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I can't get in!
Ron Lang - 30/12/16 at 04:49 PM

Hi all,

Despite lifting and spacing the steering wheel position on both Zero's, I'm still having issues fitting comfortably in the car (i'm 6'3" so not particularly abnormal). The cross brace that sits to the right hand side of the steering wheel between the centre tunnel and the bottom corner of the dash is right on the top of my shin and will definitely cause issues going from the go pedal to the stop pedal (I've heard this is a useful move to master!).
The seats are on runners and right back so I have plenty of room - I just cant get my leg under the brace...Taller people than me fit in so what am I doing wrong/missing?

Thanks,

Ron


pekwah1 - 30/12/16 at 06:29 PM

A picture of the offending area might help here...


ReMan - 30/12/16 at 07:29 PM

Dejgh
Dejgh


Ron Lang - 30/12/16 at 07:36 PM

quote:
Originally posted by pekwah1
A picture of the offending area might help here...


Leg Room
Leg Room


Sorry for poor picture, struggling for light.


coozer - 30/12/16 at 07:39 PM

Is the seat high or low meaning you bend your knees???


Ron Lang - 30/12/16 at 07:46 PM

quote:
Originally posted by coozer
Is the seat high or low meaning you bend your knees???


Sorry, what do you mean? Seat is just on the standard runner mechanism. My knees are quite bent though. I will try and get a better picture when I get home.


Ron Lang - 30/12/16 at 07:47 PM

The length isn't a problem. If the seat was much further back I'd struggle to floor the clutch.


Toys2 - 30/12/16 at 08:03 PM

How about taking the seat off it's runners and fixing it directly to the floor?


ReMan - 30/12/16 at 08:19 PM

Ouch, i see what you mean. They're standard?
Im surprised its not flagged as a problem before.
What seats have you got?


Ron Lang - 30/12/16 at 09:13 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Toys2
How about taking the seat off it's runners and fixing it directly to the floor?


I need to keep the runners as I co-own the car and the other owner is somewhat shorter.


Ron Lang - 30/12/16 at 09:26 PM

quote:
Originally posted by ReMan
Ouch, i see what you mean. They're standard?
Im surprised its not flagged as a problem before.
What seats have you got?


The chassis braces appear to be standard yes and I'm unsure why more people don't have the same problem. The wide body version helps as there is more room to play with but I only have the standard chassis.

Can't take a pic of the seats at the moment but they look like these from google...

Seats Example
Seats Example


Slimy38 - 30/12/16 at 09:27 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Ron Lang
quote:
Originally posted by Toys2
How about taking the seat off it's runners and fixing it directly to the floor?


I need to keep the runners as I co-own the car and the other owner is somewhat shorter.


There are variations on runners if you need to keep the movement. The ones I'm using off my MX5 seats are only about half an inch deep.

Can you remove/replace the brace?


Ron Lang - 30/12/16 at 09:32 PM

quote:
Can you remove/replace the brace?


I will try and find out. It would probably only need to be moved back by 50-100mm.

I can also see that the lower edge of the dash as it curves down will be almost as much of a problem.


Ron Lang - 30/12/16 at 09:39 PM

Picture borrowed from google again but you can see the brace more clearly here:

Cross Brace Example
Cross Brace Example


Bluemoon - 31/12/16 at 08:13 AM

Might be worth talking to GBS, looks like they have added it to increase stiffness. The MK indy (not very stiff!) does not have this tube..

Dan


stevepj - 31/12/16 at 09:19 AM

I believe those cross braces each side were added after a customer on a passenger ride was injured when the test car was T-boned by a saloon car and the chassis didn't take it too well.
Happily the customer made a full recovery and went on to buy and build a Zero afterwards.


Ron Lang - 31/12/16 at 10:38 AM

quote:
Originally posted by stevepj
I believe those cross braces each side were added after a customer on a passenger ride was injured when the test car was T-boned by a saloon car and the chassis didn't take it too well.
Happily the customer made a full recovery and went on to buy and build a Zero afterwards.


I see. Makes sense. Although it's not going to help me much if it's stopping me braking anyway lol!


Hornet - 31/12/16 at 11:17 AM

When you look at Caterhams and Westfields neither have this x brace so perhaps you should consider removing it? I suppose the other option would be to lower the floor ?


turnipfarmer - 31/12/16 at 12:39 PM

If it's your shin that's catching, it does rather suggest your sitting position is too high. Do others have this same problem when they're sat in your car?

I'm five tennish & can't say I've ever had that issue, although I do have the wide body version with the lowered floor.

Must confess I don't like most sevens for being too narrow - feels as though I'm wearing them rather than sitting in them!
Could be that hunching you up is also a contributory factor.

