Head Room


How Can I Get More Headroom?

[AW] Here’s what I’ve tried:
1) Removed headliner. This gets you about 3/4″. However, you will be contacting aluminum, not fiber-board, so you should probably stick some padding on the roof (e.g. 1/4-1/2″ ensolite) in case you hit a bump. Otherwise you risk head injury and/or a head-shaped dome in your roof. This is a 15-minute slightly scary job that’s not scary if you have some coaching from somebody who’s done it (like me). Ask and I’ll provide some hints. It makes the car noisier and uglier.
2) Cut about 1″ of foam from the underside of the seat bottom. So far I haven’t finished experimenting in this area, but the initial “cut” (from the two segments that your butt rests on got me a good inch or so. It l eaves me with somewhat of the feeling of sitting in a bucket, but some more foam surgery on the under-knee bolster should fix that. An alternative to this is to have an alternate seat bottom made, and to arrange it so you can swap them without a lot of disassembly. I have a “design” in mind for this but haven’t implemented it, nor have I located a suitable car upholstery place.
3) Researched alternate seats a little. The NSX-R uses a non-reclining Recaro seat that might help; so far I haven’t been able to determine what that seat is or whether its seat height is lower. The Recaro A-8 and SRD seats (both reclining) look form their measurements like they’ll fit, but Recaro a) will not loan anybody one b) will not sell it with return privileges and c) the retailers aren’t dumb enough to stock something worth about a kilobuck that they may never sell. HOWEVER, a local guy wants to sell a couple used A-8s, so I will probably know pretty soon if that will fit *and* solve the problem. Also, my local equipment place (Dave Turner) had another racing seat that reclines that looks like it might fit. And there are lots of non-reclining seats (Recaro, Momo, etc.) that can probably be fitted. Non-reclining scares me a little given my steering wheel reach problems.
4) Wear thin-soled shoes. This is can be worth a 1/2 inch depending on your street shoes.
[KS] Another solution to “insufficient headroom” is after-market seats. Bryan Hunter has done this with excellent results. I think his seats are from Sparco.
[SL – 2001/24/01] I’m also 6 4 and also removed the cushion (I drop it back in for road driving) for my single track day. It gives loads of headroom, but gets very hard and uncomfortable after a while. I had a bit of vinyl and foam stuck onto the aluminium seat pan so that it looks like it’s meant to be that way and so that it was vaguely comfortable. Dali Racing do a drop in cushion already trimmed in vinyl that does the same thing as my custom bit.

What About Legroom?

[BD] My son is over six four and the driver’s seat will go back more than he needs. I’m six two and when I go on a trip and ride on the passenger side, my legs are cramped.
[SA] I’m only 6’1″ but I do wish the pedals were set further forward in the car or the steering wheel telesoped further. For me to sit at the proper distance from the wheel, and be able to move my hands through a lock-to-lock, and properly heel-toe downshfit, I have the steering wheel at full telescopic extension and full-tilt up.
[KS] There’s WAY less legroom on the passenger side than on the driver’s side. I’m average height, and I’ve got plenty of legroom when I’m driving, but I feel somewhat cramped when I ride shotgun.
[MJ] On the passenger side, take out the sub woofer, it sounds like crap anyhow. If it was the drivers side, getting a racing style seat MAY give you more leg room depending the rake that you need to get a comfortable position. It will give you ~2 inchs more headroom mounted all the way down on the floor.
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