Hey all, I'm 5'11 with a FC and an aftermarket sunroof. I discovered to my suprise that with a helmet on, it hits the sunroof and makes for uncomfortable driving. What are my options? My first guess is to get lower seats, any ideas on who makes good ones that are affordable? Do I have any other options? I only need like a 1/2 inch more.

 

I'm in the same boat. I'm 5'10" and need about 1" more for my headroom. I can't stand sunroofs. I don't use it, more stuff to break, inevitable leaks, more weight, less rigidity, less headroom, etc.

jerk_racer@hotmail.com

 

Ha ha, I wish I had your guys' problems! I'm 6'1", have NO headroom, AND no footroom(can't do heel-toe work). Seriously, I can only think of three solutions: Lowering the stock seats with some fancy seat-rail work, a smaller helmet, or aftermarket seats. I'd be interested in hearing if anybody else has problems with footroom and downshifting. I just sidestep it all the time, but that's not ideal. I'm planning on going the aftermarket seat route, I'm betting that should clear up around 2" of headroom, AND HOPEFULLY a bunch of footroom. But we'll see...

Steve

 

I'm probably one of the bigger guys in an FC...
6'1" and 250# - I got very little problems in an FC with a helmet (yes, it does bump a bit), short of the car having a roll cage.
An aftermarket steering wheel and steering wheel column spacer does a LOT for driving position when you have the seat back reclined!



-Ted

 

Yo,


*cough* Get a GTUs...no sunroof!

*grin*

KS
1989 GTUs "Just slouch...or get 4 point harnesses and pull 'em REAL tight..."

 

I'm 6'5 and 170-190lb... and my FC has a power moonroof... might be selling it 'cos there's NO way I'm gonna fit with a helmet on, without sitting directly on the floor. Barely fit without the helmet, have to sit so far back that it's hard to steer.

That's one thing I've been looking into, though. Bolting a nice sheet-aluminum race seat directly to the floor. Uncomfortable? Not as uncomfortable as a really, really bad driving position.

 

Can you tall guys Heel-Toe? I'd love to know, seriously, I have huge feet, size 12-13, I can't do the motherf$#%er!! If you can, driving position? I skootch the seat ALL the way bike, sit up PRETTY straight, which makes my arms in the correct position for steering, and if I scoot my *** deep into the seat, I get a little bit of leg room, but not enough... What do you guys do?

Steve

 

I wear size 12's - I run Razo pedal covers - no problem with the heel&toe.



-Ted

 

Lol, man... are you pidgeon toed or what? So do you sit as I described? or do you have an aftermarket seat? My feet stick outwards, and for me to drive comfortably, I usually have my heel down by the bottom of the brake pedal, with the ball of my foot on the accelerator. If I sit with my entire foot on the accelerator, my knee starts to ache. Am I just cursed with bad bone structure? <sigh>

Steve

 

I'm 6'4" and 195lbs, i have no probs, i autocrossed my car a couple of times with the factory seats and i just reclined the seat a bit. now i have race seats bolted to the floor, so my **** is approx 4cm off the floor when sitting in the seat, i have a full rollcage and i have no probs - GET INVENTIVE!!!!!!

 

Hey Ted, where did you get that steering wheel spacer. I'm 6'4 and have to have the seat almost fully reclined (have rear bins) and makes for quite the reach to the steering wheel

 

how about installing a aftermarket steering wheel? that may give u guys some room to move ur legs alittle

 

I bought my spacer from here: http://www.smart-racing.com/ProdCat/...20Comforts.htm
The spacer helped somewhat, but I still need to recline my seat a bit. I can't stand having to change my driving position to one that I find akward and uncomfortable just to wear a helmet. Just waiting for the IRS to send me my money.

jerk_racer@hotmail.com

 

Thanks for all the ideas. I'll start by trying to find a lower clearance helmet. If that doesn't work, new seats might do the trick.

By the way, is heel to toe just normal driving where you have your heel on the ground and push the pedals with your toe?

 

Its pretty common on Miata's to trim out about half of the bottom seat cushion. You might want to try that, or replace the bottom center cushion with some thinner foam

 

Mines is custom, but Jerk_Racer dropped the right URL for the Smart Racing unit.&nbsp You'll need to convert to a MOMO type hub to use this though...


-Ted

 

No, heel & toe is using the ball of your foot on the brake, while you blip the throttle with your heel, when downshifting.

(I'm having the same helmet-on headroom problems with my 3rd gen [with a sunroof] as you guys.)

 

That would make things worse!!!