Personally I wouldn't remove that brace entirely - reposition it maybe, but only after exhausting other options such as lower runners.

What I would do is measure the distance between the top of your head & the top of the roll bar, and see how that compares with other Zero owners' measurements. That should at least point you in the right direction.


Ron Lang - 31/12/16 at 04:21 PM

I say shin, it's really just below my knee. One car has runners and one doesn't. Both have the same seats and I have the same problem on both cars. I'll take some more photos once I can escape to the garage for half an hour...


BenB - 31/12/16 at 04:56 PM

It might be the seat has a tall base and that's lifting you off the floor too much. I'm 6ft4 and fit fine in my car but I did fit a super thin seat with no runners slammed right against the bulkhead at the back and attached directly to the floor.... A combination of a high seat and runners probably would have been an issue...


turnipfarmer - 31/12/16 at 07:18 PM

Just been looking at your pic and the Kitspares website.

On there, the seats for the standard Zero look like they have a very deep front squab (especially right at the very front, where the underside of your knees would rest).

They look far deeper than mine. The GBS runners look twice as deep as mine as well.

Perched on top of that lot, your knees look like they're going to be way too high. I can well imagine that someone your height would indeed catch their leg on that crossbrace.

Suggest you look at GRP seats and a pad, plus lower runners - that should drop you quite a bit.


HTH


Ron Lang - 31/12/16 at 08:03 PM

quote:
Originally posted by turnipfarmer
Just been looking at your pic and the Kitspares website.

On there, the seats for the standard Zero look like they have a very deep front squab (especially right at the very front, where the underside of your knees would rest).

They look far deeper than mine. The GBS runners look twice as deep as mine as well.

Perched on top of that lot, your knees look like they're going to be way too high. I can well imagine that someone your height would indeed catch their leg on that crossbrace.

Suggest you look at GRP seats and a pad, plus lower runners - that should drop you quite a bit.


HTH


Here are the seats:

Seat 2
Seat 2


Seat 1
Seat 1


And here is the offending brace with scuttle removed:

Without Scuttle 2
Without Scuttle 2


The seat doesn't look hugely deep and neither do the runners but clearly a GRP seat and lower profile runners would help the situation.


Ron Lang - 31/12/16 at 08:09 PM

(p.s. why cant you rotate pictures in the photo archive...they were the right way up when I uploaded)


turnipfarmer - 31/12/16 at 08:32 PM

OK - here's my stats...

From the floor to the top of the seat squab is 20cm

From the floor to the bottom of the crossbrace is 33cm

So I've got 13cm clearance, but that's on a car with a lowered floor - without that it would be slightly less.

How does that compare with yours?


Ron Lang - 31/12/16 at 08:44 PM

quote:
Originally posted by turnipfarmer
OK - here's my stats...

From the floor to the top of the seat squab is 20cm

From the floor to the bottom of the crossbrace is 33cm

So I've got 13cm clearance, but that's on a car with a lowered floor - without that it would be slightly less.

How does that compare with yours?


Sorry to be thick...what is the seat squab?

I'll measure up tomorrow...might as well start 2017 with a bang eh!


turnipfarmer - 31/12/16 at 08:50 PM

The cushion that's frontmost on the seat. The one that the underside of your knees rest on.

What's the height at the very front of that?


ReMan - 31/12/16 at 09:09 PM

They look like cobra 7 seats on low runners
Strikes me the problem is the brace not the seating


jacko - 1/1/17 at 10:16 AM

I some times go out in a MNR and they have a tube going diagonal forward parallel with the floor it makes a nice shelf too look at a mnr chassis
Have a look at the second photo on this link

http://bassettsbuilddiary.blogspot.co.uk/2007_12_01_archive.html

Jacko

[Edited on 1/1/17 by jacko]


alfas - 9/1/17 at 10:30 AM

here you can see a GBS customer sitting in the car and it looks like his shin is touching the mentioned chassis tube.
for me it looks like a tall driver, with the seat adjusted more backwards, wont face this problem.
(pic borrowed from GBS-page, but face blured)




[Edited on 9/1/17 by alfas]


loggyboy - 9/1/17 at 11:48 AM

I'd be chopping that out if it was mine, looks like a leg breaker in an impact that would force you forward.


alfas - 9/1/17 at 11:56 AM

GBS seems to follow the "great" engineering route that RobinHood has started...

see also here:

http://3-2-1-gbs-zero.blogspot.de/2015/08/suspension-issues-put-dampener-on.html


theduck - 9/1/17 at 12:19 PM

There is an active set of members in the Leicester area on Rhocar, worth signing up there and seeing if you can have a look at some of the others cars.