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MG MGB Technical - Seats too high?

The abandoned project nears completion. 2 years and an empty checkbook, I'm calling it a Moss-mobile. :)
Is there anyone on this list who has found a way to lower the seats on a "B". I am having trouble seeing ahead, through the windshield, with the top up.

Also, a great big THANK YOU to all who helped me during the last 2 years. The car runs GREAT and is loads of fun, except for the forward vision thing.
Tom

Tom. The current seat foams are too high and produce the condition you describe. They can be cut down, about an inch in the front and about one half in at the rear, to provide a lower seating position.

Les


Les Bengtson

I had this, and thought it was because I replaced the rubber mats with carpet and felt. I cut channels in them for the the wooden slats to sit, and it helped, along with slightly adjusting the rake of the seat.
c cummins

Wish I had known this before. The seat foam is definitely thicker. In the GT the windshield height is not a problem - the problem is the narrow space between the steering wheel and the seat. When shifting your foot from accelerator to brake pedal my thigh hits the steering wheel. Too much trouble to do all over again. I will wait for the foam to flatten. With the new cushion in the drivers seat and the passenger seat not done yet, I tower over my passenger.
LS Sheldon

Les,How are you doing?Miss hearing from you.Hey,how did you cut that foam?
rich osterhout

Rich. The upholstery shop used a common wood saw to cut the foams, then trimmed them slightly with an electric carving knife. This is a photo of Nic Collins, of Coverall Upholstery, cutting down the first seat cushion. I got to do the next seven. You can see how the cut line has been measured, then traced in magic marker. The saw will cut the foam easily, leaving very little trimming to be done. If one lacks an electric carving knife, a good, sharp kitchen knife will do the job.

Winter, in Arizona, is our time to work outside--before the temperatures reach triple digits. Machine shop work and building a new engine for my GT is taking up most of my time right now.

Les


Les Bengtson

Hey folks, once again, thanks for the advice. Does cutting one inch from the seat foam do the trick? It seems to the untrained eye that it would not be enough. How long should it take for the foam to compress, if left alone? Lastly, what about my bottom? Will the seat still be comfortable? Regards, Tom
Tom in beautiful upstate NY

related question...what is the exact purpose of the wooden spacers under the runners...what would happen if you got rid of those?
jjralston

I had just the opposite problem with my B a while ago. I am quite short with a short upper torso so I always sat very low in the car. I pulled the seats and found the strapps that hold the bottom were in bad shape so I fixed them with some stong rope and added some carpet padding to the bottem. It really did the job! Now it is just as I like it although taller people would sit too high! Bob
Bob Ekstrand

Tom. Here is a photo of a fellow sitting in the unaltered seat.


Les Bengtson

Tom. Here is a photo of the same individual sitting in the seat after one inch of foam has been removed from the bottom. The one inch of foam has translated into about a 2.5" difference in seated height.

Would it be possible to remove more foam? Quite possibly. We had four sets of seats to do, all of which had new diaphragms and new seat foams installed on them. We did not know, at that time, how much the diaphragms and foams would break down over time. Hence, we decided to remove the minimum necessary to allow viewing out of the windscreen. Now, after three-four years, there has been no settling of the diaphragms or foams and the seated height has remained about the same. (At least it has settled no more than one half inch, if that.) Hence, it would be possible to take more than one inch (at the front) off of the seat foams and produce a better seated height for the person average to above average height. But, one should go slow as the tests to date indicate that the removal of one inch of foam translates into several inches lower seating position. The best thing to do would be to start off by removing one inch in front, tapering to 0.5" at the rear, then test the seated position. If necessary, remove 0.5" from the front, tapering to 0.250" at the rear and test again. Repeat as necessary until you reach your form of ideal. But, this requires a significant amount of work and the results may not justify it. Only the owner can determine this.

JJ. The purpose of the packing strips under the seat rails are two fold. First, they strengthen the assembly, reinforcing the thing sheet metal of the seat runner. Secondly, they insulate the plated steel runner from the carpet which, if it gets wet, can retain moisture leading to the rusting of the seat runners. The wooden packing strips are 0.250" thick and are poorly suited to the intended purposes.

Some years ago, I came up with the idea of making new packing strips out of aluminum bar stock, replacing the wooden strip and the two aluminium spacers with a single piece. This system did not rust, was stronger than the wood, and the single piece was easier to install than the three piece factory system. I wrote a tech article on this and a copy should be available on Paul Hunt's website, the Pages of Bee and Vee.

Considering the fact that, when removed, the seated height would only be 1/4" lower, and the fact that the seat runners would no longer be supported as well, I prefer to use the aluminum packing strips under my seats. The latest iteration bolts the seat runners to the aluminum packing strips, making installation even easier than with my original design.

Some people have gone so far as to cut out the area of the carpet, and any under padding, where the seat runners go, allowing the runners to be bolted directly to the floor without the carpet and padding between them. Again, the seated height is reduced about 1/4". This, combined with the removal of the packing strips would give a total of about 1/2" lower seated height where as the removal of 1" of foam results in a 2.5" difference in seated height.

Clearly, the foam is the place start modifications. If necessary, the very tall might be required to remove the packing strips and/or cut away the carpet in that area to move the seat lower. But, I would not remove the packing strips nor cut up the carpet until the seated height had been reduced as much as possible through the trimming of the seat foam.

Les


Les Bengtson

REMOVE SEATS AGAIN?!?!?!?!?! I have a 1968 mgc roadster and decided that I would like to use a set of later B seats frames in my car because they had latching and adjustable back rests. I found someone to copy the 1968 patterns and make them fit the new foam that I purchased for the B frames. First time in the car I felt like Learch in the Monsters looking over the top of the windshield. Then found out the C frames are about 1.5 inches shorter on the front of the frame support. So I took out the seats and had the frames cut, welded and painted again. Still a little high so decided to take the wood slates and little metal washers out from the bottom to get another 0.25 – 0.37 inches of drop. Still too high so took custom seats completely apart and found some extra padding in the back of the seats. Getting better but still can’t figure out what’s going on. So now I hear the foam needs to be cut an inch because someone wanted to make the seats nicer?!?!?!?! Same thing happened with the door panels with the 1/8 inch foam in them. Don’t want it nicer!!!! Just want new!!!!!
Fred Wright

Fred - is it possible to remove the "B" seat back with the function you want and still use the "C" bottom frame? The MGC has different floor pans due to the torsion bar front suspension, and I'm afraid that you're doing "engineering by feel" unless you can use the original set up - or as close as possible for your situation.
John Z

The wooden slats help to support the metal runner between the bolts and stop them bowing. They are supposed to be on top of carpet or mat to do their job. They don't set the seat height, that is done by the large metal spacers that go in holes in the wooden slats. There are (or should be) holes in the carpet or mat so that these spacers sit directly between the floor pan and the metal runner. If you have all the correct parts cutting slots in the mat or carpet will do nothing, except possibly cause the runners to jam.
Paul Hunt

What is all this talk about looking "through" the windshield? I thought we were supposed to be looking over the top of the metal frame. That's why we have sunglasses.

I think if I took my seat out and sat on the floor, I might just get to the point of where I'd like to be in relation to looking out the windshield.

And here I thought the B windshield was more intended to be like that on the motorcycle, where it is primarily used to deflect wind from the shoulders !

Who knew !

BobA (Andy) MMGG
R.W Anderson

Are you driving a pedal car, perchance?
Paul Hunt

This thread was discussed between 15/03/2009 and 01/04/2009

MG MGB Technical index

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