Seats again 2!

Now some further info which will no doubt show my lack of intelligence :-/

I have now raised the co-driver seat at the front to the top hole which has rotated the whole seat backwards (if you see what I mean).

This replicates a more reclining aspect and has improved head clearance no end.

Measurement from top of seat "headrest" was 97mm to the roof, now it's 130mm :o

It also has the effect of moving the co-driver further back away from the driver's line of sight etc :)

E11,F11 and F12

E11,F11 and F12 - those are the sections of the MSA "Blue Book" that BRP must comply with to be eligible for the Little Devils.

Well, I have gone through these sections and believe that the car is fine but the real proof will be in 2 weeks time!

In the meantime I also took the opportunity to do a bit of cleaning and tidying after the recent work on the car.

In fact, I even went so far as to do some painting! See the plate around the gearlever? Normally this is covered by the centre console on a road car but BRP is now fast becoming a competition car and the interior trim is beig stripped out. That does expose this plate tho which looks a bit naff.


So, out it came and was painted matt black - now it looks so much better.

Then I even did a bit of polishing - being called a "polisher" is a real insult in Club triumph circles but in this instance I only polished the bonnet, doors and boot lid so that competition stickers will come off more easily.

My reputation should still hold good with that reason!

Those seats again

I now have both seats one bolt hole lower and have clearance again - but not much!

I was curious tho as to how much higher than the standard seats these comp seats are so I measured them. 940mm from seat cushion to roof (Comp seats) and then, by reference to my spare TR7 I found the standard seat had a measurement of --- yes, 940mm.

Now how does that work? Then I realised that the standard seats have reclining backs and they are pretty much always back at an angle. Think about it, if you bring the seat back up/forward your head goes up.

So, if I now raise the front mounting up then the seats will pivot at the rear (where your body is) and your head will come down a bit!

But no, I am not going to try it out for a while yet as I have had enough of faffing about with these flippin seats!

Big head

With a helmet there's even more of a clearance problem as you can see.

I will definitely have to move the seat down one
slot and see what happens then.

It's even worse on the co-driver's side as when I sit there the helmet is jammed against the roof!

One solution is for my daughter Rebecca to be the permanent co-driver as at 5'1" there's no problem at all!

I have driven the car a bit more tho (sans helmet) and the driving position is superb - with much better forward vision and a feeling of being in control.

Unfortunately the brake judder isn't really any better so more thought needed on that too.

Bolted in

Here's the seats all bolted in - the thing is, they still seem rather high!











The driver's side can go down one hole but the passenger side would need new holes drilling in the mountings lower down - I'll think about that another day.

Now we are getting somewhere

Fitted the disc assembly back to the car first.

Then it was onto the seats again. I followed my plan and swapped the seats over with their mountings and installed the driver's side. Sounds easy but I can assure you it wasn't!

I had bought 12 new bolts earlier in the day for £1.50 as the original mounting bolts had now seen better days having been in and out so many times!

Anyway, the driver's side is in and so I at last had a chance to drive the car for the first time in ages. I took it easy as the car was full of tools, the passenger seat was loose in the car and there was general debris everywhere - also I felt sure one of the tyres was a bit down.

Still, in the 1 mile test drive I think the brakes are improved and the seat position feels great - sat well up and in control.

Next I need to sort out the passenger seat, try the seating our with a helmet on in case it's too high and then generally tidy everything up. I should make "The Little Devils" tho with the car looking like a real competition car!

Why oh why?

As in why oh why do I start something else when the car was OK anyway?

Nevermind, another hour and a half tonight sees the drivers seat in for a trial fit. OMG!! I am only average size but my head is nearly hitting the roof!

Apart from that you certainly feel alot more secure and in control with the comp seats.

Now more patience is needed really whilst I fine tune the seating. I thnk the driver's seat mounts will go to the passenger side as they are of a different make and allow more adjustment rearwards (I want the co-driver sitting as far back as possible to leave me with as much vision as possible and room for arm twirling!).

Then the mountings currently in the passenger side will go to the driver's side (following this?) and I will aim to mount the seats in the lowest position possible. All of this for someone 5'8" for goodness sake - there'll be no chance of anyone taller driving the car anyway!

Meanwhile, remember the brake disk assembly? It's now been machined up and I aim to collect it from Kevin in a couple of days.

So, 3 weeks to go to the Pendle and Pennine meeting followed by an entry in a road rally and I have no brakes and no seats - situation normal really.

Comp seats go in

Having been inspired by Steve's cars I decided to fit the competition seats I bought.

The thing that stopped me up to now though was that I have no budget left and couldn't afford the harnesses which will be hung off the roll cage I also can't afford yet!

However, I had thought that using the standard seatbelts would be a problem because as you can see here, they are bolted to the seat frame.



Upon reflection though I can't see why I can't mount the seat belts to the comp seats and their mounts in the same way.

So, here's fitting the seat mounts having removed the standard passenger seat. Thankfully, they bolt up to the original mounting points which must be a good thing rather than drilling holes through the floor for nuts and bolts.



Next up is to fit the seats incorporating the seat belt mountings.





This is what it looks like - not bad really!

The thing is though, it has taken me 3 hours to get this far!

Unfortunately, it's not as straight forward as I would have liked so more patience and perseverance is required yet.

MYE 778P - a very special car

Just back from holiday and had to post this picture of a very special car.

This is me in the driver's seat of MYE 778P - a car which was originally used in the launch publicity photos (brochures etc) and then was raced by a gent called Dick Adams.

Now owned by Steve Thomas who kindly allowed me to look it over, take lots of photos and drive it too!

See the link to Steve's website.