Gaining more room with Tillet seats in a Birkin

[timax]

For those of you with Tillets and long arms have you gained much room.

I'm toying with the idea of buying a Birkin but all the ones I have had a chance to sit in have standard seats which put me too close to the steering wheel. I'd like to know if I bolt some Tillets to the floor as far back as I can how much room can I gain. Leg room is not a problem. Arm room is.

Thanks Tim

[MHKflyer52]

Just a suggestion but if you can try sitting in a Birklin without the standard seat installed (on the floor pan) you might find that you can figure if the Tillet seat will fit for you if no one has the info you need.

Another way to figure it out would be to measure the difference in thickness of the seats and that should tell you how much further back you would be sitting.

You also have to remember that the sitting position in a 7 is different than most cars to start with as you tend to sit more upright than reclined.

Hope this helps.

[KiwiBirkin]

Im the opposite I really like my driving position in my Birkin and having my arms at a 90 deg bend at the elbow it feels much more natural than having then stretched out like in my normal cars, in fact i have now started to move my normal cars close to the dash a bit to get the same bend in my arms.

 

The best bet to get your arms more out stretched in a Birkin is to take the bucket seats out and replace them with a custom made bench seat which will have you sitting as far back against the firewall as you want be depending on how much padding gets put behind you, trouble is they are not adjustable.

[timax]

Bench seat is not a bad idea. In sedans I have raced I usually sit very close to the wheel but I have more elbow room. In the Birkin my right elbow (right hand drive) hits the side of the car at the slightest turn so i have to lift my elbow up and outside when turning right. Just out of interest what is the distance between the rear firewall and the front of the seat cushion where your back sits. or even better the top of the firewall to the steering wheel center would give me a great idea of how much room I have to play with.

Thanks guys.

Tim

[slomove]

I have also my arms angled a bit in my Birkin (with Cobra 7's seats). Feels more natural and having them straight is just not feasible without power steering.

 

My outboard elbow actually rests comfortably on the "door sill" while my inboard elbow rests at similar height on a custom cushion that wraps the parking brake. Very comfy and I can drive like that a full day without the shoulder cramps I get in most "normal" cars. There is still enough room the move the steering quickly on the track but I have the shortened steering arms.

[KiwiBirkin]

Tim I have custom seats made for my Birkin. But from the firewall to my back sitting in the seat its 2 1/4" and from the firwall to the wheel 27" but I could lose another 2" if I removed the removable steering wheel boss thats bolted on and just mouted my sterring wheel straight up.

[pi7ot]

One way to gain arm distance as a side effect of attempt to lower the seat is to tilt the seat backwards by shimming the front of the squab.

I use a couple of very large nuts that are about 1" thick front to back.

I'm using an aluminum Ultrashield shell.

 

m

[sdaddy]

...if I removed the removable steering wheel boss thats bolted on and just mouted my sterring wheel straight up.

 

KiwiBirkin, Do you know if changing the wheel boss is a difficult operation? :bigear:

[blubarisax]

You can add a spacer to the boss easily. I have Tilletts and gained about an inch vs. The leather Caterham seats.

[Kitcat]

Ditto Pi7ot's comment. And, when I added Cat Tilets to my Birkin, arm room improved a lot. And I sit 1-2" lower so I can actually see the instruments. So, the Tilets were a huge improvement, and much more comfortable than the Birkin seats-the Bikin is a faithful copy of original 7, the Cat has improved that design w/longer cockpit (IMHO). And at 5'9", I am not exactly huge. My steering wheel is bolted in, not removable.

Edited September 14, 2012 by Kitcat