Tall Person.. Diddy Mini...

[GTmuse]

Hey Guys, I'm about 6ft2-3 and am seeking a mini. However, I have been in a few mini's with the sport pack style seats with the Mini Cooper crest in them and the steering wheel on a lowering bracket... Which i found a slight problem! Some people have suggested just not having the lowering bracket thus raising the steering wheel and using bucket seats such as Cobra Classics, as apparently I am able to sit further back in them! Can anyone inform me as to whether this is true or not? Or if they know of anything that may make it easier for me to get a mini!!

Many Thanks, Gareth

[miniman]

I find the bucket seats better for legroom once in, but harder to get in and out of. However what you really need is a set of seat adjusters which move the whole seat back.

http://www.minispares.com/Product.aspx?ty=pb&p...

[GTmuse]

Ah great!! Would you happen to know if they are easy to fit?

[Cooperman]

I'm 6ft and my son is 6ft4in and we can both get into my rally Cooper 's' which has Corbeau seats and special mountings. I do use the column-dropper and a 14" Mountney steering wheel.
With the Corbeau seats you do need full-harness belts as the standard ones don't like the 'sides' on the seats which hold your bottom in place when going sideways!

[miniman]

2 spanners, 15 minutes :-)

[miniman]

Peter

[GTmuse]

Ah Mr Valentine, The Wonderful man nextdoor who introduced me to mini's! x

[guru_1071]

if your going to fit cobra seats i have had some brackets made that move the seat (if using the cobra subframe) about 1" further inboard - they bolt into the original captive nuts on the crossmember.

this lets you have the seats so far back they touch the rear seat (the rear bin pocket no longer fouls the seat)

handily, this also lines the seat up so the drivers body is exactly in line with the steering wheel.

[GTmuse]

Ah that sounds like quite a good option! However, is it expensive to have the brackets made?

[DanGT]

The brackets for standerd seats will be the least amount of money and very easy to fit. At 6'4 my Farther had no problems in my mini. Changing the seats will cost alot more but give you more options. You can get origanl style runners so that you can ajust the seat and use the bracket for standerd seats. This can work well if there are a number of diffrent sized people using the car. There are mounts that bolt to the floor the cost is low and you can get the seat were you want it, the only problem is once it is there only taller people will be able to drive it.

[guru_1071]

dan

i wasnt very clear, sorry

with later cars you can only move the seats (which are fatter) so far back before they hit the rear pockets, even using cobra seats with the sliding frames fitted to the std black seat mounting brackets the seats will still hit the pockets.

my brackets replace the standard brackets, so the cobra frames bolt to them. you can then slide the seat fully back or forwards

you could use them with standard seats, but you would need to mod the std seat frame as the tubular legs splay out to far and hit the centre tunnel.

they cost 20 quid a set, and come as a set of four 2 x rh, 2 x lh, so its possible to use one of each on each side to fit seats with wider than standard mounting frames as well.

will take a picture this weekend

[Cooperman]

Gareth, you know the answer to the question you asked. After all, you were sat in my Cooper only last Sunday, and even managed to go to sleep over the noise of the SC box & drops, so it must haqve been comfortable!

[GTmuse]

Ah but that was in the passenger seat! With seats like those in Dennis' and Graham's Mini's it isn't the most comfortable with regards to my knees! I also would rather have standard seatbelts as i wish to leave the rear seats in and am not sure where i would mount a full harness :-/

[GTmuse]

So with those brackets.. which seats would be needed to move back? The original cooper seats from say a '91 cooper?

[Miniholic]

guru_1071 said:

my brackets replace the standard brackets, so the cobra frames bolt to them. you can then slide the seat fully back or forwards

Rich, do you mean to replace the brackets on the crossmember? Could be just think think I'm looking for.