Maximum driver interior space (seat and foot room)

[Rian_Colorado]

Hello all,

I'm on a quest to increase my Mk4 interior space by as much as "reasonably" possible, and I'm sure many of you have done the same. I have 2 areas that I'm focusing on.

1) Seats. With NO seat in the car, I have TOO much room! but that's not reasonable...lol. I have a set of the FFR leather roadster seats, and with them set on the floor, it's "OK" .... doable.... but I'd prefer a lot more. The FFR seats seem to have a LOT of padding area between my back and the rear wall, at least 4-5 inches. I think with a fiberglass framed seat and a small amount of padding I could achieve an optimal result. I really like the intratrim stoneleigh seats, but I really don't want to spend 2K buying and shipping them, only to find out that they're not an EXCELLENT fit for me. Can anyone that has them installed tell me how "thick" they are? They appear to be quite a but thinner than what I have both in the bottom and back of the seat - but I just don't trust it if I can't put my hands on them! - Bonus points if you're in Colorado and I can come see them!
Any other options that people have tried? I'm sure I could get a aluminum frame, or even a cheaper fiberglass seat, cut them to fit, and have them upholstered....

2) Right foot room. Yup, we all know it's tight in the footbox. My setup with have a Boss 427 with Gas-n headers. Being that I don't HAVE the motor yet.....I'm trying to find out how much room will be between the headers and the aluminum panels. I REALLY hate where the panel "juts in" RIGHT at the top of my foot. I'm assuming this is for the headers on Coyote installs, but it seems like the SBF motors have more room there - maybe as much as 2 inches "out" to the headers. Even 2 inches or so UP would help on right foot space....
Anyone have a good photo of that area close in?
Anyone done something like this and modified or re-built that panel for smaller footprint motors?

Thanks!
Rian

[Jeff Kleiner]

I've built cars for "big & tall" guys and found that the best seats for them which provides the most comfortable space are the Kirkey 55V Vintage low backs with the rear of the seat on the floor and the front tipped upward a couple of inches.

https://kirkeyracing.com/cdn/shop/files/41301V-unedited.png?v=1732135337&width=713

They're available in various width depending on how "broad in the beam" you are. For long legged guys I've raised the steering wheel about an inch to provide more room between the bottom of the wheel and the driver's legs and even dropped the driver's floor to be even with the bottom of the chassis round tube.

As for the right side of the footbox, I have pushed it out toward the engine on a 302 based Mk4 but would be reluctant to do the same on your high deck Windsor without having the engine and headers to test fit. But, as a point of reference here's what that looked like:

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=213268&d=1746117486

Remember too that you can move the brake and clutch pedal pads to the left to effectively clear some room on the right for the gas pedal foot.

Jeff

213268

[danmas]

This is the seat I have for testing. Will likely go with the interim until I get further along. I have and I have pushed my footbox out about an inch as well as raised my steering wheel about an inch. You can see it next Friday (my footbox doesn’t look as clean as Jeff’s…).

[CraigS]

I will second an aluminum seat. I had an UltraShield and was surprised how little padding the seat back needs. I had about an inch w/ another inch or so in my lumbar area and it was very comfortable. A 4 hour drive was no problem.