When I am driving next to other low slung cars I notice that I am sitting lower than the other drivers. Even though I am 6 ft tall I have a few inches of extra headroom in the car. I am thinking it might be a better seating position with the seat raised a little, even an inch. Has anyone done this that can tell me if the driving position is improved? Many thanks.
Fiero is about the lowest car there is, so you do sit lower. Try a GT40. The top of the roof comes only up to a girls waist. On mine, the seat bolts scraped on speedbumps or sharper driveway approaches. I think my floorpan was between 3 and 4 inches off the pavement. Sitting in a seat was like being in your home recliner. It was comfy though.
I posted a query 6 or 7 weeks ago about seat height. I had just bought my GT and I felt like there wasn't much headroom left over since I am 5'8". Got to looking at the seat attachments and found the PO had added 2" spacers between the seat track and the seat bottoms. The consensus here at the time was to get rid of them ASAP since they could constitute a safety hazard in a collision. I removed the spacers and installed the necessary length bolts for the proper fit. Actually I did like the slightly higher position but soon got used to the lower (correct) seat height.
Not sure how to link to a previous post but here is a picture of the spacers before I removed them.
------------------ My rides... 1988 GT with a 3.4L V6 automatic 2006 Harley Sportster 'cause I love the twisties on two wheels or four.
I replaced my seats with some MR.Mike seats that were already done. Its amazing how flat the seats will get with age. The "new" seats sit higher than my old seats.
Personally I like sitting low in the car, I even thought about removing the rails and making the seats sit lower. Its funny to see the looks on peoples faces that see me get out of the small car and tower over it
At age 76 I've really shrunk, from 5' 10" to 5' 7". Also, back trouble made it difficult to get in and out of my '88, and I was uncomfortable with my legs straight ahead instead of partly down. Sometimes a car would pull up next to me and people in it would have to look closely to see if my Fiero was empty...
I elevated the driver's seat three inches using four sections of heavy steel channel. Solid. Now, I must duck somewhat when getting into the car, but the result is a very satisfactory seating position, the angle to the steering wheel is just right *AND* I can see much better. As another benefit, the space under the seat fits my briefcase perfectly.
After these photos were taken, the front risers were rotated 180deg.
[This message has been edited by notaguru (edited 05-19-2014).]
Thanks for posting those pics on how you raised yours. Did you leave the passenger seat down in the valley, heh heh. I think if I raise my seat a little it will be a better driving position, I remember a new Dodge Challenger that I sat in a few years ago and remember how I felt like I was sitting down in a hole and looking up over the dashboard, I don't like that seating position. The Fiero is not as bad as the Challenger but I am going to try a pillow first and see if I like it sitting a tad higher.
If you use the proper bolts, and the spacer is good material, I wouldnt worry about being in an accident with them. The belts are all still attached to factory mounting points, so its not going too far. Some cars have the factory seat bolts just tack welded to the floor and you can knock them off with a hammer.
I took the 2 inch foam cushion from one of our small patio chairs and put it on the drivers seat and went for a spin, the seat position felt much better while driving, maybe I will just use that instead of messing with the seat mounts.