Ok so I'm not all THAT tall (6'1) and under normal conditions, I fit just fine in my '86 951.

But I run into problems when wearing a helmet. I have to have the sunroof open in order to be able to sit upright in the seat (and even then, I have to slump down a little from my usual driving position.) Nobody has yelled at me yet while Autocrossing about this... but I think I'll probably run into problems with DE's.

Has anybody modified the inside of the roof panel for more headroom? Or figured out a way to lower the stock seat? (Factory power sport seat, the seat bottom is already as low as it'll go.) I know I can throw a Recaro in the car and that'll get me a few inches, but at this exact moment I'm hoping to NOT have to buy an expensive new set of seats. Plus I like the factory sport seats.

 

I was going to say switch to early Sport seats, but you seem set on keeping the power Seats.

 

Well I figure if I'm going to spend the $$$ to buy another set of sport seats, then I might as well just do a Sparco or Recaro and be done with it.

I don't really care about the "power" part since I never move the seat.

 

I'd say the best option would be to find a Sparco or Recaro you'd be happy with on a daily basis, buy a pair, then sell off your factory seats. Maybe break even, if your factory seats are in good condition.

(I personally would rather DD sitting in a more supportive seat the factory power seat ANYWAY, but I'm happy with my Pro2000s on a daily basis so maybe you shouldn't listen to me).

Other than that, maybe look for a single used racing seat, and get used to swapping them before track days?

 

I have a spare sunroof panel that I pulled the liner out of, which helps a fair amount.

 

Great topic! I'm 6' tall and have exactly the same problem with my helmet on. I plan to eventually swap out the seat because I don't see a way around this. I currently have to raise the roof and recline the seat much more than I would like to. The problem is that I don't know what to buy to make sure it actually lowers me enough, it's not like I can simply try a few out free of charge. I'd LOVE to see some responses with actual measurements or at least strong anecdotal evidence.

 

I encountered the same problem with my last 951 -- I had the full-power sport seats, sunroof, and am 6'1" as well. Ended up changing my driving position slightly in order to fit, and it actually worked better than I had expected. Still not ideal though.

That said, this is not the best option. The only reason I did this was because (a) my champagne porsche script seats are in awesome condition and I would like to keep them and (b) I didn't have a sunroof I could pull the lining out of.


I'd recommend pulling the lining out of a spare sunroof, as that'll net you about .5". If you've got long 'n' lanky legs you could add a steering hub extension which pulls the steering column aft by about 8cm. Sean here on RL is 6'6" and fits just fine with this method. His seats are also not as thick (vertically) as mine are.



Or you could just do like I did and buy a factory non-sunroof car (though admittedly that was more out of happenstance than actual planning).

 

I ended up having to mount my Cobra race seat to the floor. If I put the seat on sliders I barely fit with my helmet on.

I've gutted a sunroof panel before and it helps a little, but not all that much...

 

I am 6'1 i had the same exact problem until on recaro spds on. Problem solved with a few inchs to spare

 

Pic please??

 

Find a cheap sunroof panel that you can strip out. Check ebay, lart, boost feen and damiza. One of them should have one.

 

I have an extra black sunroof panel in my shed you can have. Also quit trying to pretend your going to keep your car stock and just turn it into the track car that you know it's going to be. Get a race seat, bolt it to the floor and call it a day. Just ask yourself, what would Jonny boy do. Were both the same height and for me it took gutting the sunroof and bolting the seat to the floor to give me ample room. This was all in my old 944.

 

Try Campeck's idea

 

...or just cut your feet off!

 

I bought an extra sunroof, pulled out the trim, replaced the latch with a piece of flat aluminium,did some grinding here and there, I got an extra 1-2" of headroom. My car is rhd but you get the idea, my helmet always used to catch the latch.