Lucifer13

I know there are a lot of tall guys out there looking for more leg/head room. I'm 6'10 myself and have been thinking of ways to modify the stock seat to gain a little extra room. I'm currently overseas so I won't be able to do this until I get back in May, but I'm looking for any suggestions or opinions on how this will work.

I thinking of taking the brackets/rails off the bottom of the seat and bolting it directly to the floor will add a couple inches of headroom and a little legroom as well. I don't know if the motor or any other parts under the seat will have to be removed, but that's not a bother to me as I'm the only one that drives the car 99% of the time. Will any brackets or anything need to be fabricated to attach the seat to the stock bolts in the floor?

I'm also thinking that shaving a little of the padding and/or stretching the seat springs a little will give me even a little more room.

Please throw out any suggestions on what would need to be done to make this work. Also, does anyone have a pic of the bottom of their stock seat. This is for a 2LZ Z06 but it's probably the same as other powered seats.

RicK T

Can't help with any suggestions but here's a link to a seat swap done by member Ray Kawal. He put regular C6 3LT seats in his '07 Z06 in order to get power and lumbar adjustment on both sides. He provided a lot of pictures that may help you with your thought process. Good luck.

http://www.kawal.net/power%20seats.htm

Red Rochester

The manufacter pushed it as far as they could thats why the seats lack padding. I suggest you buy another Sports car.

Bill Dearborn

If you want to go with an aftermarket seat you can get different mounting rails that will allow you to drop the seat a couple of inches. For instance going with a Sparco Evo2 with Hardbar rails side mounted to the seat so the seat sits between the rails. The rails will bolt to the stock seat mount studs. You will have to remove some of the carpet under layer to make room for the stock seat wiring harnesses to go under the Hardbar rails but that isn't very hard. You will have to mount the stock seat belt connectors to the Hardbar rails and make sure the seat does not hold the lap belts away from your pelvic area.

Depending on the year of the car it is a little more difficult to change the passenger side since the On Star module is under the seat and has to be relocated.

When you do this you will lose any adjustability other than unbolting the side mounts and moving the seat around in the rails before rebolting.

Bill

Lucifer13

I'm looking to just modify the stock seat for now since I don't want to mess with the passenger seat. If that doesn't work I may go aftermarket and see if someone can build something specific. Thanks for the link to Ray's site. I contacted him and here is what he suggested

"The way that the seat rails are mounted to the seat and the body will force you to some sort of custom brackets anyway. If you really want the stock seat, what you would likely have to do is pull the seat - which is easy after you disconnect the three electrical connectors under the seat (have someone help you so you don't scratch the interior as you remove the seat. Then you would likely want to remove the entire motorized seat track from the seat. Then figure out a bracket to bolt back into the seat that would accommodate the four mounting floor bolts.

Since you have a 2LZ, you've also got the memory computer to think about. That is under the drivers seat and connected into the wiring harness. Because of the computer, you'll likely want to retain the wiring harness and maybe set the computer behind the seat. The motors could simply be disconnected, but the computer also controls your mirrors and telescopic steering wheel."

I'll probably try some custom brackets to see how they work.

Pinky...

Where are you located at sir? I am 6' 8" myself, and recently had a conversation with some guys who could help us out.

Pinky...

Yeah. Tell you what, you find a sports car along the same class of the Corvette for a guy who's 6' 10". Go ahead, start looking!



You can't tell a black guy, an indian guy, a white guy, or even a short guy they can't buy a car, yet for some reason, it is perfectly acceptable to automakers to build cars that discriminate against tall enthusiasts.

drivinfast

I can take pics if you like.
I am with Bill.
IMO its the thickness of the stock seat that is the issue. you can take the frame off the stock seat an if you were able to just mount the stock seat to the floorboard of the car, you would drop it about 3". If that is all you need then fine.

however if you need more for the headroom, the aftermarket seat like my corbeau with the mounts shaved would be about 2" thick total.

so if the corbeau was mounted to the floorboard with a flush aluminum frame that had seat-belt mounts you would be sitting 2-1/4" above the floorboard. In order to make the telescope steering wheel work and the airbag idiot light work i use the pfadt $200 harness myself. you would need to rig that to set to the side of the seat--it uses one of the stock computer boxes under the stock seat swapped over to my corbeau.

there are corbeau seats that are fold down that are a little thicker like the A4

snide

Brilliant. At 6'10", there aren't any other sports cars that the OP will fit in. At 6'7", I tried all the sports cars on the market, save for the exotics. The only car that fit was the Corvette, which was because I had wanted a Corvette anyway.

