I am in a bind - any direction is really appreciated - interior issue
 

Hi All -
My first 911 was delivered today - and I dont fit in it!! I sat in several cars before making the purchase and thought I had plenty of room. I sat in both sunroof and non-sunroof cars, car with power seats and those without - but never a car with both power seats and a sunroof.

My "new" car is a 1977 911S. It was updated several years ago using just about every single part from a 3.2 carrera (it's really neat). I am 6'2", but I am tall in the torso (31" inseam)

The interior is using the stock leather four-way power seats (two "up and down" buttons - see pic).

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1357246353.jpg

However, only the front switch does anything. This is the same with the passenger seat. The main computer for the 3.2 in located under the driver seat (very clean install - looks factory.

I have two questions:
1. what should the reaward control button do on the seat? Right now the front button tilts the entire seat from the front.

2. Can the bottom cushion be shaved by an upohlstery shop to drop me in the seat? I had a "short" cushion made for my 914-6 and gained a ton of room.

I cant believe I have this beautiful machine sitting in the garage and cannot drive it (without huge recline - I can barely reach the wheel - pretty silly....)


Thanks in advance for any help/direction!!
Scott S

The reason you are having an issue is those seats are from a much newer car and I think when you mount those in an older car they sit much higher. I think if you got factory seats you would not have a problem.

Those look like 993 seats to me (95-98), agree with Mike.

The rear button should raise and lower the rear of the seat and likely gain you the headroom you need. I"m 6'2" with a long torso and I fit (barely) with the seat in my '86 all the way down in the back. With the rear portion of the seat up, no way would I fit. Search hear for a fix on the switches. You should make sure the seat can't be lowered before doing anything drastic. Too me, the driver's seat looks higher than the passenger side. In my car it's the opposite. -J

What Mike said. Those look like they are from a 993. You either need to find non-powered seats or any powered seats from 1978-1989, except 1985 which I believe had higher seat rails.

pretty sure the buttons you have should only move the seat up and down (front and rear portions of seat bottom). you should have a latch under the seat to slide it back and forth. That seat looks a little forward to me and not all the way back. Not sure if the conversion to those new seats effected anything. I am 6' and do not have my seat all the way back and have plenty of room. (my seat is old and a little depressed so height is not an issue)

Seat swap is the easiest fix.

See if you can find some kind of wiring chart for those seats, or pull one and see if there is a plug/wires that are either cut or missing. Then maybe you can get the rear buttons to work. If this does not work then you can sell those seats and purchase ones that will work for your car. Heck, might even be able to trade. I'm not sure shaving that seat would work out for you.
Or, get real creative and shorten the rails.

yes they are 993 seats , what you need to do is take the seat out and the 2 wires to the motor for the front put to the back motor , then you can put the seat back down and see if you fit in it

married?.... let your wife drive.

Ha! that discussion has already happened - and the car has only been here 3 hours..........

I think I will swap them out. I live fairly close to CarQuip in boulder, maybe they will work a deal with me.

I will see if I can get the rear switch to work in the short term too.

Too bad, the seats are very pretty.

Either way, thanks very much for the help!!!!
Scott S

These are the stock seats in my 86 930 with sunroof. I'm 6'4" and barely fit with the seat all the way down, all the way back, and slightly reclined.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...7E49C7B5F4.jpg

They are nice seats, but with a non-motorized pair you will sit 2" lower.

I like the Porsche Moose idea. Whatever works along this line of thinking is easier than swapping out nice seats. You may have issues with the swapped seats.

Why not just run some temporary 12v to the seat motor and make sure it is all the way down. Drive it for a while and then make a permanent decision.

Got a spare battery and a little wire lying around your garage?

Seat Issue
 

First off that looks like a really nice 911 and I would love to see pics of the whole car.
Regarding your seat issue, you might be able to fix the issue by changing or modifying the seat mounts. Seems it might me cheaper and easier than changing the seats.

I have a set of aftermarket seat mounts that are adjustable and sit lower than the stock mounts. I can dig them up and send you pics. Let me know.

You might also check for posts on lowering seat mounts, I am sure it's been done before for tall drivers.

Bob

+1

Although these are later model seats and not sure if they sit higher than stock even at the lowest setting, attempt to clean the switches with lots of contact cleaner. I was able to get my rear button to work temporarily to get the back of the seat down. Remember, electronic contact cleaner makes things ice cold and BRITTLE. I broke my switch, so take it slow. If you have power to the seat, you should be able to get it to work at least while you are spraying fluid in there.

