Passenger seat height adjustment?

[chrisl]

Originally Posted by Shizuma

Why? unless you're like 6"6" and hitting the roof having it super low is the worst possible position for driving.

Porsche seems to think it's the best position for driving, as long as you're able to see out (it looks like sprinter already linked to the video).

[zoomzoomers]

I've seen someone selling their seats on here in the sale area. How about buying a driver's side seat, with the height adjustment, and trying to install it in the passenger side?

[Shizuma]

Originally Posted by chrisl

Porsche seems to think it's the best position for driving, as long as you're able to see out (it looks like sprinter already linked to the video).

Just because Porsche for some reason thinks so doesn't make it true, the lower you are sitting the worse you visibility of the road in front of you is, particularly closer to the car, sure it will make the center of gravity of the car a fraction of an inch lower, but that's a poor trade off for visibility.

[nalc]

Bolts are M10x1.25, if you go that route.

[chrisl]

Originally Posted by Shizuma

Just because Porsche for some reason thinks so doesn't make it true, the lower you are sitting the worse you visibility of the road in front of you is, particularly closer to the car, sure it will make the center of gravity of the car a fraction of an inch lower, but that's a poor trade off for visibility.

With my seat in the lowest position, the car still only blocks visibility of the pavement a few feet in front of it. Visibility of that area is pretty much never critical, and even if you raise the seat all the way up, it only allows you to see a little bit of extra space anyways. As I recall from test drives, the BRZ is similar. There's really no problem with forward visibility in that car - the hood doesn't block your view much, no matter what seating position you are in.

As for why low is a benefit? It's not for CG purposes - as you said, that isn't going to be a significant difference across any reasonable range of seat adjustments. Instead, it puts the driver in a better position to feel what the chassis is doing, since it puts the driver closer to the chassis and closer to the axis around which the car rolls in corners. As a result, it helps the driver react faster and be more confident in the way the car performs.

[Marcoscrdo]

I feel like the brackets or right drivers side seat should work. All just to make the wife happy, oh man.

[cbf]

Originally Posted by zoomzoomers

I've seen someone selling their seats on here in the sale area. How about buying a driver's side seat, with the height adjustment, and trying to install it in the passenger side?

Yeah, when I have time to crack open the service manual, I'm going to check what the mechanism looks like. But I'm guessing it won't be easy to mirror it for the passenger side -- and there's definitely no room to the left of the passenger seat for the mechanism. Obviously the longer bolts solution would be the simplest -- but not sure I want it that permanent (my wife's not the only possible passenger!).

Thus the solution to get the relevant bits from a UK driver's seat -- once I'm sure what the mechanism looks like so I can make a sensible query of a UK dealer. (UK obviously being an easier shipment the AU, NZ, JP.. etc.)

As for the driving position question -- yes, I sit higher for slightly better lines of sight (I'm about 5'7"+), but also because I find the seating position a little more comfortable. But the Porsche video was amusing.

[Shizuma]

Originally Posted by chrisl

With my seat in the lowest position, the car still only blocks visibility of the pavement a few feet in front of it. Visibility of that area is pretty much never critical, and even if you raise the seat all the way up, it only allows you to see a little bit of extra space anyways. As I recall from test drives, the BRZ is similar. There's really no problem with forward visibility in that car - the hood doesn't block your view much, no matter what seating position you are in.

As for why low is a benefit? It's not for CG purposes - as you said, that isn't going to be a significant difference across any reasonable range of seat adjustments. Instead, it puts the driver in a better position to feel what the chassis is doing, since it puts the driver closer to the chassis and closer to the axis around which the car rolls in corners. As a result, it helps the driver react faster and be more confident in the way the car performs.

It kind of puts you in a worse position for feeling what the chassis is doing really, the further you are away from the axis the car rotates on the more you can notice subtle movements in the chassis, the closer to a rotation point the less resolution you have in changes. Yes you will feel things more exactly what the car is doing perhaps, but that doesn't necessarily equal better if you can't notice the smaller changes in the chassis, granted the difference between the two is minimal anyways since you're talking a couple inches at best.

[Kwisak]

Just tell her you need the extra weight to be as low as possible

[TurboBrett]

Subscribed (for the useful comments, anyway).
My wife is 5', a higher seat would be great.

[cbf]

I'll try to update this thread if/when I do something about this. Have other things to attend to for now.

[dontpanic]

Originally Posted by nalc

Bolts are M10x1.25, if you go that route.

make sue you match the grade of the bolt also. probably at least a grade 5 or metric 10.9 if not higher. you may find you need a star socket, the seat bolts are easy to round off with a regular socket.

[nalc]

Originally Posted by dontpanic

make sue you match the grade of the bolt also. probably at least a grade 5 or metric 10.9 if not higher. you may find you need a star socket, the seat bolts are easy to round off with a regular socket.

To take them off, use a breaker bar, go to harbor freight and buy the external torx sockets for $7, E10 is what you need.

The bolt head is extremely small (it's narrower than the threaded section), and they're torqued to like a million foot-pounds. I tried to get them off with a regular ratcheting Crasftman socket, and had a very difficult time of it, and I'm not a weak guy. Ended up rounding off the head of one of them and had to use a bolt remover to get it out, then got a replacement for $2 from Amayama. Don't take these things lightly, the heads are very weak and they are torqued almost as tight as lug nuts, get the right socket and a nice long moment arm.

[Ben_G]

Originally Posted by cbf

That's a much more expensive solution!

No, she's not that short, but neither of us are particularly tall. It has more to do with the seating position. She's not fond of legs straight out.

A little late, but if she's not fond of the legs straight out position, i'm not sure the seat height adjuster would be right for her. It seems to lift the back of the seat more than the front, not the whole seat up at the same rate.

A pillow would definitely be your most economical choice for now.

You could do as someone else here has suggested and add washers, but that has already been pointed out to be not ideal from a disassembly and safety point of view, especially if your wife is looking for several inches of height.