The problem isn't knee room. I have a 35" inseam and legroom/legroom/thighroom is not a problem at all. The problem is HEADROOM. I can solve this by putting the seat all the way forward and the seatback all the way back, and I can sit in the car and the helmet just grazes the headliner (would like more clearance) but this is, bluntly, an awful driving position. The steering wheel is held straight-armed so there's very little leverage against it. A LARGER wheel would help this, as well as a spacer to move it about 4 inches back. But that won't solve the lack of leverage on the pedals (just be pushing myself up the seat) and the nonexistent lateral support when you're laid back that far.

Flat-bolting a sheet aluminum racing seat to the floor looks to be a very good idea, as is getting rid of the ####ing power moonroof mechanism and headliner and just welding the skin to the rest of the roof. That alone would get about an inch more headroom. (I've only ever seen ONE FC with no moonroof...)

 

Good point Ted. I neglected to mention that I have a 320mm Momo Race steering wheel. The main reason I got the spacer was because during autoX'es I would keep hitting the turn signal. This steering wheel is flat, not dished. I went with the thickest spacer I could find. 1.25" is good. Now my hands are well away from the dash, but not too far. I can still hit the signal with ease, but haven't done it by accident since the spacer went on. The added benefit of the spacer was that my arms aren't too outstretched when I have the seat leaned back when I have my brain bucket on. This spacer is useless with the stock steering wheel.

jerk_racer@hotmail.com

 

Aftermarket seats or start pulling the stuffing out of the stock seats. I don't see much that you can do with the stock mounts to lower it any.

It gets worse when you have a full cage, and the damn roof bar is right next to your head... With the Kirkey 20* intermediate, with the stock seat mounts cut out of the car, I was close, but still too close to the roof bar. So we finally ended up going hog wild, and welding in some floorpan mods to allow the seat to move about 2 inches inward.

Kinda hard to see, but here's a pic of the mods



PaulC

 

Im 6'2", 175lbs. I had no problems heel toe with my stock seats... Normal headroom... When i got my Sparco Torinos is when i ran into problems... I still fit in the car and could heel toe just as easy... But had to run the steering wheel tilt all the way up just to fit my leg between the wheel and my seat! Those seats were higher than stock, not what i was looking for... So i delt with it for a while and when i finished my roll cage... I noticed that it was next to impossible to get a helmet on... let alone to be below the main hoop. So i sold the seats and bought sparco rev's. I cut out the rear stock seat mounts, and hardmounted the driver seat to the floor, with the front of the seat bracket bolted to the stock front mounts... Then i got a steering wheel spacer from sparco and a momo suede wheel. Now i can put the steering wheel tilt all the way down, put on a helmet and clear the main hood, and sit more comfortably than ever! Even with the fixed seats, vs. the torinos with twice the padding and an adjustable back!

 

If you're poooor, get yourself an aluminum Kirkey-type seat. They're cheap, and about 1/2" thick on all sides including the padding. Lotsa clearance but not very comfortable for road driving probably.. I dunno though, only used mine on the race track and I wasn't paying attention to how my butt felt at the time.

 

Well I'm 6' 1" tall, skinny as hell, with size 12 feet. I have an 86 base model with no sunroof, and I have plenty of headroom. When I autocross, I move my seat up and forward a bit, and never hit my head on the roof. I also have no problem heal and toe downshifting. Hehe, I have a set of pedal covers that I bought from Wal-Mart for $10. The clutch and brake pedals fit fine, but the gas pedal cover wouldn't fit because it is too close to the transmission tunnel. However, the brake pedal moves it 1/2" closer to the gas pedal, so heal and toe shifting is no problem at all.

Hehe, do you guys ever try to drive with flip flops on? Isn't that the worst. It would be a small miracle to heal and toe with those thing on. Usually just drive bare foot if I happen to be wearing them. Just my observation.

 

I have made this modification on three FC race cars. which is to cut the stock mounts off the floor cut the tunnel and flatten the floor. large sledge hammer works best. once floor is flat hammer tunnel side flat and fill in opening so there is now a sharp 90*bend where the floor meets the tunnel. next weld some flat stock to the floor to mount the new race seat(Cobra in all three) and help to reinforce the floor area. this allows you to lower the seat an bring it closer to the center of the car. this gives you more head room when a full cage is installed. I also removed the whole steering column and fabricated a new one to bring the wheel farther back so I could move the seat back for more leg room. for a street car I would try a race type seat on the stock mounts and see how this worked. then look at mounting the seat directly to the floor, but the floor will need to be reinforced as it is very thin and the bolts would tear through in an accident. Helmets will be very similair in size

 

5' 4" 120lbs size 6 feet, fit like a glove

sorry had to rub that in