After reading the “Am I too tall!” thread I thought I’d post up my thoughts on the BackYard Special (BYS) lowered seat rail for the OEM seats.

Since owning the car I have never been 100% happy with the driving position and I finally got round to doing something about it last weekend. My first choice was full bucket seats, although Brides are very nice, they are also very expensive and not ideal for a daily driver. So I opted for this lowered seat rail on the drivers side.

The rail drops the drivers seat by an inch and so far has helped with at least two of my three major complaints with the driving position.

1 - I couldn’t see the rev counter easily. Not ideal when overtaking people, as it’s nice to be able to quickly glance down and see your revs. I had to bend my neck to be able to see the damned thing
2 - The rear view mirror was a massive blind spot and had caught me out on more than a couple of occasions when I thought it was safe to pull out, but in fact there was a car there.
3 - My knees would touch the underside of the steering wheel. And get in the way when turning the wheel fast when on track.

By lowering the seat by only an inch I now have improved the visibility, as the rear view mirror is blocking less of my view, and I can quickly glance down at the rev counter when the need arises. My knees still get in the way a bit, but not as much as they did before. Also by sitting lower in the car, it should help to lower the cars centre of gravity. I'm not sure about this myself, but I guess in theory it sounds plasable. Not that lowering the driver by only an inch would make much difference.

As always I took a few photos of the rail and how easy it is to install it. I sourced it from www.takakaira.co.jp for

 

Excellent, thanks for that and I am tempted to get that done!

This forum is excellent!!

 

And your mention of heated seats reminds me I have the pads in the garage waiting.
I might start that this weekend as the weather has got a bit colder!

 

Very good thread.

Are you a big bugger Jamie??

I bet it was nice to clean all the dust out from around the seats!

 

Nice write up and pics

I'm sure I read somewhere that you can mod the existing seat rail to lower the seat, not sure how effective it is though.

I'm tempted to have a go at this myself.

Andy

 

Can I have a sit in yours at Donington?

The driver and seat do weigh quite a lot in proportion to the rest of the car, so I imagine that inch does help.

 

Hmmm, it is tempting to buy the BYS rails - I don't fancy the OEM seat mod (although I have the word document guide, if anyone wants it).

 

Nice write up, but .......

Bucket seats are the way forward.

One of the best mods I have made to the car. Also saves a lot of weight.

 

Cheers for the comments folks.

Shopman - heated seats are the future

MB - Most of those bits of grass are from Rockingham back in May when I took a tactical short cut across the grass

There are so many jokes I could have made in response to your question, but I'll resist the tempation . I'm 6'3" tall and medium build. I've got enough room in the cabin and getting in and out is no problem, I just found I was sat up a touch too high for my liking. I also have my seat one click upright from fully back and touching the rear interior panels.

Dembo - Yes of course you can mate

I never knew there was a mod for the OEM rail. Not sure I'd be happy "attacking" that myself.

eSeM - I totally agree. Buckets AND harnesses are the best option, and like you said they save a lot more weight. Maybe one day

 

Does anyone know if the part that j8mie used for his mod works in the AP2 chassis? I have an enquiry in with the folks at www.takakaira.co.jp, but was curious if anyone has tried it?