What's a good seat height for a topless 32 Ford?

My Deuce project has stalled, and I need to get it kick-started.

On of my excuses, er, stumbling blocks has been getting the seat height right.

I like to sit high, so I can really see the road, but I'm worried that being perched way up and out of the car will look a little cartoonish. Sitting way low looks cool, but will be harder to see when maneuvering around parking lots.

How high are the seats in your Deuces, as measured from the floor? About the only factory spec I can find is for a Model A, at 12 3/8" for the topmost point.

If it matters, I'm using 1980s Jaguar bucket seats. (Red leather, off of Ebay, for $75 a piece!)

Thanks in advance,

--Matt

 

Chopped W/shield? When I bought the car the seat was fine. After I chopped the w/shield 2" I am looking straight into the the top of the frame. A real PITA. To look down the road, I have to look over the W/S frame.



I'm sitting too high in this picture. You can use my shoulder location for a reference. My seat cushion is 10" off the floor to the fart filter.

 

I havent got a measurement of mine handy, but I reckon I sit too high also, I want to drop my seat as low as possible and still be able to drive distances.


I have seen seats that are just foam straight on the floor and that would be uncomfortable after an hour or two.

Also the lower you can get the less wind you get hitting you in the back of the head/shoulders.

 

My seat is 9 inches from the floor........I am 6 foot 2 inches and I look out just below the windshield top bar.......and my windshield is not cut. My seat angles down.....from front to rear so ,as Tommy says...the fart filter .....is even lower than the 9 inches.

.

 

Sit down in the car as much as you can....you'll get ustta to where the corners are......

 

I think Bluto has it right. Better to have it look cool the 98 % of the time your going forward. Just be extra careful the 2% of the time you back up!

 

Thanks, guys. That helps a lot.

I think I was aiming way too high.

Does anyone have a copy of the picture of Larry Shinoda buried deep down in the driver's seat of his A/V-8? (It's in Mike Bishop's book.) Is that too low?

 

Well, I'm going to bump this back to the top, because I'm still aiming way too high.

The seat position that I think I like, with a view over the hood, is still too high.

I'd appreciate some more seat height dimensions...

 

Stalled is an understatement!

Ya started this post 5 months ago (8/7/2005) and still haven't got that seat to your liking,,,, roadster season is just around the corner!

The seat in my 32 roadster sits low enough in my that the top of my shoulder is about even with the top of the door,,,,,maybe ya need to save the jag seats for another project if thay sit too high and build or buy a bench seat. HRP

 

You've got that right. It's embar***ing, but true.

Actually, my 32 is piled up in the 1/2 portion of my 2 and 1/2 car garage, so I'm probably going to be stalled for a while more.

You make a good point. I may be trying too hard to make these jag seats work, when perhaps they don't...

 

Mine is 7 inches at the front(highest point) I sit pretty low in the car.

 

The 31 roadster I built several years ago, the front of the seat was 8". Dodge Caravan rear seat. I am 5'11". I thought it was a bit high, but the wind wasn't bad. My buddy's 31 is 6" to the front of the seat, I have done many miles in it, top on or off, it's right. His car has 2" longer than stock doors.

 

"Does anyone have a copy of the picture of Larry Shinoda buried deep down in the driver's seat of his A/V-8? (It's in Mike Bishop's book.) Is that too low?"

Don't ***ume there even IS a seat there--it was common practice on street cars to remove the seat cushion during races to lower the driver, who sat on the floor or a board to get lower!

Build the seat installation as low as physically possible, because it will be easy to space it back up but hard to change structure and lower it. And consider the early sportscar feature of adjustable height...racing level and cruising level.

Be sure wife is comfy in p***enger (riding mechanic's??) seat--most women will condemn a car with bad seating, even if it has a Zephyr ignition!

 

My 32 roadster has 3.5" cut out of the windshield and I look right out the center of the windshield.

Sit in the car and put one end of a straight edge on your head and the other end over the windshield frame. If it's level, you're cool. If not, adjust seat height until it is.

 

Measurements are a good place to start, but you'll have to decide on the final height for yourself.

Somewhere in there I read that you're 6'2", but you could be short torso/long legged or the reverse.
It's torso length that counts in seat height.
Fwiwi - I'm 6' 0" and have a 32" inseam.

Attached are a couple of photos.
The ******* pic is not long after the 32 was running and RodTin re-pro seats were used.
They sat me up too high and when seated comfortably I was looking right at the top bar of the 2" chopped windshield.
You can get a good idea of the seat height by perusing the pic.

Not too far down the road I built a seat.
Pretty simple stuff.
3/4" birch plywood was used - due to lack of voids etc., plus it's a pleasant wood to work with compared to regular plywood.
Cost is maybe 25% higher than regular exterior A-D plywood and the harder woods used in the birch ply are advantageous in the seat as well as other small projects.

The seat was nothing more than a couple of flat pieces of plywood cut to fit and set up with blind metal threaded pieces for the back and locatiing holes for the stock 32 seat pan on the base.
The upholstery guy used two grades of foam to pad the seat, made a rise under the knees and a bolster for the back.

