Quote Originally Posted by rickshank View Post

Any tips from any other shorter driver builds?

Thanks!
The irony is that after having spent years making mods and adjustments to fit the bug & tall guys into the earlier cars we’re now looking at what changes we can make to the Mk5 to better fit the not so big & tall! Now that my knees have collapsed I’m a little over 5’8” but some of the changes I made might help you feel more comfortable. The first thing I noticed when I got in the prototype was that for me (and what I’m used to after over 17 years of driving the earlier roadsters) the seat is low, the steering wheel is high and it’s angle is wrong and the pedals are too far off of the floor. I raised the mid point bearing as high as possible and lowered the rear one (farthest inward) by about 3/4”. This brought the wheel into the same position as the earlier roadsters with the steering shaft about 5.5” down from the cowl and the angle of the wheel at 18 degrees from vertical rather than 25 as it is in the unmodified Mk5. I have Kirkey low back vintage buckets raised about 4” off of the floor and tipped back. This put me in the same place in the car as I’m accustomed to and also had the wheel into the “right” height and angle. An addition I still felt like the pedals were a bit too far off of the floor. My friend Henry Renaud (65 cobradude) visited recently and when he got in the car he concurred so I’ve now lowered the pedal box by about 3/4”. With all this done the Mk5 seating and control position feels much more like what I’m used to and comfortable with. If someone doesn’t have a history of driving these cars I’m sure they’d get in and be completely satisfied but for me it was well worth the effort to get the car fitted to me.

Jeff