REPLACING AERO SCREENS

[Ian Williams]

Your seat squab do look quite thick, particularly at the rear and the seat back very upright, if you move the squab forward and recline the seat back slightly you will effectively lower your head. The seating position in a vintage sports car is unlike that in a modern, your arms and legs should not be straight but your knees bent up behind the steering wheel and the wheel much closer to your chest that you may be familiar with. People commonly make the mistake of trying to move the seat rearward when they would actually do better by moving to forward, the steering wheel should be just in front of your crutch when seated.

[Howard Wright]

Hi Paul

I'd echo Ian's points regarding the seating position, particularly as your steering wheel isn't raked too low.  Have you thought of a V screen? Most of your turbulence problems may be due to the aero screens letting in wind either side and between them.  A V screen along with side screens (as in the Mulliner sports) will be fitted to my special when its complete! 

Cheers

Howard

[Barry]

If you go for a flat screen with a chrome upper frame do experiment with the height - using cardboard or plywood, because if it is too tall it will upset the look of the car. I adapted a Morris 8 fold-flat screen and got it wrong by about 1/2 inch

[Paul Nott]

Only one problem if the steering wheel was in the suggested position with knees behind I would only need legs 12 inches long!
At present when seated with arms bent steering wheel rubs on knee, when pressing accelerator my knee is seat side of the wheel.
The idea of moving the seat back was to allow my right leg to be flatter in angle and avoid the steering wheel.
I agree that incling the seat back rest would be a benifical, cant believe I actually traveled 165 miles in a day recently.

[Bill Sheehan]

Ian'e suggestion is quite important.  You'll find modern trimmers upholster Chummy seats (particularly) far too thickly.  Originally a Chummy seat-back was only padded by about 3/4 " and you'd be surprised how comfortable that is, apart from a great gain in space.  The  bases that trimmers supply these days are also far too padded.  Cheers,  Bill in Oz

[Ian Williams]

Your knee should be nowhere near your steering wheel, if it is your seat is way too far back, your knees should form quite an angle, don't be blinded by the legs flat position of a modern sports car, those ergonomics won't work properly in a vintage car.

[Paul Nott]

I think I need to sit in another Seven special to take a view.
I have a friend who has a MG T D and understand the principle of the wheel being on your lap but I can not do that as there's not enough room between steering wheel/ dash for my legs to fit.  At present my knee sits  against side body and wheel, this allows  me to operate pedals correctly as accelerator is approx 2inchs high than brake and brake is 2 inches higher than clutch, is this normal or possible the route of the problem as everything revolves around pedal operation.
I will post a picture of me sitting in the car, any comments would be welcome.
Many thanks for all your help, this forum has been invaluable to me and I'm most grateful for all advise.

[Mark McKibbin]

A windscreen makes a big difference and if you get it right it improves the look of the car. In the mean time if you fold the passenger sceen flat it can improve things for the driver

[Duncan Grimmond]

Unless you have really long legs, I think if you measure the distance between the brake pedal and the sear back you should be aiming for 34-37" approx. This will allow a straight (ish) leg to floor the brake and clutch pedals.
If you can't get somewhere near this your seat back may be too heavily padded. Anything more than 3/4" thick is probably superfluous. The lower back doesn't really need to come into contact with the upholstery unless you need a lumbar support cushion, sometimes I do as a result of an old back injury.

The taller you are, the more difficulty you may have getting your thighs clear of the underside of the steering wheel. Doors should make a difference in shoe-horning yourself in, I have to pry myself out or slide sideways to get out of the passenger side.

Try out as many different cars as possible, take a tape measure.

[Paul Nott]

Hi Duncan
Space from accelerator pedal to back seat 40 inches. See attached photos for seating position.
I plan to move seat back 1 inch and alter rake angle, hopefully this will help with the leg angle, although if I remove seat back and alter position to much arm to steering wheel is a stretch. 
Is it normal for the accelerator pedal to be 2 inches higher than brake, it appears to me that the pedal is to high but there is little space to alter?