I am 6' 7" and can drive my 911 (with sunroof) quite easily... I put on an extension on the steering wheel and on the shifter. I recently swapped out the original seats with some Recaros and I actually fit in even better. It is not the best picture but you can see the extension on the shifter. The steering is actually a quick release with about 3 inches to it. As well I put in a smaller diameter wheel. The swap was quite easy... They are VW Trophy Recaros.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1357256086.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1357256306.jpg

Worse comes to worse, I've got a set of black leather non powered seats and rails I JUST took out of my 84 Targa last week I can make you a deal on. It's now a track car, so I have no use for them. Good but not perfect shape.

I will pull the seat this weekend and see what is going on with the rear drop. I spoke to Carquip and they have the correct year seats and take trade ins, but I will need still need to have them redone.

I really like those recaros - I may go do some hunting on the Samba site and see what is out there.

I was just out in the car and I am on the headliner for sure. Kinda bummed - but we'll get there....

Oh, here is a pic of the whole car:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1357257127.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1357257176.jpg

it looks good, but really needs a good detail top and bottom. I will most likely go back to a stock deck lid as well.


VERY interested in your seats - do youhave pics?

Man, that is a good looking car! Too bad it's not a targa, just leave the roof off all the time!

I have 996 power seats in my '84 Cab, with the same problem..... I just never put the top up:)

Any of the 85 and later seats sit higher in the early cars through 84.
Bruce

If the seat is lower in the back all the way you may want to consider changing them out to the proper year seat (auto or manual).

I have a set identical to the ones in my car... Let me know. (Blue and in great shape - no photos at this time)

No, this is only true for the '85 cars. In '86 they went back to the lower seat rails.

My car has manual sport seats and at 6'5" I fit just fine; a targa provides a little bit more headroom. During DE/Auto the top of my helmet does make slight contact with the inside of the roof but is still ok.

I'm 6'2" as well. I just removed my seats and drilled new holes onto the metal seat rails(on the car). Gave me about 1-2 inches of seat travel. Very easily done and without harming the integrity of the car.

Sorry for the brief hijack, but this brings back a question I asked a few years back, though the answers weren't entirely clear.

I have an 85, and though I'm not quite 6 feet tall, I have clearance issues with a helmet, and feel like I'm sitting way too high for regular street driving as well. My question from back then was: What was unique about 1985? The seat rails were raised, but there was also a new seat design introduced that year. All the SC's and Carreras from MY1984 had the previous seat design. So is it a combination of new seat and raised rails, or was it that the new seat installed higher on the SC-spec rails, which neccesitated modification for the 1986MY? My reason for asking is that I'm not keen about cutting down the rails, but wonder if I get my hands on a set of SC-era sport seats, would they provide me with the same head-room that I'd have in an SC, for example?

Speednme1 -
Can you post or email me a step by step? 2" would absolutely solve my problem.

Thanks a million -
Scott S

Worked GREAT for us - hahahaa!!!!! :D

We have a 1980 that Steve put the same seats into (993). Absolutely no way he could fit in the car properly. He wound up making custom mounts to lower the seat. Literally cut out the stock ones and welded new ones to the car. I can barely see out of the car now when I drive it, but HE fits perfectly!

If I were in your shoes, I would FIRST try dropping that seat down as it is looks to be in the raised position. If that doesn't work, then swap them out for other seats. Yours are in great shape, you should do fine on a swap-out.

Enjoy the car!

angela

I am 6' 5", i took out the center console on my 86. i have sparco milano seats an with the bracket it basically sits on the floor. Next step is to get a smaller diameter wheel.

Those same Recaros are for sale in the classifieds section here if still interested.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-used-parts-sale-wanted/663676-early-recaros-pair-socal.html

I do agree, since the rear switch is non op, you could just not be all the way down.

If you don't care about sliding front and back you could delete the silders and mount directly to the rails?

I have no idea why they raised the seat rails in 1885. Maybe they thought they needed to with the new style seat. In any event they dropped the rails back down in 1986. For tall guys, I think the best option would be to find a set of 1978-1984 sport seats.

I just read this after posting my idea about seat lowering brackets for my SC. I am about 6'3 and just barely fit in my car with the original SC sport seats but will not fit with my helmet on unless I recline the seats back in a less optimized driving position.

I have decided to cut my original seat mounting brackets and somehow put in custom lowering brackets. My post is asking about an idea to get past the concern of welding on the tunnel where the fuel lines are. Perhaps it will help you with seat set up.

To continue with optimized fit, I also put in a WEVO extended shifter and a Momo MOD 88 with flattened bottom to give some clearance for my knees. This set up with existing SC seat provides a good driving position but again will not allow me to wear a helmet for DE or AX, so the seat position will need to be lowered.

Hope this helps you.

Shorter people had a hard time seeing over the horses... :D

Scott I sent you an email that I hope will help.

Check underneath just in case there are factory spacer rails that the seats were mounted to. I've seen them on more than one Carrera.

I am very interested in more info on this. I am 6'4"and am rubbing against the roofliner, any space increase is useful.