heads. I now have 40mm between the seat and the side of the car. Still catches, so factory advised to peel back the leather and cut the side of the seat out to clear gear linkage... Sounds a bit daunting, but should work.

What a pain. 3 days to fit 1 seat!

Thanks for the help!

Mart

[davrianman]

Do Ultima sell thinner wives?

Think I cracked it. Mada a 40mm wide x 3mm thick adaptor plate for the runner next to the handbrake to move the runner further over. had to drill two 12 mm holes in the base of the seat to clear the bolt heads. I now have 40mm between the seat and the side of the car. Still catches, so factory advised to peel back the leather and cut the side of the seat out to clear gear linkage... Sounds a bit daunting, but should work.

What a pain. 3 days to fit 1 seat!

Thanks for the help!

Mart

[splatspeed]

if they did they wouldn't have to make cars