szercer

what kind of mods has anyone that's tall done to make there vette more comfortable? I'm 6'6" and would love a couple inches more room for my legs, but behind the seat in my 76 its fberglass so I don't want to cut into it or anything...

'79ProwlerOrange

thinner seats. glass t-tops. recessed pedals. thats all i know of.

Stevo81

I am 6-1 and have shoulder width issues...my 18 yr old son is 6-6...he fits into his 65 Mustang but has to take off the t-tops on my 81 C3...I think changing to a thin racing type seat might help...

Cali,68,L-79

I'm 6'3" and to clear the steering wheel the wheel is tilted all the way up. I have to have my left leg against the door panel and my right leg rests against the center console, got used to shifting pushing in the clutch this way :rolleyes: whatha going do?

If you want comfort get a 4 door Buick Lesabre, if you want classic sports car then put up with the negatives. My .02


[Modified by Cali,77,L-82, 9:38 PM 12/21/2002]

fauxrs

Cali - you up for something in PB tommorrow - maybe near Game time (football that is) Rain or shine :yesnod:

1979VetteMike

Move to Florida and drive bare footed. :conehead

GWilliam

I'm not a big guy and I feel cramped in my Vette compared to my
pickup truck.

The console and steering column area is very constrained. You'd have to
replace the stock console with a racing type panel, remove the door panel
and use an aluminum racing seat. Also, the center console needs to go.

Keep the Vette stock and drive a pickup for comfort

page62

Aw, c'mon guys. Y'all must have taken your Grinch pills. At 6'2" I just fit--with glass tops.

I actually like the snugness of the cockpit, especially because I feel safer than I would in a Miata (whether that's actually true or not is another thread).

So that's about it -- racing seats and glass tops are all you can do. Or buy a C5. Those things are huge inside and are getting cheap as dirt! A '98 sold down here for $23.5K. The car was immaculate. Very low miles, and the carpets had literally never been stepped on!

gdh

You need to install one of those Pope mobile bubble roofs, or just jack your seat up and wear a helmut with a visor. I am 6'1" and glad that I drive a vert. , I may have to install recessed pedals because of the lack of leg room.

zZArAZz

I am 6'4 and I fit just fine in my 81, You just need alot of horsepower to break in the drivers seat correctly:)

Langadorf

I'm 6'2 and fit fine in my '79 once I removed the t-top underpanels. With them on, I have to hunch over or slouch uncomfortably to fit. It's strange though - my dad's '79 seats seem to sit about an inch or so higher than mine - even with the t-tops off it seems my heads sticks over the roofline by about an inch.

Twin_Turbo

I removed the liner inside the T-tops. Only need to break out the disk grinder to remove those ugly mounting studs (w/ the velcro type thingies on them) & spray it w/ some nice stuff (thinking about rubber type spray, used on Mercedes Dashboards, I may be able to get some of that stuff) That should add some space.


or a raincoat:

mrvette

My car is a '72 convetible, I am 6'5" and tall in the backbone...but legs room was also critical....SO

last winter I cut the mounting flanges off the rear of the seat tracks on driver's seat....and rebent the tabs up front to lay the tracks lower n the car...cutting the padding out from under the rug....removing the seat belt cover which is useless anyway, for storing moisture/rust in that area...NO air circulation....

SECOND.....I cut the bottom forward corner of the foot well all the way across, removed the dimmer switch to the later steering column, thereby allowing the firewall to be split up each front corner of the footwell to just below the steering column mounting height...
propped in place with sheetrock screws and aluminum plate underneath...filled it in with several layers of glass and roving, building it up to be solid and grinding down as necessary .....then removed aluminum....it did NOT interfear with anything under the car....
my own personal comfort thing was also pulling the steering column mounting flange off the firewall toward ME...by 3/4 inch plywood....replacing bolts, with longer one's, and resealing with undercoating....this may NOT work with stock steering, but was an easy/desirable change with the Rack/Pinion conversion I did at same time....
then I removed the brake and gas pedals, cut and bent them for better height off the new floorboard arrangement.....and rewelded the brake pedal lever.....

at this point I gained 2.5 some odd inches of leg room on my shoe's bottom...pedal height greatly improved, seat lowered,
My bottom cushiions were redone some 5 years previously, with original padding, so the height is a lo as its going to get on that account....that was a deliberate move.....knees off the steering column, legs straighter, less on my butt in seating, more on thighs....seat raked back a bit, so wifey poo uses a pillow and moves seat forward...she be the short type....at 5-5.....

so I don't have any first hand recommendations on the t-tops thing...but on my ragtop these mods helped IMMENSLEY in the driving pleasure....

I had caution about how much just an inch or two would make in seating pleasure....but I can assure you it is immense....HUGE differance....well worth the effort...

GENE

:D :D :cool: :cool: :cheers: :smash:

szercer

thats the kind of answer I was looking for, but man thats alot of work, might take something like that on when I repaint here though. thanks for the help, guys!! :chevy

Schmucker

I'm 6'4", long torso and I fit without issue. My head is close to the T-Tops, but not that big of a deal. If I have the tops off and the windows up I get a wind that brushes the top of my short hair. It makes it tingle :D

gkull

I have a Sparco fiberglass racing seat. It's mounted all the way back firm against the battery box area. I have a 79 and I thought about taking a sawsall to the raised portion where the seat bolts to and making it flat with the floor.

You could gain 2 1/2 3 inches. Then your head height would be right.

mrvette

I looked at all sorts of options on lowering that seat...and there is little to b gained by taking the tracks off....plus giving youself a mounting problem for the seat....that extra 3/4 inch is needed for seat belt clearance...and cutting off the rear mounting tabs, lowering the front tabs, and removing the carpet insulation under the seat area is about all you can do....unless someonw sees another solution for that damn seat belt location...but then i really preferr the old style airliner adjustable seat belts anyway, but no one makes them anymore that I know of....you know...pull the belt snug after the clip is in place....that would allow dropping off more seat height without sacrifice of the padding/necessary 'sag' area of the seat....
another trick would be cut the pan and lower the entire pan about 2 inches...but that would make more work than necessary for ME anyway...


I telll you a silly vechicle for seat height....try a Dodge 3/4 ton VAN....they got those seats up in the freaking AIR...no reason....my head actually hit the top on the one I have now...so I just cut the seat mount and slammed the seat by about 4 inches....rides/drives MUCH better now...cant figger what in hell was about mopar engineering in that seat design....stupid....

GENE

Oldguard 7

I am 6'2" I have a smaller diameter steering wheel to help with leg room. I also wear a size 13 shoe too bad nothing I can be done in that area. I do think fellows with beer bellies or fat may even more trouble since thier guts are probably pretty close to the steering wheel. Hope I didn't offend anyone with that last comment. I sat in a c-5 and ergonomically it felt cramped to me in terms of leg room. Looking at the c3 and c5 side by side it appears the roof of the vehicle appears to have been moved forward a few inches. then again maybe its my partiality toward the shark.

Cali,68,L-79

Okay lets make it more interesting. your 6'4" and you have stock side pipes. Yeah go ahead and try it. See my scar from 10 years ago from my cousin's 70 LT-1.

:cuss

kaiserbud

Hey Steve - you got mail..... :smash: