Ford based SS seats

[Deleted]

Hi. I've read elsewhere about what kind of seats that will fit in the SS. mostly along the lines of the small japanese van types. none of which I've been able to find any of, however i'm sure i read someone suggesting Mazda MX5 seats. which are quite plentiful. has anyone managed to fit these seats into an SS ?

thanks

Brett

[Peter]

Hi Brett,
Surprised you are having problems finding van seats for the Rascal, Suzuki, Subaru, vanette, etc, they are the best all round option for fit and comfort but DO NOT be tempted to buy the Locost/Chatham 7 seats on Ebay (Cobra Roadster) unless you are under 5'4" as they are too small, I am 5'10" and can only just get in with a bit of frame bending. Must be maximum of 47cm at the base to fit between tunnel and side. and capable of leaning back about 40 to 45 degrees

[Deleted]

thanks for the info, I'd measured the MX5 seats and they are 50cm wide. too much then by the sound of things. i'll keep looking but so far locally i've not found any of the usual van options at all. i havent even seen a rascal/suzuki on the road within the last two or three years and none in the scrapyards either ...

thanks

Brett

[Deleted]

just re-read your reply there. when you say the seats have to be a max of 47cm wide at the base. do you mean at the narrowest point on the seat where the mounting frame fits ? .. when i measured the MX5 seats at 50cm i was measuring the absolute widest part including all the padding on either sidewhere my legs would go. so it would be narrower below that point ...

thanks

Brett

[Deleted]

Oct 24, 2010 15:59:32 GMT @maverick said:

Hi. I've read elsewhere about what kind of seats that will fit in the SS. mostly along the lines of the small japanese van types. none of which I've been able to find any of, however i'm sure i read someone suggesting Mazda MX5 seats. which are quite plentiful. has anyone managed to fit these seats into an SS ?

thanks

Brett

I had the same problem. I used to just fill seats. see Fig
The rest of the seats you need to create.

Excuse me please, I do not speak English well.

[Peter]

The width at the point to the rear of the door opening is about 47cm from tunnel to body, at the point just foward of the handbrake lever it is 43cm, this is across the floor, (seat base above the runners, if the seat base is above the floor/body joint it could be as much as 52cm but usualy one wants the seat as low as poss and that means the seat base needs to fit below the joint line.

[Peter]

I don't know where you are as you haven't put yopur location on your profile but Twigworth Breakers near Gloucester had some.

[Deleted]

Forgot i hadnt included my location, i've recified that now. unfortunately i'm too far away for those seats. i'll just keep measuring 8)), i'll find some in the end ..

Brett

[Deleted]

I might have found suitable seats. like i mentioned previously the usual seats out of smaller japanese vans option wasnt any good to me because i couldnt find any. however I've been looking at the front seats from a Suzuki Alto. exactly 47cm wide so they'll fit ok that way. but they'll need lowered as the base it too tall, going back this friday for another look hopefully to take one out and see if it might be possible to modify the base to let me drop them. if so I'll buy them, there only wanting £50 for the pair which isnt too bad

[terryrob]

Hope you can get them to fit. They seem like a good option for an RV too because although its wide theres only about 18 - 20 inches between roll cage and trans tunnel.

[Deleted]

I imagine with an RV taller seats would be better too. the opposite from the SS. if I get them on friday I'll take photos and measurements and try and put them on here ...

[terryrob]

that would be great, cheers mate

[Deleted]

Well i got the Suzuki seats. and despite the fact that I measured them, they dont fit !!. although they arent that far off. so my choice is probably either to go looking for another pair of seats, or try and modify the bodyshell to suit. I need to crawl under the car this weekend. I think there might be enough room to modify the transmission tunnel a little bit to give more room ....

[terryrob]

Its never easy mate, hope you can sort it out.

[Peter]

Well, It has been a month or 10 but I was wondering if anything had been resolved.
I just ordered a pair of sport recliners on Ebay that will fit and only £260 a pair inc runners and delivery.
One of the Nova guys has them in his car so I now they will go in.

[Deleted]

thanks Peter thats good to know, the seats have been on the back burner so to speak since at the moment the bodyshell is still hanging by ropes from the beams on my lockup. the Suzuki seats did seem to be a good bet but unfortunately didnt turn out that way. it would be possible to modify the floorpan to make the seats fit but i've been coming round to the idea that i'd be making life difficult for myself. from what your saying I assume the Nova's have very limited width for seats too ?

