Body Fitting

[Dave Forster]

I am abnormally tall (my wife says that's not all that's abnormal), at 6'4", with a 36" leg.

I am in the process of trial fitting my body into the car and found that with the factory supplied seat on the floor, I can obtain sufficient headroom by reclining the seat. However, this is without upholstery on the seat or headliner on the roof. I could recline the seat further if necessary, but from what I understand, seats are more comfortable if you sit more upright.

To help gain a little more headroom, I could shim and redrill the back of the rollcage 0.5-1.0 inches higher and place shims under the body as well. The front of the rollcage could be left where it is, or could also be shimmed up.

While not really necessary, this would give more headroom and a few more options for seat angle and thicker upholstery.

Is this a bad idea? Are there other complications (like an odd appearance around the wheel well)?

btw: my car has the extended footwell option and there is loads of legroom.

Any thoughts or recommendations gratefully received . . .

 

[Fran Hall RCR]

The knock on effect would mean you have to modify MANY MANY other parts on the car....absolutely not recommended at all....

The seat brackets should always be mounted directly to the floor and not on top of carpet or any other material for that matter,so that is a moot point really.

Keep in mind that raising the body will mean making a new rad box and front diffuser mount, as the nose mounts to the cab and the diffuser sits tight under the nose...The wheels would then not sit centered in the arches either....just a couple of items that spring to mind...

You will be opening a large can of worms that nobody has deemed necessary to this point ,so you will be totally on your own when it comes to making it work I am afraid...we can all offer advice but there will be no hard and fast instructions.

 

[Alex]

I shimmed my body up 1/8'' because the roof was sitting hard on the roll cage. I wouldn't go through that effort just for seat angle, let alone if you're talking about raising it up an inch.

 

[P Roth]

I would say laying the seat back a few more degrees would not be uncomfortable, as long as you can see forward, reach the wheel comfortably and your head is supported so you are not straining to keep your head up.

 

[Tim]

I used an even more reclined Tillett B4 seat to gain more headroom. That seat is designed to be quite reclined in its normal position instead of taking a "normal" seat and tilting it back. You will sit lower with a seat that's naturally designed to be reclined because the seat bottom will be flatter on the ground. Your lower back thighs will also not hit the front of the seat bottom as much which could prevent you from extending your legs properly.

Tim

 

[Howard Jones]

Just to keep things in perspective my GT40 track seat I made is reclined at 37 degrees. I don't think the SLC seats are much more than 1/2 that when flat mounted to the floor so you can really lay them back and they will be comfortable.

Trial mount the center section and steering wheel as designed, then make up a trial set of seat mounts from some leftover plywood, duct tape and some old sofa seat foam to hold the seat in place and start playing with seat positions until you like it. Then you can drill things only once and be happy. This is what I did with my SLC. Once I had the temporary seat mount in place I set the peddles and finished off the shifter location and steering wheel, checked it all again and final set the seat.

Don't forget the helmet clearance if required.

I would permanently set the drivers seat for myself (you) only, unless you REALLY will let anyone else drive the car. A moveable peddle mount is a better idea IMHO anyway if you do.

These cars body's fit so well that screwing around with altering them anymore than necessary to set the gaps will really make a easy (well pretty easy anyway) job very frustrating. I don't recommend it.

 

[Michael Fling]

The new gent seats have an inset on the inside of the seat. I showed on my build log what we are doing. The seat is on a Sparco slider. So back and forth we go. Then the seat pivots from the rear attachment on the seat bracket. A removable pin sets in the front area of seat bracket allowing the seat to change inclination. Because of the inset inside the seat, the adjustable pin is not in the way. I am having a plate made that will be upolstered that will "snap" over the outside of the seat bracket. Inclination works. Double the fun.

At the fabricator now.

 

[Dave Forster]

Thanks for all the comments, guys!

I'm going to try setting everything at the height the factory intended and see how it works.

I'm wondering if anyone can offer any suggestions or pictures on fitting the interior tub and body?

Specifically,

1) Is it intended to trim the tub along the groove seen at the bottom of pic1? Or is this groove used for some other purpose, like for mating to the body?
2) Is it recommended to add some kind of aluminum or steel support for the outer edge of the tub where someone would potentially sit on it while getting in and out of the car (pic 2)? Or is the tub designed to take this load without reinforcement?
3) On first fitting, the body needs to come down a little further to mate with the tub. Is it best to trim the edge of the body (pic 3) so that it rests on top of the lip of the tub, or trim the tub so that the body sits down outside the edge of the lip of the tub? This relates to question #1 – if the body is intended to sit in the groove of the tub, then I would need to trim the body.
4) It would be good if the interior tub and body were installed in such a way that they could be removed if needed in the future, but I suspect this will lead to lots of squeaks and rattles driving down the road. Alternatively, things could be bolted down and glassed together, or some kind of sealant applied along all of the mating surfaces. Does anyone have any recommendations in this respect?

If anyone can post any pictures of a tub installation under way or complete, that would be great!

 

[Fran Hall RCR]

Call Brandon or Josh at the shop tomorrow...they fit the tubs at RCR and can walk you through it...
but for your quick reference tonight

1,The body sits inside the groove...and the two surfaces will be the same height at the rocker/step in.
2, No support needed
3,There is a recess on the tub and the body WILL AND DOES fit into that recess around the striker and the full length of the B pillar when trimmed and fitted correctly..yes the body has to be trimmed....DO NOT trim the tub flanges
4, not designed to be removable without first taking the body off the car....impossible to remove with the rollcage installed too.
The whole point of the tub is to have no extra seams, edges , flanges or breaks.

