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, Tue, 20 Jan 2004 20:42:07
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Getting the front of the seat tracks off the crossmember would actually make things worse because it would tip the seat forward, so you'd be sitting more upright and would take up more vertical space.
As Bob says, it helps somewhat if you do the opposite: tilt the seat BACK more by adding spacers to the front mounts. This is very easy: remove the seat (which has a tubular base to which the fiberglass shell is attached by bolted tabs); unbolt the front tabs; then add the spacers and bolt them in place. I used steel 'mending plates' from a hardware store to add about 1 inch at the front -- the hole at one end of the mending plate bolts to the seat tab, and the hole at the other end bolts to the base. I wouldn't go much farther than that -- I tried leaning the seat back farther, but it sounded as if the back tabs might break off, so I stopped.
I'm a mere dwarf at 6' 1-1/2", but this modification by itself made me enough headroom for street driving.
The other thing you can do is take the bottom cushion out of the seat. I had to do this to make enough headroom to wear a helmet when I do autocross and open-track days. The cushion is just an upholstered pillow that's glued to the fiberglass shell; you can grab it by one edge and peel it out. The thin cardboard backing on the underside of the cushion will probably tear, but that's life.
The part underneath the cushion is just bare fiberglass with some vent holes in it -- I had some brown vinyl left over from having my door panels redone, so cut a piece of this and cemented it onto the fiberglass with spray adhesive, then cut out the vinyl over the vent holes. It's a good idea to continue the vinyl down the front of the seat shell and wrap it under the lower edge -- that edge is SHARP and having the vinyl over it helps protect you from cutting yourself if you have to reach under the seat.
Removing the cushion adds a good 2 inches of extra depth, although keep in mind that the seat will pinch your hips more tightly since you sit down farther in it without the cushion. That's good for track days but a little uncomfortable for casual driving. Actually, I got some stick-on hook-and-loop strips and stuck them on the seat bottom and the cushion, so that I can put the cushion back in for street driving and take it out for helmet-wearing occasions.
If that isn't enough to make you fit a Sonett, you're out of luck as far as easy modifications go. On the more elaborate front, Satch Carlson has written about a Sonett that was getting its floors replaced anyway (rust) and had special floorpans made with wells pressed into them, so the seat tracks could be lowered overall to create more headroom. Sounds cool, but remember it would reduce the ground clearance. Or I guess if you're a bodywork genius you could cut an oval out of the roof and glass in a head bulge, like the one Ford put on the Gurney/Foyt GT40 at LeMans to accommodate Foyt's height, or even do one on each side like those Abarth 'double bubble' coupe bodies. I've never seen such a thing on a Sonett, but it could look pretty cool...
... gotta admit, though, that the headroom issue is one thing that drives vertically-enhanced enthusiasts of sporting vSAABs to hunt up a GT850 or Montecarlo!
posted by 204.76.113...
, Tue, 20 Jan 2004 20:42:07, Mon, 26 Jan 2004 19:07:54
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