Lowered Seat?

dlearl · dlearl's Garage

I have a question about my '78SC. It's a sunroof coupe and I'm 6'2" tall. I'm like 1" away from being really comfortable in my car. Is there any easy fix for the OEM seats that would allow another inch of legroom and an inch or two headroom? (adaptor, swapped brackets, etc.) As it is, I have to recline the seat more than I would like to and my legs hit the steering wheel.
Short of going to an aftermarket seat and a smaller wheel (which I eventually will, I'm sure) is there any hope?
TIA,
David

PorscheGuy79 · PorscheGuy79's Garage

I can tell you that aftermarket seast will help tons, I have them in my 79SC and im 5'11" and with my seats as low as they are I have another 5-6" of headroom, I sit very very low.

Porschekid962 · Porschekid962's Garage

hey PorscheGuy, thats interesting. I just sat in my dad's car, I am 5'11 as well and with his seats I have about 2 inches of headroom. If I take the bottom cushions off I get another inch. His still has the sliders on them which probably take up an inch. I have the seats on the lowest mounting hole on the side supports and it all bolts to the stock mounting rails. Just curious what setup your running.

His car is setup like this top to bottom. Sparco EVO II's, Sparco side mounts, Sparco sliders, stock seat mounts. Just wondering did you bolt yours to the floor? 5-6 inches is a lot. I know the helmet rubs a tad when I have it on and some more headroom would be very nice.

Thanks.

Wil Ferch · 11-10-2004, 05:00 AM

PorscheGuy:
This is of interest to many of us and good solutions are hard to find....
Please explain.....did you sacrifice sliders for this amount of goodness?

Wil

smdubovsky · 11-10-2004, 05:11 AM

Im ~6'2" and have a Sparco Evo seat in my 83SC sunroof coupe w/ the sparco sliders. My un-helmeted head used to touch the sunroof w/ the factory seats. I now have 1+" clearance above my helmet and the seat is not in its lowest position on the brackets. Gained lots of headroom, but since its mostly a track car I CUT OUT the factory brackets and mounted the seat to the floor (w/ appropriate reinforcements). As I recall the brackets are ~3" off the floor. If you do the same, you could even mount the factory seat to the floor and gain a ton of headroom.

SMD

Joeaksa · 11-10-2004, 06:11 AM

I am getting ready to move my seat down about an inch. Have used Recaro's for a while in the car and now that its running again need to take the plunge.

The sliders sit on top an adapter on top of the mount but there is a way to bolt the seat directly to the floor mount but lower. Will experiement with it but there is some wiggle room here.

JoeA

Wil Ferch · 11-10-2004, 06:38 AM

SMD:
Another data point...and one example how it didn't improve things.
Sparco Evo 2 in an 85 Carrera...didn't improve headroom over stock seats....

Wil

nostatic · nostatic's Garage

totally depends on the seat and how it is mounted. I had no helmet room in my SC, and Recaro SRD/Speeds didn't get me any more clearance (they will bolt directly to the stock mounts).

We had to end up cutting out the mounting rails, and welding in two cross supports lower down on the pan. Then drilled those to fit Sparco sliders, and I have a Fighter on the driver's side. Passenger side still has the factory mounts and I use a crossbar adapter. That one sits a bit higher, but it only matters if I have a really tall person instructing or riding shotgun. And neither of those happen very often.

doug petty · 11-10-2004, 08:33 AM

i've got an 85 cab with 993 8 way power seats, 6'2" and my head rubbed the headliner so a few months ago i cut out the stock mounts with a 4" cutter wheel and lowered them 1 1/2" inches & I can't believe the difference, leg room under the steering wheel and at the shifter. now i can adjust up & down, tilt the bottom up & down, and i can see under the mirror. It was worth all the work.
the only draw back is the clearance for the dme, so 1 1/4" would be the spot.

Wil Ferch · 11-10-2004, 08:43 AM

Doug:
Details? The inboard mount is awfully close to the tunnel...where all manner of fuel lines, etc. reside. Can't easily re-weld in that area. Did you use a cross-bar (welded or bolted in-place) instead as a new "mount"? Maybe some pics, too, would help.

The 85's are the worst. Porsche ( in their infinite wisdom) made the chassis seat mounts 3/4" HIGHER than the 84 or 86+ cars. Are they nuts? Have you ever pushed the power seat button so it sits ALL the way up? You'd have to be 4'-11" to benefit doing this. Even for my 5'-8" frame...I find the lowest position too high. Just who ARE these people that Porsche designed the adjustment range for ??

Wil ( rant-off)

Joeaksa · 11-10-2004, 08:47 AM

Wil,

Pull that damm heavy electric seat out and get a real one! I had the same problem and hated the position. Getting ready to do mine and either move the mount down or cut it out all together.

Joe
(another tall 85 owner)

Teutonics · Teutonics's Garage

Yet another tall '85 driver here... I had my seat mounts lowered, and photos/details are here.

doug petty · 11-10-2004, 11:40 AM

wil
I used my miller 200 wirefeed in short 1" runs with some wet rags handy and just cool off each run then move to another area. the one thing that was a biotch was the mounting holes had to be elongated to move both seats outward to clear the center tunnel to the seatbelt. One other item is to cover everthing with some heavy canvas to protect form the sparks & use aviation snips whenever possible instead of the grinder.
dont forget to cut a new radius in the sides of the mounts before you weld them back in.
sorry I don't have a digital camera

doug petty · 11-10-2004, 11:44 AM

oh
forgot the other bonus is you can use the right side of your foot to blip the throttle for some heel & toe braking. it used to be a problem to do before but now just like a pro, I find myself doing all over town.

PorscheGuy79 · PorscheGuy79's Garage

I took a closer look at my seat arrangement today and came up with eht following. They are some german aftermarket sets from what I can gather that are mounted to what seems to be the stock sliderbase. The mounts on the seats are flush wiht the bottom of the seats and just mount onto the sliders. BTW another explaination of my clearence is that the drivers seat foam is slightly worn so I slup a bit more in that one then I do the passangers.

Wil Ferch · 08:14 AM

Question:
For my 85.....if I cut out the ( longitudinal) mounts that are originally welded to the floor....and weld square tubing instead ( two units...crosswise...one fore and one aft for each seat)....why wouldn't this work? Seems to get the heat-affected zone away from the fuel lines in the tunnels and also avoids having drill -through of mounting bolts through the pan...which has its own issues.

Wil

rhk109 · 11-13-2004, 07:52 AM

With respect to a smaller steering wheel I had excellent results installing a 2" spacer and 2.5" dished wheel. The result brought the wheel back 4.5" and I was able to stick with the stock diameter. I am 6'5" and my knees no longer hit the wheel. Heel and toeing is a breeze now. It is also much more comfortable than driving with my arms totally streched out and I can get better leverage on the wheel. Definetly one of the best and simplest mods I have ever done.