Background:

93 touring, so it has a sunroof. I just barely fit in it; so tight that in the mornings when I'm a little taller I have to lean the seat back.

I occasionally autocross, so wearing a helmet is a PITA. I have to lean the seat way back or try and stick my head out the sunroof. Ride along experts always comment on how poor of a driving position this creates.

Problem:

I cut out some of the seat foam like so many threads suggest taller guys do. I didn't read anything negative about doing this. I cut it from the underside of the cushion. Taking a 45 minute drive this weekend was EXCRUCIATING. The lower you sink into the seat, the more the bolsters on the bottom pinch your *** and legs. It felt like a V shaped torture device!

Additionally, removing the foam puts more stress on the seat material and seams from what mine looked like.

Luckily I saved all the foam I cut out... I'll be gluing it back in next chance I get. Which still leaves me with the helmet clearance issue.

Possible Solutions:

I can think of a few options after re-installing the foam...

1: Buy or make brackets to directly mount the stock seat to the floor without the sliding rails. (Any suggestions where I can purchase a set if they are made? My time is at a premium right now.)

2: Buy an aftermarket driver's seat and brackets known to free up maximum head room. Probably a simple fixed back racing seat that allows use of the stock seat belt. (suggestions needed, don't know much about this subject)

I would prefer to retain the stock seat, but I'm really looking for the least expensive effective solution. Thanks for the help!

 

I have a touring and had terrible head clearance problems, especially at the track with a helmet. I have been prepping my car for track only use and have finally solved my clearance issues. I had to do quite a bit to finally be comfortable while in a helmet.

First I purchased a fixed back bottom mount racing seat. Made some simple 1/4 in plate mounts that i bolted right to the stock mounting locations for the stock seat rails.

I still had clearance issues, so I removed my headliner, they the whole tray/motor assembly of the sunroof. I had to make brackets to now hold the sunroof panel in place.

I now can fit in the proper driving position with a helmet on. Obviously this wont work for everybody due to mine being a track car with no interior anyways. Now the seat position is fixed in one location (with out a semi PITA of removing the whole seat and moving it to a different set of holes in the mounting plates.) Also the sunroof no longer actuates. Which to me is no problem since I dont like them anyways.

All this really makes me miss my old R1. I had so many less head clearance problems with out the sunroof.

 

I am in the same boat and its looking like aftermarket seats with a side mount will provide the most head room.


Side mounts for aftermarket seats from AtomicRex. They do not however have a place to mount the stock seat belt socket.
https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-specific-1993-2002-16/atomicrex-seat-mounts-852437/

List of known seats that fit and do not fit in an FD.
https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...ght=seat+rails

 

How tall are you guys? I'm 6'6 1/2" and I fit in the FD, I have a Touring model w/sunroof as well. What REALLY helped me was an aftermarket d-shapped steering wheel (MOMO Mod 88 suede 320mm) with an NRG quick release. This made the wheel MUCH smaller and put it a good 2 inches closer to me to get it off my knees. I now fit no problem.

There's no way I can fit with my HJC helmet on, however, and that is a fact I have kind of "accepted" for my FD ownership. Does it suck? You bet, but it's better (for me) than owning no FD.

Also, since most of my height is in my torso, I can slouch a lot to give myself enough headroom to squeeze in my helmet- I would drive like that in anger long enough to last a few hot laps.

I had thought about aftermarket seats but it's too big of a big risk for me to get some that won't fit or make it worse since I CAN fit in stock seats.

One other thing I did was my seat is basically reclined back as far as it goes...I removed the seatbelt from the strap on the side which made the belt much more comfortable over me as well.

 

"Fitting" in this regard is about torso length. Some folks with longer legs will have less issues. I have nothing to add about the original subject except to say I'm very interested in the results.

 

alexdimen, do you plan to add a rollbar?

 

open the sunroof, close the visor so you dont get bugs in your eyes...

luckily I'm 5'8

 

Looked at the seat today and it seems like I'd gain an inch at best by eliminating the sliding rails.

If I can find a way to mount it so the bottom of the seat is flush with the carpet I'd free up several more inches... don't think that's possible though. Going to take the rails off and mock it up in the next couple of weeks.

Problem is that the stock seat is already pretty low to begin with.

nope

 

+1
i would also like to know.

 

If you are not going to do a rollbar, I wouldn't recommend a fixed back seat. I know of lot of people do it, but I wouldn't. You might look at something like the F1 Spec seats:

http://www.f1spec.com/r1frp.html

if you have the money, Bride is another good choice:

http://www.intensepower.com/brlowmaxgise.html

Bride does have low mounting rails for the FD. Memoryfab used to have a R98 reclineable seat:

https://www.rx7club.com/showpost.php...1&postcount=26

I don't know if they are still selling seats and rails, but it might not be a bad idea to contact them and check it out.

 

My problem isn't head room since I'm 5'10, it's clearance under the steering wheel. With my feet on the pedals my knees/thighs are touching the wheel, I guess powerlifting and FDs don't go hand in hand

 

A slightly smaller steering wheel with a D-shape will take care of that. Don't go too small as it will obstruct the view of the gauges and increase steering effort. If you want a little more added room, adding a quick release adapter can give you an extra .5 - 2 inches towards your seat depending on the adapter used.

 

^What he said.

Google Momo Commando for a steering wheel or search the Interior/Exterior sub forum

 

How about helmets? I've been using a motorcycle helmet... anyone know if a road race helmet would be much shorter?

The F1 specs look closer to my price range. I'll search around for reviews on quality. Thanks for the links!

 

Not really unless you have a motorcycle helmet with a vent or something on the top. A lot of manufacturers use the same shells for both automotive and motorcycle helmets; they just don't submit their motorcycle line for the SA testing.

 

Any recommendations on an adapter? I was thinking about getting a D shaped one but I kind of like the current Momo, not that I've had ample time to use it yet though.

I'll check around, that one doesn't look bad.

 

I'm using a NRG Steering Wheel Quick Release Adapter (not the slim adapter) like this:

http://www.racinglab.com/nrg-quick-release-g2.html

My height is in my legs so I wanted something to bring the steering wheel back closer to my driving position.

 

I have the NRG Gen 2.5 quick release hub and I love it. It brings the wheel much closer so it gets it off your knees but it's not too close. I am VERY long arms (83" reach) so I need to bend my arms a little more but it's no big deal.

 

Methinks I would only really benefit from a new wheel, bringing it closer probably wouldn't help my case, then it would just touch higher up my thigh.

I'll see how it goes this weekend, but it's manageable.

 

How far does the steering wheel come off from the turn signal switch with the NRG Quik release?

My height is in my.......... oh wait, I'm 5'5 (overestimating), but I have a lot of things in my pockets and it's hard to get out of the car since I don't feel like moving my seat around.

 

The larger the quick release adapter, the further away the turn signals are... If you get a quick release that is about 2 inches in length, you'll be 2 more inches away from the turn signals. It takes some time to get used to but my car isn't used on the streets that much.