Mik,
Firstly, all of teh drivers have encoutered these problems in their own builds - so you are not alone.
My seat is floor mounted, and I have bolted it straight into the floor. Other drivers have done this too, and I've heard that one has even refitted the
floor an inch lower than normal to allow the seat to fit (for height). Many guys have had to take a lump hammer to the propshaft tunnel in order to
make the seat fit.
NiG
http://www.niginthecar.net
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Posted By : John Davies, 24-Mar-2003,
10:22pm
Michael,
I agree with Nigel (of course!), but you may like to weld in some reinforcement plates - the floor pan of a Spitfire is not thick and often thinned
by tinworm. Don't make the plates very thick - the idea is to use the same thickness as the original plate - 1.5mm? - to double the final
thickness. Then, when you have, shall we say, an incident, the reinforcement will not rip out but bend and absorb energy.
On finding raw materials. No, B&Q are no good. The 'official' source is a steel stockists (Yellow pages) but they will not want to sell you
less than a lorry load. Try any local metal working factory or engineering workshop for offcuts, or a scrap metal dealer - NOT a breakers. Be
shameless, suck up to the guys in the workshop and always offer to pay for the goods - you'll often get it for free, or for a 'drink'.
My local scrappers is great for alloy - I scored some 4mm alloy chequer plate for £9 recently - that's scrap weight price for what
would cost five or six times that at a stockist. And although the local silencer manufacturer will not sell offcuts, I can pick up 1.5mm 2ft square
sheets - his silencer rejects - from the scrappers.
Good luck!
John
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Posted By : Michael Davis,
25-Mar-2003, 11:51am
I agree that welding in some reinforcements would be a good idea but 1.5mm isn't enough - the famous "blue book" (my current spare time reading
matter, and has been for some time) says they have to be 3mm in Q2.2(f)(3)
Ah! (ting - light bulb!) unless it refers to the *total* thickness of the support+counterplate in which case that makes a lot more sense - to
me at least.
strange how things start to make more sense on the 18th reading of the rules...
OK, Thanks for your help once again. Off to finish fitting the roll cage now I have the correct bolts (Safety Devices managed not to supply
enough in the kit)
Mik
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Posted By : Michael Davis,
26-Mar-2003, 04:36pm
Finding raw materials - I just discovered this web site -
http://www.metalsupermarkets.com
It's an american website but they have franchises in the UK as well (details are on the site). They reckon to be able to supply any size order
(i.e. no minimum) on a same-day or over-the-counter basis.
Ever heard of them? Their local "branch" is quite near to here so I may go by that way and have a look sometime.
Mik
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Posted By : Michael Davis,
25-Mar-2003, 11:55am
I assumed I wouldn't be the only one who had ever come across this problem. Hence my posting - I'm all in favour of reusing someone elses solution
instead of spending a week struggling myself :-)
Unfortunately my seat won't floor-mount (maybe a bad purchase decision there) but I should be able to come up with some pretty slimline sidemounts
I reckon.
If I tilt the seat back a bit more than is strictly required I think I should be able to get the back as low as possible to maximise the height
without having to mangle the centre tunnel by the (wide) front of the seat too much.
Thanks for the assistance - no doubt I'll be back next time my project grinds to a halt...
Mik
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Posted By : Richard King,
23-Apr-2003, 12:40pm
Russ had his seat bolted through the chassis using a spare alternator bolt!
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Posted By : Michael Davis,
03-May-2003, 07:19pm
Problem solved (I think)
Ended up lowering the floor 2 inches using a fabricated panel (and lots of MIG wire) also widening the space slightly by modifying the side of the
transmission tunnel.
Now I have some heavy duty steel to make the actual seat mounting brackets from. I just need to get it bent to shape and everything should fit
nicely.
Then I just have to get hold of a hydraulic pipe bender to reshape the door bar so it goes round the seat rather than trying to go through it as it
does now.
If nothing else, my welding's improving!
Mik