Personally I think the tub really cleans things up and really gives a much more OEM feel ...once you have the inner roof and the waterfall section in place its a great look. IMHO.
You are moving along pretty well Dave...keep up the good work

 

[Les]

Would the "Gurney bubble", which Ford used to clear Dan Gurney's head on their LeMans-winning Mk IV, help?

 

[Dave Forster]

Les: Thanks for the tip, but if I had to do that to the body to fit my big head inside, I'd probably be better to just cut the whole roof off and make it a convertible!

Thanks for the info, Fran. I have been away for a couple of days but will be getting back on it. I agree the tub really makes the interior look much more finished and OEM.

I can see how removing the tub would require first removing the body and rollbar. However, it looks to me like getting the desired seamless look for the interior is going to mean running upholstery over the mating surfaces between tub and body. If this is going to be the case, then it seems that there will come a time in the construction process where the body is permanently in place. If this is true, then I may as well glass/glue/bond everything together to limit the squeaks (?)

Am I missing anything here?

 

[Alex]

If this is true, then I may as well glass/glue/bond everything together to limit the squeaks (?)

Am I missing anything here?

You'll be sorry if you need to take it apart down the road?

 

[Dave Forster]

The tub, body and instrument panel are now rough-fitted into position in preparation for positioning the steering wheel.

I am really happy with the way the tub helps provides a more finished look to the interior of the car. Also, compared to other projects I have worked on, everything fiberglass seems to fit very well. Fran and his crew have obviously paid a lot of attention to ensuring accurate molds.

The bottom of the tub was trimmed to remove the flange in the seat pan area per instruction from Josh at RCR and the seat is currently sitting with the seat mounting brackets flush against the tub/center console.

However, in this position, the seat is still off center compared to the steering column cutout in the instrument panel by about 1.5" - 2". This wouldn't be a big deal except that it will feel odd not to have the steering wheel directly in front of the driver.

As you can see by the pictures, the instrument panel is already offset to the left - it is tight to the door panel on the left, but there is a gap on the right (which I can fill with some bodywork).

The edge of the seat is about 3/4" from the side of the center console. This is because there is a "step" in the tub just above the bottom of the floor (the seat bracket is currently tight against the step).

In order to get things more into alignment, I am thinking of cutting out the "step" in the tub adjacent to the seat bracket and possibly trimming the flange of the seat so that it can be tighter to the center console. However, I suspect this won't be enough to get the seat in line with the steering column cutout on the instrument panel. I might be able to trim the instrument panel some more to shift it slightly further to the left, but this will open the gap on the right side of the instrument panel. I could also do some major surgery on the instrument panel, cutting it vertically down the middle, which would allow the left side to move left and the right side to move right.

Does anyone have any tips or experience as to how to best get the seat and steering wheel into alignment?

 

[PeteB]

I've got my driver's seat as far to the right as it will go and the steering wheel is still offset a bit from the center of the seat. I was also concerned about this, but after getting the pedals and steering wheel installed and sitting in the seat, it doesn't feel uncomfortable.

 

[Fran Hall RCR]

Sit in your daily driver and see how far offset your steering wheel, pedals are....I

ts quite the norm with OEM manufacturers to rotate the drivers seat by approx. 2 degrees from center to give the impression that everything is "on center' which its invariably not.

2 degrees is about the limit of normalcy before feeling cock eyed in the driving position..the steering wheel is also often tweeked by the OEM manufacturers to achieve a similar solution...the eye is often tricked as long as the gauge pod is centered whilst looking through the steering wheel...

Give it a try ...you will be very surprised how much 2 deg. helps

 

[Will Campbell]

I've got my driver's seat as far to the right as it will go and the steering wheel is still offset a bit from the center of the seat. I was also concerned about this, but after getting the pedals and steering wheel installed and sitting in the seat, it doesn't feel uncomfortable.

Maybe my car is different, but my seat is aligned perfectly with the drivers binnacle on the dash, as well as the steering wheel.

With the narrower console that the tubs have, moving the seats inward should be even easier.

I wouldn't hesitate to trim the tub a bit if it was in the way of moving the seat inward. It's just fiberglass- you can put it back later if necessary. Or maybe you could just slot the tub where the seat mounts interfere?

Perhaps you have the seat mount floor flanges facing out when they should be facing in? That would reduce clearance for no good reason.

Based on my car, there is no way that the seat/dash/instrument/wheel combo can't be perfectly aligned.

 

[PeteB]

Will, do you have the dropped footboxes? That's the limiting factor to moving the seats inward.

Fran, I don't have my seats bolted in yet, so I'll try rotating the seat tonight.

 

[Fran Hall RCR]

The tub and the new console creates a little more of restriction especially when using the new seats as they are double skinned and have more of a flange on the outer edges and they are more roomy as a whole too...but its certainly not a big issue...the 2 deg makes a huge difference...even cars like the MP4 do this

Trim the seat edge but NOT the tub...hush Will....

If you ever get a chance sit in a Diablo...you need universal joints for knees to drive one comfortably...

 

[matthias]

These are the kinds of problems that scare the bejesus out of me and make me question my sanity about wanting to build my own car. I can overcome many mechanical hurdles, but when it comes to some of the aesthetic finishing touches (like making sure the seat is centered on the steering wheel) I may be lost. The devil is in the details as they say...

 

[Fran Hall RCR]

Seriously whats so scary...its all just nuts and bolts ?....