A couple of old beach towels were put over the foam for temporary use.
I drove it for a day, recommended some changes in foam and got it upholstered.
The second pic shows where we sit in the car height-wise with the newer seat.
I'm leaned over a touch - popping the E-brake off - but you can still tell about how high I sit.
Sweetie is 5'2" fwiw.

I would recommend you get the middle two p***enger seat out of a mid-90's ChryCo van.
I have one of these in the 31 on 32 rails project.
It fits well and is very comfortable.
Especially when tilted back and there's quite a bit more legroom in the 31 than there is in the 32.
The 32 has a flat firewall, the 31 has a 4" recess.

Fwiw - the 32 and 31 ****pits are just about the same exact size except the 31 is 2" shallower.
Evenso, the van seat sits me down in the car very nicely.
Pics of that if you wish.

Important part is, set yourself so eye level is right in the middle of the windshield.
You'll be at a good height where you can see well and low enough to keep your baseball hat on at highway speeds.

If your project doesn't have a windshield yet, use a couple of angled or flat pieces of aluminum bolted to the windshield stanchions and run a string, small straight board or small aluminum angle across where the top of the windshield will be.
Getting eye level from that to the cowl eyebrow or whatever you call the piece above the dash will be easy to do.

 

Thanks everyone.

Than you, Bruce. That's good advice.

Thank you very much, C9 for the detail. I appreciate it.

--Matt

 

If you get the seat where you want it and you look stupid, wear a disguise. Actually No body will be looking at you anyhow if the car looks good.

 

Here's one more pic I found.


Should give you an idea of the view from the drivers seat.

I know that some detail oriented folks are gonna look at the w/s top bar reflection and note that the camera was held a touch below eye level.

It still works out to be an eye level photo cuz I kinda squished down in the seat so the pic reflects what I see when driving.


I used to shoot "action" pics by holding the camera in front of my eye. Not a good idea for obvious reasons. A lot of the pics I take are shot from the hip so to speak and if you pop off 2-3 of them you'll get a good one.

An old pilots saying is, "Pilot who take picture of ground when flying will eventually take a picture of his own crash site."

 

Don't forget the finished rake of the car, rubber rake included.
Seems sometimes you have to build an entire rod just to see what doesn't fit and then adjust it till it does.

I sat at the wheel of Von Franco's Deuce and the view was like the last C9 post, only the windshield is a couple inches shorter.
That's a case of really having to be dialed in.
But we're about the same height so it's no surprise that it "fit".
I think his has just got the cushion virtually sitting on the floor like a lot of British sports cars did.

But if the rake of the frame changes the view changes with it.

Also, if your frequent p***enger is much shorter than you, one might want a higher seat for the p***enger?
It's a bummer riding in a car with nothing but a dash board, door panel and the tops of telephone poles for a view.

I like the sound of DRD57's mock up method.
Carpenter's level on your head and a mirror to read it with?

Also might be worthwhile to sit in a prospective seat out of the car and measure how far into it's springs you go when you sit in it relative to the seat's static height.
9", 7", on the floor, all these numbers don't mean much if you don't also account for the particular seat's cushion compression.

 

Low Low Low.If you can see the radiator cap you are to high. I am 5'11" and my shoulders are below the top of the body. This really makes long rides comfortable because it gets you out of the wind. From behind, you can only see the very top of my head over the seat roll. This all works for me. you need to see what you like. If the cars a runner why don't you try different levels of height before you lock into a final decision.
Chuck

 

I like DRD57's method as well.
Simple, direct, quick and no measurements really required.

The good doctor is correct on the rake as well.
My 32 really is raked a little too far.
It was surprising to see how much things improved when I swapped the front tires from 185/70R-14 to 195/70R-14.
Maybe an inch different, but the view change was noticeable.

The through the w/s pic posted above doesn't show the grille shell, but a small part of it is seen while driving.

The 31 - like CopShopCoupe says - will have the grille shell just out of sight due to seat height.

The 31 has a very mild rake compared to the 32, the same height 2" chopped w/s and I think I'm gonna be further down out of the wind than in the 32 even when you consider the shallower depth of the 31's ****pit.

Tires on the 32 are 24" and 30 1/2" diameter.
The 31's tires are 25" and 28" fwiw.
Suspension components in front are the same on both cars.
The 31 has a transverse rear spring which drops the car further down in the back than does the 32's coilovers.
A bit of a fwiw in this last paragraph, but the more info you have when making a decison the better.


One more thing and then I'll shut up . . . for a while anyway . . . when I had the 32 upholstered I had the upholstery guy make up a firm foam pad, 4" thick, rectangular in shape, about 18" x 20" to go behind Sweetie's back when she drives the roadster.
It's stored in the trunk most times.

She can drive the 32 as is, but the pad makes life easy.
A seat back cushion will be required for her for sure in the 31 with it's longer stretch between seat back and pedals.

She likes to be able to mash the throttle all the way to the floor.

As she did once when leaving the muffler shop in front of the guys.

Kinda interesting it was, watching the 32 skate across the white line while looking through the p***enger window....

 

Wow. Thank you, guys, very much.

I felt bad bumping this old post back to the top, but I'm sure glad that I did!

 

I think the definition of too low is when you navigate by gauges, sounds and odor only.


......yeah women are peculiar creatures

Paul

 

Great Thread............ Doing my 32 Hiboy Over and this will help.......