is it possible to get it lower by ajusting the brakets? i wana check this option out till i can afford a seat. im 6'3, so i cant fit a helmet on my head in my r1, so i need to figure out something. also because when i put a smaller wheel on i might not be able to read the speedo well with my head so damn high.

 

I really dont think you would gain much from lowering it, unless you bolted the seat to the floor, then maybe what, an inch and a half?

 

if that, the seat already sits really low. your best et would be to get a different seat.

 

Has anyone ever successfully lowered a stock FD seat? See picture below. The seat's practically as low as the rails.

I was hoping to bolt driver seat to floor but looks like it isn't going to help.

(FYI I don't really want to do aftermarket seats as the stock seats in this case are near concours quality...)

 

Seems like you've already answered your own question.

 

I share your pain. Your gonna need to get an aftermarket seat and swap them on the days your autocrossing. That's my plan

 

thanks just checking if i was missing something.

i guess this is a good time for me to clean the leather and the carpet.

 

One option to consider is removing foam from the seat bottom. I have a friend who had to do it to fit in his Miata. Gained some decent headroom. I quick Google search suggests it's very common in the Miata community. Might work wit the FD seat.

 

Not sure whats going on with my FD but the bolts for the driver seat go THROUGH the floor, IE theres a nut underneath the car, Ive never measured how much lower it is but it seems about an inch an a half or two inches as ijneb mentioned. I can pull the seat out and take some pictures for you tomorrow (or when I remember/you pm me) if you would like. I WILL forget, send me a PM if interested.

 

That's very kind of you to offer. I have a question for you below but hopefully it's less work than that (not that that would take long!) btw i think i have the seat bolt torque numbers nearby if you want them without looking them up.

However I took the rails off the seat and sat it in the floor of the car. it didn't seem lower, there wasn't a visual difference in height between it and the passenger seat. certainly not an inch or anything. clearly there is a tiny bit of space between carpet and bottom of seat so it will slide on its sliders, so i'm sure there is a gain of millimeters.

if the underseat carpet were pulled, a few more mm? But wonder how that would be re: vibration.

if someone did some significant surgery on the floor pan, it could be lower without rails then. the bolt-points are not as low as the "bucket" of the seat, so the bolt point areas wouldn't necessarily have to change.

so i might ask: (1) can you see any sign of making the floor pan deeper where the seat bucket sits on your car from underneath? (2) does the driver seat look visually lower than the passenger seat? I suppose one might be able to measure from the top of the seat to the ceiling, with a little care.

thanks in advance!

 

My suggestion would be to get a steering column spacer and tilt the seat back more. That's basically how you do it with cars that have lower roofs. In a Lotus Europa, you're practically laying down. Travis Pastrana did this in one of his rally cars because he said he wanted to be more behind the B pillar. He got the pedals, steering column and shifter lengthened.

 

Yes that makes sense. I think all problems come from me trying to keep it stockish -- different seat, solved, or race wheel, maybe solved as you mention.

i'm currently planning to put a nardi wheel on which will give 5mm more leg room i assume -- which will help. Not sure if anyone makes a spline-style extension. a little bit of extension would go a long way.

will do the nardi wheel and see how that goes for a while, might be fine, this car will live mostly on the street. with stock leather seat on the track would become quite a core workout after a while.

 

I took my seat apart and studied it. In the end I decided to modify the floor. I was able to lower the front part of the seat a little more than 1" and the rear about 1/2". Plus I got a jdm wheel. Every little bit helps. I have the sunroof and I'm 5'11".