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Al

Great looking frame! I'm curious about your spindles, bushings, and balljoints. How will you mount your steering rack? On the low-back seat issue: cosmetics are fine, but if you plan on a rollbar, I feel that high backs are manditory. I still have cranium dents from a test drive of a Gratiot Sprint T many years ago.

Lenny

I plan on using a cross bar on my roll bar behind the seating area, on that I will make and mount some adj headrests, we did that with my buddies cobra kit and it worked out quite well, mainly as you stated a quick jump on the gas left a quick bump on the noggin.
Spindles are Mustang II, the bushings a combination of heims and Spitfire bushings, ball joints are K772 moogs.
I have not decided on the rack yet and am giving thought to the use of a track style rack, like appleton or one of those suppliers.
Mainly because I got time to look for a deal and hopefully will find something cost effective.
The size, weight, repairability and adjustabiltity seem to be the main benefits, though I do admit to not having had any experience with them.
Al

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Super Seven 3.4

Just a little update as it probably seems like I disappeared off the site. I kind of got side tracked this year with my mother passing away (she was in her 80's and had a wonderful life) that was in the spring and then in the summer my youngest daughter got married (she is 35), whoa I still have a daughter left???, just kidding.
Anyway I did not get too much done on the car but do have a few things accomplished.
I built a new table for the car and I got the engine roughed in as well as the steering and the transmission with the shortened driveshaft.
I have enclosed a few photos, some of the stuff is just temporary like the hoop holding the steering wheel and such.
So with winter coming I hope to be more active, plus I haven't updated my webshots site for awhile so hopefully will have a few more photos there in the near future.
Al

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Super Seven 3.4

Al,
That is a very impressive car build you have there. Your shop is pretty awesome too! Very nice build! Please post more pictures of it, if you don't mind.

SamM

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1964 Lotus Seven Replica

Thanks for the kind words, I will try to post some more pictures as soon as I can.
Al

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Super Seven 3.4

Al, glad to see things are still moving along.

I had posted a couple questions about the seats for you on the Haynes list that you may have missed, I was hoping you could answer them.

http://www.haynes.co.uk/forums/showthre ... =14&page=3

Al (raceral),
I'm close to pulling the trigger on these seats. Just a couple of questions.

- Did you get the 18" seat from Speedway? They only list a 16" seat.
- The Kirkey drawings show that the 16" seat is actually 17.5" over all at the front. Given that the book frame is 445mm(17.52") wide in the seating area, how did you fit the 18" (19.5" total according to Kirkey) seat?

I attached the shop drawing for the 16" seat.

I did send them an email, and they will do other color covers for a small fee, I wanted red. They will also sell extra matching vinyl so you can match other parts of the interior.

Mark


"Those are the ones I went with for mine, 16 inch for the passenger and 18 inch for the driver, who has a bigger butt than the MRS, yah I know hard to believe, but true.
Al"

HI
I am sorry I missed your post on the haynes Forum, I have had a busy spring and summer and have not had much time to get back onto the forums.

I originally ordered two 16 inch seats from Speedway, when they arrived I took one out of the package and found that it was a bit snug for my butt, then add the padding cover and it definitely got snug.
I called Speedway back about exchanging the 16 for an 18, but they do not carry them as you also mentioned.
They bulk buy the 16 inch seats basically for the midwest street rod crowd and get a better break on the price by ordering all the same size.
At least that is what they told me.

So initially I was going to send one back for a refund and buy an 18 when I realzed the seats are distributed to the US through New York, but the head office and production is actually in Ontario.
So I sent an email to Kirkey asking if I could swap my unopened one for a new 18 inch seat since they are the same price.

They emailed me back saying the did not normally do that but to give them a call and they would at least listen to my story, in the end they kindly offered to exchange my 16 for an 18 upon inspection of the 16 inch seat and I coverd the shipping.

Kind of a along winded story but they treated me well so I have no complaints and appreciate what they did.

The width of a 16 inch seat is 17.5 inches across the top of the thighs, that is because of the two edges are bent out at the location.
The inside seat itself inside is 16 inches, so what I have done for the driver seat is to bend the upper portion back into to match the side portion.
This probably doesn't sound like it makes much sense, so I will take a few pictures with a tape measure and post them.
The 18 inch seat is actually 17 inches inside measurement and with the two side tabs bent in it is roughly 17.5 inches. This is close, especially with uphostery, but for me it will be fine as I am the only one driving the car and once the seat is set it will stay there, though I can adjust it for another driver I dont expect to very often, if ever.
I will go take some pictures and post them shortly
Al

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Super Seven 3.4

Hi
I have taken some photos, three photos are of the stock 16 inch seat #415 and three are of the 18 inch seat #417.
The stock 16 inch seat fits fine and will be mounted with no adjustment, the 18 inch seat has the side tabs bent inward to make the sides of the seat more vertical.
It is a close fit, but in my case it is worth it because of my bum and also because I am trying to keep a bit of a period/vintage look to the car.
The seats are aluminum so they are bendable.
The photos do show how tight it is to the center console, I still have some adjustment to the seat tabs and if it was a real issue I could move the tunnel in a small amount, but I dont feel I would have to.

I hope the pictures help if you want any more info let me know and I will see what I can do.
Al

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Super Seven 3.4

Just be careful with the seat belts. I wish the Kirkey seats came with slots cut in the sides and sewn into the covers for belts. With such little room between the transmission tunnel and the seats, I worry about rubbing.

My car has the same thing--I ended up with 15.5 and 14.5 Kirkeys to allow a little more room for the belts. Even so, they are pretty tight at the mounting points.

A good point, the bombers have side slots as well as a front slot, with a slight seat tapor built in at the bottom back, the belts should be fine.
Al

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Super Seven 3.4

That's really nice. As I had to modify and re-sew one of the seats, I might just do that and make my own seat belt slots. however, I am afraid that might limit who can ride in it even more... 14.5" and all. When I am finished, I may end up buying that model--I could probably do 16 and 17" if I was not worrying about seat belt rub.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. Great to know the 18" seat can be made to fit, I'm not small either. I think I will order one 16" seat and see how tight the fit is, it can go in the passenger side if it is two small.

Thanks,
Mark

I've found that the tightest fit is best. I like the 14.5 better than the 15.5 seat, bcause when making any sharp turns, you want to avoid sliding around in the seat.

Are you sure you have the 18" seat? Kirkey lists 4 seats, 15,16,17, and 18 inch. Part numbers are 41300V, 41500V, 41700V, and 41900V. The 41700V (17") seat is 17" at the base, the 41900V (18") is 18" at the base per the drawings. Sounds like you have part number 41700V, which Kirkey lists as a 17" seat. The Speedway seat should be part number 41500V. Just trying to make sure before I order.

Mark

You are absolutley correct, it has been a year since I got mine and I guess my memory is a bit dozy, I apologize and am glad you checked.
I do have the 41500 and the 41700 seats, ironically the 415 says 16 inches across the back while the 417 says 17 inches.
In my mind I must have added the inch to come up with 18 inches, though I did as you have and researched kirkey at the time.
I have added some more photos one is of the two seats together with the larger seat on the left. also a measurement across the front at the lowest point on both seats, where the close fit comes is actually the tabs, and they are easily bendable.
I guess the biggest thing I notice is how much difference the inch makes, it feels like much more than the actual measurements show.

Once again sorry I took you down the old garden path.
Al


http://www.kirkeyracing.com/index.php?l ... =Series41V

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Super Seven 3.4