Swapping seats so I can fit in the car?

I just bought a wide body speedster yesterday. The problem I have which ,I knew when I bought it, would be fitting in the car. The seats currently in the car look like some over stuffed high back recaro seats. The seats worked great for the previous owner because he is five six. I'm six two with a 34 inseam. When I yoga myself in the car I look and feel like a monkey humping a coconut.

My question is if I put in the traditional speedster looking seats shouldn't it give me more room? I need to be lowered and moved back a bit. I don't expect cadillac room. I use to own a mg midget so I understand compact.

My other question is if this is the remedy where do I get the seats from, and would seat rail compatability be a issue?

I was told the vehicle was built by fiber fab in 1991.

Thanks for any assistance.

Paul there are a few options for you, the speedster seats will definitly give you more room. The thing with most race style seats that I have found installed in replica's are that the seat rails are just to tall and the front bolsters to large to get comfortable in a a smaller car. At 6'1 I feel just fine in my speedster so it can be done very easily, you just have to pick rocks out ofyour fohead sometimes.

My 6 foot tall 46 inseam father can also drive the car just fine with the more traditional seating that most speedsters come with so you definitly can get comfortable. There was a set of brown low back seats that were in the clasafieds on the site if you think brown seats will match your car.

P.S. It's a gorilla and a football not a monkey and a coconut. ;)

46" inseam in a 6 foot tall person....must be tough to buy a suit!
Sorry....it was such a funny visual that I had to...
Jeff

Sounds like you need to check out Russ's stuff at Fibersteel, He's got the seats.

Re Gorillas and footballs. In the late 50's, early 60's US Army if we weren't too co-ordinated the Sgts would say we looked like a bunch of monkies F****** a rubber football. Just wanted to give the olden days definition, LOL. Never forgot that metaphor!

Bruce

thanks for the info on the seats and the monkey verse gorilla. Don't think brown will work but looks like fibersteel is in the running for my biz.

Wow can't believe I missed that I should have said waist nt inseam. Thiniking about that now it is a rather funny visual.

Gorilla's and the football I have always heard in the motorcycle world for riding a bike way below your frame size, like a 6 footer on a stock xr50.

The traditional Speedster style seats can be set back far enough to give more leg and head room. I purchased a pair from John Steele @ JPS.

So what seats fit? I see many with Porsche 914 seats but I'd like the rake of the back to be adjustable. Does Recaro or Sheel make a seat that is narrow enough? You see a lot of older Recaro VW and BMW seats on ebay. Scat Rally series look nice - will they fit? www.scatenterprises.com. I have the fiberglass CMC "speedster look" seats now -- true buckets!

The Scat seats are 22" wide -- assume 17" is max width? Here's snap of the Recaro's.

Paul:

You should also think about whether you want a roll bar in your Fiberfab/CMC body.....if you do, the headrest may interfere with the roll bar support when it is moved far back, or if you recline the seat back.

I'm about 5'7" and I have a pair of high-back 914 seats in my CMC including the low-mount glides and reclining mechanism (the seat is one piece with the back, but the entire seat tilts back and forth).

I'm running as far back as I can on the glides until I hit the headrest on the upright for the roll bar. It's about right for me, but not someone taller. If I want to use the last three - four inches of seat travel I'll have to remove the roll bar. This interference will be less if you have normal (low back) seats (I also needed the head/neck support of a high back) but you should check out someones fiberfab/CMC body with a roll bar to see how much room you've got to work with. You should also be able to mount the rests farther back to give you much more leg room than I have.

The car came with a rollbar (see my file pics). The rollbar does not interfere with me. I just need to get lower and farther back. The seat belts were bolted to the floor behind the seat which limits the seat from moving all the way back. Also, the angel of the seat causes it to slide toward the floor rather then all the way back.

Overall, I just don't like the way the seats look nor fit me. I think the seats look like they belong in a luxury car rather then a bare bones speedster. I'm thinking about just buying one of those cheap fiberglass buggy seats. It looks like it might work. I've looked around and 200 bucks for a speedster seat seems kind of pricey.

Paul - I'll trade you the authentic looking fiberglass buckets that came in my CMC. Haven't assembled them yet other than for the bottoms and mounting rails. I have red vinyl covering for them that probably would match/compliment your car! Or it could be used for a pattern for other covering. Send me better picture of yours - I'll even consider coving the shipping!

Gregory, I would be very interested in doing a seat swap with you. Red, would work perfectly for me. Check my file I have posted several pics of my seats.

Since I can barely drive the car comfortably with the current seats I was thinking seriously of just buying a cheap low back buggy seat for forty six bucks.