fabric

I've been following this thread as well. I'm curious about moving the mounts to the rear position. It seems to me this only helps if you are going to push your seat further back than where you currently have it. I actually have my seat fairly far forward but leaning back (my preferred position). If it's just the slope of the floorpan that allows the seat to be lower, it's only going to be lower back at the furthest rear position. Dwayne, do you already have the seat slid back as far as it will go?

928nut

Dan, and all,

anybody knows the weight of these OLD/early manual seats ??? Thanks

928nut

Dwayne

Will do....tomorrow, Jan 1st, I'll be looking at the seat position and post what I find.

Dwayne

Chris,
Yes, the seat is currently all the way back. The seat back is also way back - I'm practically laying down! (compared to my other vehicles). I'll be checking the rail position tomorrow and see if it's all the way in the last mounting position.....THANKS

Podguy

The manual seats on the older cars pre-85 are much lighter than the electric seats. Probably for both you save just guessing 70-80 lbs.

You cannot draw a comparison between the pre-85 car and the later cars. The mounting for the seats is different. The older seats sit up on a pedestal with the back mounting point raised by about two inches. On the newer body 85 up the rear portion of the seat mounts on the pan. Slipping the seat back to the most rearward position shifts the seat on the pan creating a surpriring amount of extra head room even if the seat is not in the rear most position.

The pedestal is needed on the older cars for the electric seat motors and other stuff. The motors on the newer seats are positioned higher into the seat and the track uses a threaded rod for positioning. While you can move the older seats front and back there is no advantage for height because the mount is level.

Hope this helps.

Dan the Pod Guy

DSC928

The "extended hub SW" is that a factory SW? My legs would love it if the SW was about an inch or more out away from the dash.

More info please .

F451

Yes, its a factory wheel. I borrowed Shane's burgandy one for my '85, I think that may be the same one Ken mentioned earlier in this thread?

In any case, it definitely helps. I was considering buying Shane's extended hub wheel, but it didn't get the wheel close enough for me (in my Formula 1 lay down seating position - like Dwayne). I opted for a Momo with a 70mm dish. It got the wheel closer then the factory extended hub.

I'm pretty sure I have some measurements of the extended hub vs that Momo. I'll see if I can find them and post them.

F451

I had heard a lot of people say this, but when I checked it out, it did not appear to give any additional headroom. It only seemed to move the seat back, but perhaps I wasn't looking at the slope of the pan closely enough. It looked to me that the just moving the seat back, would not net me any additional headroom.

However, if the pan slopes down towards the back of the car, then I could see how you could get a small amount of additional headroom by moving the seat back on the mounts.

I'll have to get in there for another look.

F451

Another option that I'm not sure if we've discussed on this particular thread is removing some of the padding from the stock seats. I've read the Miata guys have had great success with this, and that they are getting the added bonus of a seat that has "more" of a side bolster effect, making it a better seat for aggressive driving.

I would think this would be fairly difficult for an amatuer to do decently, but I'm sure a competent custom interior or leather craftsperson could do it fairly easily, although likely not cheaply.

I've been on the lookout for a cheap black 928 seat for a bit, but haven't come across one yet. I'd love to try this approach, but don't want to ruin the seats that I currently have.

Dwayne

OK...I checked out the 2nd position on my seat rails today. Here's a pic of my current reclining position. When I drive the car, my head just touches the ceiling.


After taking off some covers, I found the mounting bolts -- allen head screws, 5mm. For those that haven't tried this before, I've included some pics. Here's the front allen screw that holds the seat rail to the floor mounting bracket. It needs to come out in order to move the seat back.


I noticed when looking at the rear allen, that the rear most hole was still open. I'm thinking, "Excellent! Maybe some more headroom will result from the move back one notch!"


Before removing the seat, I decided to take a crude measurement. I measured from where the bottom seat pad meets up with the backrest part of the seat to the point on the ceiling where the distance was minimum. It measured approximately 34 3/8".


Then I removed the allen screws and moved the seat back into the rear mounting holes. The front also has a rear mounting hole...here it is:


After securing the seat, I realized the biggest gain would be in the leg room (approximately an inch based on the spacing of the mounting holes). Not much slant on the rail at the rear. Here's the measurement after the adjustment:


It was basically unchanged. MAYBE a gain of about an 1/8th of an inch. I got in and tried it out. The extra legroom was noticeable right away - felt nice! However, I could not tell any difference in the headroom.

Dan the Pod Guy and Ed, are right! I wouldn't expect to gain any headroom from an '84 by moving the seat back. But the extra legroom is nice!

Looks like I'll be keeping my eye out for a manual seat or a comfy aftermarket in order to get the add'l headroom.

Podguy

Dwayne,

You are not going to gain any head room from moving the seats back in the older cars. The platform is level. If anything because the roof slants down there will be less head room.

What I described only applies the the newer 85 and up cars. I was surprised as anyone to notice the difference. On the newer cars one needs to remove the plug in the rear hole.

BTW the plates the seat bolts into on the front of the rail are an important safety item. They are designed to prevent the seat from breaking loose when hit from the rear and your head sliding backwards into the rear seat. Some people replace the plates with washers and nuts. This is a very very bad idea. Always used the plates that are provided. After being in the auto wrecking business I have seen far too many seats pulled out from rear collisions.

Dan the Pod Guy

Hilton

Wait a second.. your sig says the '84 is your wife's car.. how tall exactly is she??

Or are you <cough> just planning ahead for when you get your own shark?

Dwayne

OK....you caught me...I slipped up! The '84 IS my wife's. However, it seems I'm always working on it and she never gets to drive it. Soooo, we decided that she should have another 928 and I should use this one as a daily driver. She won't actually acknowledge it's mine until I follow through with getting her another. So, I am looking for a pristine 928 - probably an S4 that won't require garage time except for routine maintenance. OR an 86.5 for her wouldn't be bad either. Would need to be low miles, automatic and not black.

Tom in Austin

So, the conclusion here is all 85 and up cars have the second set of holes available, and moving the seat to these mountings does create more headroom?

F451

That seems to be what Dan the Pod Guy is saying, but that was not my observation in my '88 S4. I moved my seat back to the rear mounting holes and did not "notice" any change in headroom. It only moves the seats back an inch or two, so I don't see how you could gain much if any headroom.

However, I did not study the floor pan/seat mount setup, other then to glance at it. I also did not measure it, so I could be wrong.

Now, being headroom obsessed, I will get out there in the next couple of days to take some measurements, but I think it will be a somewhat futile exercise.

I will report back my findings for peer review after doing extensive research and analysis.

Now, where's my Vernier Caliper Gauge and slide rule...