How to reduce seat height to fit a tall guy

How to reduce seat height to fit a tall guy

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Jondrew

Original Poster:

1 posts

55 months

Sunday 25th August 2019
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Evening everyone smile

I'm looking for some advice on how to get more head room in the front passenger seat to fit my 6'8 mate. We are planning to drive to mongolia and back next summer and have already acquired the car for it. We are both out of the UK for a while from October onwards and are trying to come up with a solution for the seat height issue beforehand. Otherwise we'll probably have to change car.

We're doing the trip for charity and the car is likely to only last for this trip then we'll probably scrap it so we're looking to find the cheapest fix possible.

Bit of info

Car: 2003 Toyota Corolla 1.4 Hatchback

Driver's seat has a seat height adjustment function as well as move forward/back and tilt. The passenger seat unfortunately doesn't have the seat height adjustment.

My friend can just about fit in the driver's seat with it dropped as low as possible, for the passenger seat he has to tilt it way back to avoid tilting his head off the roof.

If anyone isn't familiar with the layout of the Corolla seats, they are mounted onto rails which are bolted onto a crossbeam at the front and mounted onto the sides at the back (from what I can remember). This crossbeam appears to be structural so no luck with cutting them down really. The car isn't with me at the moment so I can't put up any photos.

I was wondering if anyone has any experience with solving this problem and has any insights I've not thought about?

Potential solutions to try out?
- source a bucket seat that will fit in the car and is lower than current seat and still somewhat comfortable
- source a left hand drive toyota corolla driver's seat (that has the seat height function): would this work?
- current seat could maybe be moved off the crossbeam and moved back and bolted to floor behind the beam. guessing it would be a much weaker fit and possibly more limited adjustments, i.e. can't move along the rails anymore
- ripping off the seat cushion (for sitting on) and putting on a much thinner padding, probably not make much difference and be much more uncomfortable
- cutting a big hole in the roof and installing a perspex dome laugh
- putting a dent up into the roof

Bit of a long shot here, you guys will probably tell me to sell the car and look for one that actually fits my mate! Any suggestions at all would be very welcome!

Mr Obertshaw

2,174 posts

229 months

Sunday 25th August 2019
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Remove the front passenger sit and he sits in the back with all the legroom he needs.

Coilspring

577 posts

62 months

Sunday 25th August 2019
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Lhd drivers seat sounds the most sensible idea for safety, comfort and practicality.

anonymous-user

53 months

Sunday 25th August 2019
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Jondrew said:
putting a dent up into the roof
I think you'd call that a 'power bulge'laugh

GreenV8S

30,150 posts

283 months

Sunday 25th August 2019
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Remove the seat.

If he can fit in the car now, measure the headroom and look for a seat with less than that much padding. Bucket seats go down to half an inch or so of height, but the more padding you have the more comfortable it is likely to be. You probably want a removable pad so that you can see over the dashboard when he is driving. smile

Chris32345

2,082 posts

61 months

Monday 26th August 2019
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You are looking at this the wrong way
Instead of making the car fit the man
You need to make your friend fit the car ,🤣

tapkaJohnD

1,930 posts

203 months

Monday 26th August 2019
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280E said:
I think you'd call that a 'power bulge'laugh
Good idea, and good history - some of the racing GT40s had a bulge in the door, where it forms a roof over the driver, as Dan Gurney was too tall to fit in otherwise. So he has TWO eponymic names in motorsport, the Gurney flap and the Gurney dome!

A Kirkey seat probably has the least space between seat and floor as they can be bolted together. The seat looks like a maedieval torture machine, but is most supportive and comfortable, even for lond distance driving. They can be used 'naked', with minimal padding covers, or you can pour polyurethane foam into a bag behind the occupant for a completely personal fitting! See: https://www.kirkeyracing.com/category/Series/Seats...

John (no connection with Kirkey, bar being a comfortable user.)