Lucifer13

I'm currently overseas but live in Salt Lake during the summer months, June thru August. Just trying to figure some things out now so I can try them this summer.

Headroom really isn't that big of an issue for me. When I'm in my normal driving position I probably have an inch from my head to the roof. I thought I was pretty proportional but I guess my legs are longer with a 38" inseam. I think gaining 2-3" by mounting the seat to the floor will help with my biggest problem which is my shin touching the knee bolster when I shift.

Any pics would be great

I'm with ya! Anyone over 6'6 knows there are very few cars out there you can drive really comfortably. I've always wanted a vette as well and I fit in it better than any other sports car, just looking to make it a little better now.

zrone90

I am 6' 8" tall and have a 38" inseam. With the seat all the way back I have enough room. I have an automatic and have not tried a standard shift car. That might be a problem. Headroom in the Vert is fine

GotChrist?

I'm only 6ft and wish I had more legroom. I don't know how you have enough. I would think your shins would be in the dash and your knees touching the roof and you'd have to unfold yourself to get out. I'm glad you're comfortable in it.

hotspur

I'm 6'5" but with 36" inseam. I'm pretty much OK and have no headroom problem in the Vert, but if the left footrest were only half as thick (it's about 6" thick) my left leg would be much more comfortable. Anyone removed it or had it modified to reduce its size?

Pinky...

There is a company here in Cleveland, Ohio called Mallet Performance. I have talked with them, and they are doing the necessary mods to a C6 so I can shove my 6' 8" *** in there.

CO Lightfoot

If you're not too wide (38" max?), I'm pretty sure you get more headroom with racing-type seats.

Do a title-only advanced search for C6 SEATS in the "Tech & Performance" and "Autocross & Roadracing".

But this is not a simple topic. Lots of issues:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...g-to-lose.html

Some issues can be easily fixed (Pfadt wiring harness).

But some safety issues are not so easily resolved. Air bags and accident liability come to mind.

In the end, it's your choice. But I would definitely NOT dis-assemble the stock seats to try to gain headroom. You might have problems/expenses if you ever need to return to stock (like if you sell the car).

And the explosive seat-belt pretensioners are somewhat worrisome.

Lucifer13

What exactly are they doing to your car to make more room? I'm VERY interested to know! I'm guessing a custom seat for sure? I'll drive to Cleveland if they can work some magic

Lucifer13

I've talked to a lot of people about possible solutions to add some more room and no one has a solution for the stock seats. You bring up some good points as well and I don't know that it would be worth it to tear up the stock seat in hopes of gaining more room.

At this point, I think a good solution would be to go with an aftermarket racing seat which is what most people have suggested. These can be bolted nearly to the floor, and I think if it can be custom made with thin padding in the bottom and rear cushions it should add some more room as well. I love the Caravaggio racing seats so maybe I'll contact them to see if they can make something that conforms to my height.

bksnoopy

X2 Caravaggio racing seats



Forum post.

Ben, OH

CO Lightfoot

Might be a group buy coming up:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-g...post1572810472

BSE1956

Boy, I give you guys a lot of credit.
I'm "only" 6'2", 210 lbs and have some legroom and comfort issues.

I find that my drivers seat kind of hits the floor when I adjust it all the way back and all the way down. Reclining it to the max makes for an odd driving position and some back strain. In 18 months of ownership, it's never been as comfortable or supportive for my body type as I'd like.

NOTE: About 2 years ago, I researched making a change to a seat in another car that I ended up not buying. I was told at the time to be very careful of warranty and airbag issues; including insurance liability being invalidated because of change of seating position, blah, blah, blah. Check with your insurance agent also.

I also totally agree that tall people are discriminated against by most auto manufacturers. I have found however, that some of the German cars are the exception to the lack of leg and head room. Why can't GM offer another inch or two in my C6?