DB9 2008 - seat repositioned, now need more wheel reach

[FactBV]

I have recently bought a meteorite silver, 2008 DB9 with the sports pack, low miles, full service history and it has been under warranty or the Aston Martin extended warranty since new and I have just renewed the extended warranty for another year. So far so good.

However, I am 6' 2" and a little long in the leg so I needed to make some modifications to the driving position. It has a surprisingly cramped interior for what is intended to be a GT car.

I removed the seat, drilled 2 additional holes in the seat track bases (and used the 2 pre-existing holes, forward of the original forward seat mounting bolts) and mounted the seat further back by approximately 15-20 mm. I then removed the passenger seat base behind the drivers seat and had a trimmer fabricate an aluminium base/cover and then cover it with carpet (so that it still looks neat). This allowed the seat to go back further still.

The seat now goes back about as far as it can with the back of the seat hard up against the battery cover carpet. The inboard rear corner of the seat base is now also hard up against the aluminium structure/centre tunnel.

I appreciate that without pictures, it didn't happen, so pictures to follow.

The driving position is greatly improved but I really need the steering wheel to extend an inch further to make the driving position spot on (the steering wheel height and reach adjustment are currently all the way out and all the way back).

My question is, does anyone know if it is possible to get some additional reach on the splined steering column, or to put a spacer under the wheel. I have long fingers (it goes with the long legs) so even if the steering wheel came out by another inch, I could still easily get to the flappy paddles and indicator.

Anyone been brave and made those sorts of modifications?

Thanks in advance.

[R129 300SL]

Sounds like a good job.

Did you make sure the wiring loom was not pinched when the seat goes back? There was a recall last year where it was found that the loom could get pinched between seat and rear tunnel.

Solution was to repair / replace loom and fit a plastic block to prevent seat from moving back too far.

[TR-Spider]

FactBV said:

My question is, does anyone know if it is possible to get some additional reach on the splined steering column, or to put a spacer under the wheel. I have long fingers (it goes with the long legs) so even if the steering wheel came out by another inch, I could still easily get to the flappy paddles and indicator.

Anyone been brave and made those sorts of modifications?

Thanks in advance.

I did the on other cars (but also thought about on my Vantage).

The mayor obstacle is the connection between steering column and steering wheel, as this is usually some kind of splined (its a conical hexagon on contemporary Astons)

I used a racing steering wheel adapter, to give the splined connection (the shiny part on the picture).
The adapter has threads and then you drill the baseplate of the original steering wheel and bolt both together.



If you want your original steering wheel unmodified, you need an additional distancer (the flat black part on the picture above), resulting in aprox 45mm reset of the original steering wheel.

You could shorten that distance to about 25mm if you cut the connecting spline from original steering wheel (but then one cant use it in normal position anymore). Then you can bolt the original steering wheel straigt onto the adapter.

Hope that helps,
Thomas

Edited by TR-Spider on Sunday 14th July 09:24

[LTP]

Not wishing to put a damper on the innovative approach shown but in a crash the seat track mounts take seatbelt loads as I believe the buckle is on the tracks (it is on my 2015 V8 Vantage, which has the same "Sports" seat). You really don't want the seat fixings pulling out in a major front-end impact. Similarly the steering wheel contains the airbag and the bag deployment is carefully calculated and tested for 5%ile to 95%ile occupants. The column has a "ride down" feature when an occupant is restrained by the airbag and all of these go towards occupant safety and crash survivability. Do I know your modifications will affect the crash performance? No. Would I modify my car's restraints system? No.

For information, I'm 6'3" and with a 35.5" inside leg and I drive my V8 Vantage with no fit or comfort issues, although the header could do with being a little higher (or the seat lower). But I'll live with that.

[paulrog1]

I've got an early DB9 with the early seats and i find it very comfortable driving in it and i'm 6ft 2" tall.

Not sure why your struggling.

[FactBV]

R129 300SL said:

Sounds like a good job.

Did you make sure the wiring loom was not pinched when the seat goes back? There was a recall last year where it was found that the loom could get pinched between seat and rear tunnel.

Solution was to repair / replace loom and fit a plastic block to prevent seat from moving back too far.

Good point, thanks for that; yes indeed, I physically checked behind the seat and against the tunnel prior to moving the runner and the only cable there was the battery lead, but there is still plenty of clearance. See below.



I actually only moved the seat runners to the rear by a small amount, because I wanted to use the two existing holes just forward of the existing forward mounting points. I can then easily return it to its original position and mounting points, if I decide to sell it in the future. Likewise, I can just put the original seat base back in that is still held in with velcro.

The seat range of movement is actually limited by the seat controller, which is why when the power is removed the seat has to relearn its movement range. However, the extra rear movement comes from repositioning the runners a little and removing the rear seat base. It is not a huge amount but just enough for me to find a comfortable position.

Incidentally, this is what the carpeted panel looks like that has replaced the original seat base.



As I have the seat all the way back, you can't see much behind the seat anyway.

