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MG MGB Technical - seats

Can you change the seats in an MGB GT I need to get close to thepedals the standard seats will not go fully forward,as you can guess am onlysmall any ideas please.
john
john

What about moving the slides forward on the floor pan? The captive nuts for the front bolts are inside the cross-member but you could either drill extra holes for them in the slides, or if moving the slides forward far enough they might clear the cross-member and you could drill four new holes in the floor instead of two.
Paul Hunt

"What about moving the slides forward on the floor pan?:

I tried that for my DIL (who's barely 5-0) but it didn't help. The seat ran into the transmission tunnel at about the same forward motion as before the change (this was on a '71 GT).

It might be possible to move the seat over to the left a bit to gain clearance, but I doubt if it can be moved enough to make a real difference without running into interference on the door sill.

Sorry I can't give a helpful answer, but maybe I can save some wasted time.
Dan Masters

A friend of mine who is very short had exactly this mod done to an MGB from new in the 60s . So it is possible , he still lives locally , so let me know if you get stuck and I will see what I can find out .I only found out when I asked if he wanted to try mine out , and he told me he would be unable to reach the pedals .
S Best

Purchase a racing seat (A narrow one, they come in different sizes) and bolt it to the floor in the correct position for your body size.
Moe

A friend of mine has a '72 B roadster...he added pedal blocks to the clutch and brake to help compensate for his lack of leg length. These blocks were similar to those that parents would put onto tricycles, etc for small children. Remember to cover with non-slip surface after mounting!

Just a thought...

rick
RICK INGRAM

John. As Dan noted, the problem, at least with the Mark II cars, is that the front of the seat hits the transmission tunnel.

With the seat rail front bolts removed, you can move the seats several inches further forwards. This would indicate two possible paths to pursue. First, lossen the rear seat rail bolts, remove the front bolts and move the seat forwards. If you get sufficient forwards movement, it might be possible to reattach the seat rails in this slightly off set configuration.

The second thing to do is to modify the seat itself by relieving the forward corner where the current seat frame hits the transmission tunnel and having the seat re-welded together. This allows the use of the current seat rail mounting points, but requires a tear down of the seats, their cutting and modification, then customizing the seat cushion foam and cover when being re-assembled.

The third modification involves obtaining a spare set of pedals and their modification into a set that will project backwards suffciently to allow them to be used by the short person.

I examined all of these options and decided the best one was to keep the 79 LE for myself and purchase a Miata for the short daughter. Les
Les Bengtson

I had this problem to a certain degree on my 72 BGT when i converted to fiero seats (bear with me).

At first i could not get the runners far enough forward - and from experience with my original B seats, you really ought to try taking out the seats and checking that the movement of the runners is unhindered and well greased. A small persuasion tool (hammer) and some grease will be fine. I managed to get two further notches along the runner with this and the movement as a whole is much improved.

that made a big differece - i stand at 5'6.5" (the 0.5" makes all the difference ;-> ) so the extra notches were very welcome.

The problem i have now, is that noted, where the front of the seat fouls the transmission tunnel.

The original seats can be shifted over to the right somewhat, but the sill creates some problems and the seat rake adjuster may get in the way.


~PHIL
Phil

Ahhhhh! I feel better now that I'm not the only one with the same problem. I never owned or driven a car (and I've driven many) that I had this problem with.

I felt like a freak although many of you may think that anyway :)
Mike Magee

John,
Would raising the seat on it's mounts allow it to slide further forward? I'm having to do this on my Fiero seats by fabbing an arrangement to sit between the floor and the seat runners. Raises the seat about an inch and a half in front, 3/4" in the rear, and lets the seat slide further forward before interferring with the tranny tunnel. Maybe using the original seats, you can put some spacers in there to get the same effect. Best, Joe
Joe Ullman

john: seems like a flashback all over again, about 25 years ago I ran into the same problem with a girlfriends 68 GT. Unable to gain enough movement in her drivers seat I removed the pedals and fabricated new ones that gained three plus inches for her and when I put the seat back, worked normally for me and when the car was sold the new owner did not feel the need for a change. Not a hard change to make, easy enough to put back,and it solves the problem. RIC
R E L Lloyd

Check that the seats are on the correct side. The inside edge of the seats are shapped differently to accomodate the tunnel. Getting them swapped from one side to the other severely restrict their movement forward. The release catch should be on the outside on both seats.
Good luck - Dave
David DuBois

tilting the front of the seat up would actually make the distance to the pedals longer. Perhaps sliding the seat further foward could make up for the difference. Do check to see that the runners are permitting the seat to go the max forward position. I've had to spend hours getting the sliders un bent and properly mounted and lubricated to get the seats to smoothly move the full adjustment range.
Barry
Barry Parkinson

What about redrilling new bolt holes in the sliders and repositioning the seat sliders that way? You might need to make an extentsion brackets to attach the sliders on raising them higher up and giving them a freer range of motion forward without the transmission tunnel being a problem. You can also use the original mounting holes if you make the extention brackets out of a couple of 1/4 steel plates that are the same width as the slider mounts and about 2-3 inches longer then the slider brackets. just connect the new brackets to the seat mounting holes, and the slider brackets to the extention brackets, and give it a shot. If it doesn't work just toss the newly made brackets in the trash and you can still bolt your seat back in its original place.

Just a thought.
CJD @ Work

heh tossed out two ideas in that post that I just noticed.
CJD Dark

John,
I'd look into relocating or modifying the pedals.
If you move the seat further forward, you'll be sitting too close to the steering wheel, which is dangerous if an accident happens, and also makes it difficult to find a good driving position. You may have to tilt the seatback too far backwards to get enough distance between yourself and the steering wheel and end up sitting too low in the car. And the seatbelts would be hard to reach too.
B's pedals are rather long, so you may be able to bend them enough to make them suit.

Just my EUR 0.02's worth...

-Kari

Kari

The clutch pedal on my 73B appears to have a second foot attached - not sure if it is original or a mod at some time. I am 5' 9" and have the seat fairly well back. The brake pedal appears 'normal'. Pictures of the clutch pedal can be seen at the following link.
http://home.cogeco.ca/~bquartermaine/MGB/clutch/

Regards,

Barry
73B
B.J. Quartermaine

Thank you all for the valuable advice, am only 5ft 3inches and have this problem with classic cars. Obviously when they were designeed they did not think of the small person?? Will try some ideas and let you know the out come
regards
john
john

john,

If you go with the pedal blocks amd slid the seat back, you could emulate the straight arm driving style of those classic British racers Stirling Moss, Jimmy Clark and Graham Hill, et al.

Look cool.
Edd Weninger

The seats in my '65 were moved forward at one point when my father owned the car so my mother could drive it. The pedals were also arced slightly back by heating and reshaping. If you had an MGA you would have no such problem. I'm 5'9" and my knees hit the steering wheel in that car!
Steve Simmons

This thread was discussed between 24/02/2004 and 25/02/2004

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