Just Living the Dream

[Murph]

Greeting from Sebastian Fl. After dreaming about building a car I finally took the plunge last year and placed my order. I'm 6 months into the build, having taken delivery on Oct 18th I have no automotive background, so building my 33 Hot Rod has been a challenge. There has been a few "part" issues, but FFR made it right and the suspension and drive train are in. I hope to fire the engine next week. I used a 90 Mustang GT for a donor, had the engine and AOD rebuilt. I converted From EFI to carb with a air gap intake. I'm using a E303 cam. The car will be a coupe with power windows and air. ( It gets hot down here) I see lots of guys go for more HP, but I'm building a cruiser, not a race car. My main issue now is how to build the seats up so my disabled wife will be able to get in. The car just sits so low, it is hard for her to manage. Any ideas would be appreciated. Murph

[6t8dart]

Murph, I have the same engine combo in my MKIV, that will have plenty of power. As far as seats, I would go with the standard FFR seats, build a small pedestal to lift the seat to sill level, back a little higher, front low, (FYI the big and tall seat are the same frame, but recontured coushion that is not as deep in back) maybe moved a little forward. Install a couple grab handles on the side wall forward of the door and maybe on the dash if you can brace it, another on the center console. The suicide doors should make getting in and out a bit easier for her.

see my crappy drawing below...
53105

[Real time recon]

Second that, (on the 90 Mustang GT engine)


Sounds great ,runs even better :)!
>>> http://static.rcgroups.net/forums/attachments/1/3/7/0/4/9/a8891507-113-011.jpg

[Murph]

Thanks for your reply. I like your idea of bringing the seat up to the level of the door sill. I have the standard FFR seats. Perhaps I could build an aluminum box the right height to bolt the seat frame to. Your "crappy" drawings are not that bad. They get the point across quite well. The problem is my wife's stroke effected her left side. She can only use her right arm. I thought about putting a "OS" handle above her, attached to the hardtop. That way she could use it to lower herself into the car. Thanks again for your thoughts. You seem to understand what we need and are kind enough to share your thoughts. Murph

[skullandbones]

Hi Murph,

I think the OS handle is a great idea. Borrowing from the Corvette forum: there are actually procedures to get in and out of the various generations of vettes. I have a C4 and it is harder to get in and out of than the roadster. So if your wife can sit with the seat level to the sill plate like in the vettes she has a major part of the ingress/egress issue whipped. The pivoting of the rear area once seated will take most of the weight out of the equation so shoulders and other joints are not stressed. If she can use the OS handle to help her pivot her legs out then she's halfway there. There is a procedure for Lotus Elise on utube also.

Regarding the seat height: You can put sliders in with a platform of wood or aluminum to raise the seat to the perfect height. You could get fancier with the whole thing but I think it would be worth it to keep it simple with basically a two step process for getting in and out. Only problem is her not wanting to get out once in place (ha!).

Good luck,

WEK.