Thanks for the thought.

[FactBV]

TR-Spider said:

FactBV said:

My question is, does anyone know if it is possible to get some additional reach on the splined steering column, or to put a spacer under the wheel. I have long fingers (it goes with the long legs) so even if the steering wheel came out by another inch, I could still easily get to the flappy paddles and indicator.

Anyone been brave and made those sorts of modifications?

Thanks in advance.

I did the on other cars (but also thought about on my Vantage).

The mayor obstacle is the connection between steering column and steering wheel, as this is usually some kind of splined (its a conical hexagon on contemporary Astons)

I used a racing steering wheel adapter, to give the splined connection (the shiny part on the picture).
The adapter has threads and then you drill the baseplate of the original steering wheel and bolt both together.



If you want your original steering wheel unmodified, you need an additional distancer (the flat black part on the picture above), resulting in aprox 45mm reset of the original steering wheel.

You could shorten that distance to about 25mm if you cut the connecting spline from original steering wheel (but then one cant use it in normal position anymore). Then you can bolt the original steering wheel straigt onto the adapter.

Hope that helps,
Thomas

Edited by TR-Spider on Sunday 14th July 09:24

Thanks Thomas, very helpful, I think I will start by taking take the wheel off and seeing what it looks like underneath.

Just 25 mm would be great although it is not too bad at the moment. I also want to be able to easily revert back to the original installation if and when I sell the car.

Thanks again.

[FactBV]

LTP said:

Not wishing to put a damper on the innovative approach shown but in a crash the seat track mounts take seatbelt loads as I believe the buckle is on the tracks (it is on my 2015 V8 Vantage, which has the same "Sports" seat). You really don't want the seat fixings pulling out in a major front-end impact. Similarly the steering wheel contains the airbag and the bag deployment is carefully calculated and tested for 5%ile to 95%ile occupants. The column has a "ride down" feature when an occupant is restrained by the airbag and all of these go towards occupant safety and crash survivability. Do I know your modifications will affect the crash performance? No. Would I modify my car's restraints system? No.

For information, I'm 6'3" and with a 35.5" inside leg and I drive my V8 Vantage with no fit or comfort issues, although the header could do with being a little higher (or the seat lower). But I'll live with that.

Thanks for the input and I appreciate that it is not something that you would wish to do.

The vantage also actually has a little more room than the DB9 (that's certainly what I found when I tried the cars). If you look behind the seats on both, when the carpet and trim is removed, the battery box in the DB9 creates more of a restriction than the location of the battery in the vantage.

You are also probably getting the leg reach by increasing the height of the seat electrically (because the seat module allows you to move the seat back further, the higher you raise it) but that brings you close to the roof lining as you have found.

[FactBV]

paulrog1 said:

I've got an early DB9 with the early seats and i find it very comfortable driving in it and i'm 6ft 2" tall.

Not sure why your struggling.

If you have the early seats, with the single panel of leather on the seat base, you will have a little more room, as the seats are slightly thinner.

For me it is the clearance of my knee against the steering wheel when I put my foot on the brake pedal.

I have been doing some more experimenting tonight and another way to provide a little more clearance for my right knee against the wheel is to be able to lower my heel in the footwell. Just fitting back the green floor insulation, and leaving out the 25 mm of grey insulation for the moment, also helps. See below.



I might just remove the forward part of the grey insulation, that is under my heel. Again I can easily put it back back.

I appreciate that most people will just live with any compromise in seating position, but if a few small changes can be made, that can easily be returned to standard, to get the seating position spot on, it is worth it for my enjoyment of the car.

[belfry]

paulrog1 said:

I've got an early DB9 with the early seats and i find it very comfortable driving in it and i'm 6ft 2" tall.

Me too. I find the DB9 very comfortable and haven't even thought about needing to adapt the seat.

[LTP]

FactBV said:

You are also probably getting the leg reach by increasing the height of the seat electrically (because the seat module allows you to move the seat back further, the higher you raise it) but that brings you close to the roof lining as you have found.

Nope. Fully down; fully back; backrest touching the rear side trim. Steering wheel fully out, fully up and I can get my knees behind it for optimum braking. Are my legs straight? Absolutely not.

The wheelbase on a Vantage is about 140mm less than a DB9.

[TR-Spider]

FactBV said:

Thanks Thomas, very helpful, I think I will start by taking take the wheel off and seeing what it looks like underneath.

Just 25 mm would be great although it is not too bad at the moment. I also want to be able to easily revert back to the original installation if and when I sell the car.

Thanks again.

So I did it just recently on my Vantage.
Using an OMP Hub(1960FO542A. Ford, Mazda, Volvo) worked out nicely.
Some turning work on the hub and modification to the spare steering wheel, and now the steering wheel sits 8-9mm further towards the driver.
If required, one could add spacers to increase the width. For me the 8-9mm is perfect, as it still allows the use of the switches with the finger tips...Seating/steering position is markedly improved.

Thomas