Brett

[Deleted]

forgot to ask, you dont happen to still have any details of those ebay seats do you ?

Brett

[Peter]

Here ya go.
tinyurl.com/68up56b
I offered £200 (plus £40 shipping to Spain) and got it. give it a go.

Chassis on the Nova and SS are of course the same VW 'kipper' and the body tub bolts on in much the same way so tunnel to side under opening (be it lift up or gull wing).

[Deleted]

thanks again. i'll maybe sent them a message asking for measurements. might sound a bit obvious but with mine being the Ford SS the floorpans not the same, not a lot of room between those chassis rails for seats ;D

Brett

[Deleted]

I've had a look at that add, nice seats. but I think there all too big. it says they all have the same width seat base of 500mm, i.e. 50cm, but I'm needing something of 47cm wide or less....

Brett

[Peter]

If you look at the spec you will see the TOTAL width across the front of the CUSHIONS is 50cm, that is at least 5cm less than a Cobra for instance and 4cm within the distance from tunnel to side (54cm) . the width across the runners from bolt to bolt is 40cm. well within the floor plan.



The Ford SS and the VW SS have the same footprint because they made the chassis to fit the VW tub so they didn't have to make a new mould for the inner tub, they just wacked in a floor and tunnel to the VW one. if you look at this link to the technical section of the EOC web site you will see what I mean.
tinyurl.com/44f9ugd

[Deleted]

hope you dont mind but I've borrowed your picture and modified it to show what the Ford Eagle SS floorpan cross section is like. the widest part is the same at 54 cm, but where its narrowest at 47cm at the bottom this on my car is 10cm deep due to the chassis rails proximity, so unfortunately those seats ( and they are nice seats at a decent price ) would still be too wide for my car .... si i guess I'll just to keep looking...

[urlhttp://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll69/maverick1961/seatsize.jpg][/url]

[Deleted]

....

[Peter]

Didn't realise the Ford floor pan was that deep, 10cm is a lot, must be dragging your butt. The westfeild seats I have that are too small for me are up for grabs if they are big enough for you shipping will be high but I'm willing to chop the price to move them.

P.S. Just checked mine and I have 9cm drop so not to different, the width across the 'hard' part of the seats is 42cm. I have bolted a strip across between the runner bolts and moved them in 25mm a side just to make it easier to fit.

[Deleted]

the seats are still on the back burner at the moment. got lots of other things to do to the SS and also its not long till the dreaded "C" word comes along. you know the one, its starts with the "C" and ends with "mas" lol, I'm posting a link again for the album I've got on my facebook to let everyone see what what i've been up to so far. my shifts have changed recently so I dont have as much spare time as I did but I'm still doing things whenever I can. I'm certainly hoping to have the chassis/suspension fully rebuilt before then, and while the bodys still off I want to run the new brake and fuel lines since it'll be much easier, i've already got all the bits I need to do that. .....

facebook link ......

www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.67809253608.64006.832008608&type=1&l=2b31407156


Brett

[Peter]

Rock on, doing well.
C******s , I don't do c******s, So glad when all the commercial crap is over.
When do you know its Christmas? Easter eggs are in the shops.

[Deleted]

got some more work done today front suspension is now mostly put back together. once thats done the engine will be getting put back in place and the whole lot can be dropped on its 4 wheels again for the first time in a while ....

my steering rack just before I re-fitted it, new gaiters and snazzy purple pollybushes



the rack in place althought I had to pay a quick visit to B & Q for a couple of bolts



the rack in place along with nice shiny new bolts



and lastly I started cleaning up the engine mounts since refitting the engine isnt far away

[Deleted]

i know this isnt seat related as per the thread. but thought I'd show you my latest aquisition. been looking for one of these for as long as I've had the car ... its a pantograph wiper mechanism. got the chance of one and grabbed it .... and its for an SS

[Peter]

What a great find, all you have to do now is mount it ;D

[Deleted]

its been added to my list of things to do. which is still very long but not as long as it was. the pile of parts I've been aquiring is slowly being depleted as I build things up

the wiper mechanism should ( hopefully ) mount easily enough, it came off the remains of an SS so should go on mine quited easily .... fingers crossed. and I know it works because I was shown in working