legroom in etypes

Eman · Post by **Eman** » Sat Sep 29, 2012 9:59 pm

i am six feet five and so is clarkson,,he drove early etype,,what can be done for more legroom

Kes · Post by **Kes** » Sun Sep 30, 2012 10:34 am

At 6'2" I struggle myself - so it must be a real problem for you. One problem I have is that because my left leg is jammed under the steering wheel, sometimes when I go over a bump my knee knocks the ignition key off - first time it happened it took me ages to work out why the car had suddenly died!
Anyway, I've heard of people modifying the seat backs, and removing the stops from the seat runners, but even both these things together (and lets face it, who wants to butcher their seats?) will only give you a couple of inches extra leg room at best. If you find a way around this - do let me know!

Dave K · Post by **Dave K** » Sun Sep 30, 2012 4:36 pm

I people in the States who have removed the seat runners and bolted the seat straight to the floor, this seems to work OK.

Dave

ChrisC · Post by **ChrisC** » Wed Oct 03, 2012 1:47 pm

I am 6'4.

When the seats were rebuilt, i had some of the foam removed from the base cushion so that I sit a couple of inches lower than i would on new full foams. It is actually quite comfortable albeit a little softer than normal.

I also use a slightly smaller steering wheel.

Neither modification actually gives you more leg room but it *feels* like it does.

rfs1957 · Post by **rfs1957** » Sat Oct 06, 2012 8:44 pm

Where the pedals are seems to be an unexplored aspect of the issue, or have I missed something ? There is tons of unused space behind the brake and throttle pedals on my '62 car, and I often straighten out my clutch foot into that space. The very long travel on the clutch means that, as things stand the pedal goes more or less to the bulk-head, but there is a fair bit of slack before it does anything and the useful travel is probably only a third of the space between the pedal's rest position and the bulkhead. Has anyone tried to alter the pedals ? My guess is that there are several inches to be gained on brake and throttle, and maybe the same with the clutch if a smaller slave cylinder could be used.

rfs1957 · Post by **rfs1957** » Sun Sep 29, 2013 9:20 am

Nearly a year since the last post, with an intervening deafening silence but ............... I can now confirm that there was indeed a rich vein here to mine, and it has utterly transformed my enjoyment of the car. Haven't finished writing up all this stuff but there is a start here in what might appear an unconnected post ; look towards the end. This covers seat-modifications: http://etypeuk.com/forum/viewtopic.php? ... 6b3b5a76f6 and this touches on the clutch-slave modification, which is the key modification necessary to get the pedals farther away from the seat: http://www.etypeuk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4838

Have all the brake-pedal modification and adjustable throttle-pedal tweak photographed and tested, these to follow.

Post by **Heuer** » Sun Sep 29, 2013 10:27 am

Very interesting Rory - look forward to a full review of your experiences.

PeterCrespin · Post by **PeterCrespin** » Sun Sep 29, 2013 12:20 pm

Nice one. I was going to say the other non-no for anyone seriously tall should be to stick to post 62.5 cars (when the bulkhead cut-outs were introduced).I'd suggest really to avoid 3.8s but it has made you address the issue! In general for the tallest people I'd even suggest avoiding even all S1 4.2 cars, unless S1.5-onwards reclining seats are fitted. The recliners don't increase leg room but you are definitely less cramped. I cannot sit in a newly-upholstered 3.8 FHC without my head jamming against the roof but my Series 2 cars with sagged seat bottoms are perfect and a 3.8 with thinned cushions is also OK. I cannot fit in Angus's S1 OTS with Mazda seats although it was fine with OEM.

Pete

johnney · Post by **johnney** » Thu Oct 03, 2013 3:54 am

Oops my mistake, But these might help, they look good as well.

http://www.claytonclassics.co.uk./spare ... uar-e-type

Durango2k · Post by **Durango2k** » Thu Oct 03, 2013 6:56 am

ALL S1 cars? What about the "racing estate", the S1 2+2, then? I fit nicely, 6 ft. 2in (1.87 mtrs). Problem is that saying "I am 6.5 tall" is not everything. How long are your legs and the upper part, and do you feel comfy there? Before buying my E I had a short 30 second sit-in in a V12. That did work, so I knew a 2+2 would work for me, AND I had a child at that time who was 5 yrs old. Well, today he?s 10, and be maybe 13 before the dreaded money pit would drive on the road, and be 6 feet tall on his own, so that?s for that. But he can sit sideways in the rear, then :-)

Carsten

JEP41 · Post by **JEP41** » Thu Oct 03, 2013 12:38 pm

I guess sometimes being on the small side is a plus. At 5' 6" tall and 70 kilos I fit into my series 1 OTS Zealia lightweight perfectly, especially with the lightweight seat frames and cushions. I also can sit comfortably with a crash helmet on and still have good clearance between the helmet and the hardtop. 8)

Post by **Heuer** » Thu Oct 03, 2013 12:41 pm

We need a picture of that car John!

JEP41 · Post by **JEP41** » Thu Oct 03, 2013 1:13 pm

Hi David,

Its in the XKdata site chassis S850379 but I am onboard my ship off Nigeria at present and trying to add a picture here is near impossible due to I am told Bandwidth, which makes our Internet run very slowly.
Anybody driving on the M25 CW Sunday evening 15th Sept around 6:30pm just before the Chorley exit will have seen the car broken down on the hard shoulder heading home from Goodwood. The engine just stopped as though the ignition was switched off. Ten minutes later it started and off we went again only to stop again after another 5 minutes. This time I called the RAC suspecting a coil breaking down or amplfier in the electronic ignition. The RAC arrived two hours later only to agree with my own prognosis and having no spares in the van organised recovery to Norfolk. The sub contracted recovery vehicle evenyually arrived at 11:00pm by which time I had taken the chorley exit (for safety reasons)and was waiting for them in a pub carpark. We arrived home at 0450hours Monday morning. Needless to say I have cancelled my RAC membership and at a Traffic Officers suggestion who attended briefly while waiting for the RAC on the M25 I am going to join "Brittania Rescue".
The fault when I got to trouble-shooting Monday was so simple it's almost embarrassing, the wire between the Farrington Rev Counter and Coil was corroded at the coil end bayonet connector but was hidden by the plastic sleeve. It litteraly parted from the wire as I touched. One to remember

ChrisC · Post by **ChrisC** » Thu Oct 03, 2013 3:33 pm

S1s have a tiny little "L" shaped bracket that you can move so that the seat back tilts fractionally backwards but you cant really call it a recliner....

I am 6'4" and I am a close fit in my S1. How did I achieve not crushing my head against the roof when I rebuilt the seats? I merely removed a little of the webbing and some of the foam so that I sit deeper into the seat cushion but the seat at rest looks perfectly normal :)

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