I had an 87 Firebird that I loved, but ended up selling because I was just too big for it. I'm 6'5", 250, and I always had to recline the seat to a ridiculous angle and my legs were always uncomfortable.

I figured I needed to sit at least 2-4 inches lower and 3-6 inches further back (minimum) to be comfortable. Years ago, I switched the mounting brackets in my '70 Chevelle with ones from a 68 Camaro and picked up 4 inches of headroom. Looking at the Firebird, however, I saw that the transmission tunnel was so wide the right hand seat brackets mounted to the tunnel and not the floor, so that option wouldn't work (same problem in the Jeep Cherokee I now drive).

I'm missing my Firebird and would love to get another, but have to solve the seating issue. I saw someone post that the 4th gen seats they swapped in sat about an inch lower. That's a start, but not enough. Another make/model's seats, aftermarket seats, different mounting brackets ..... i'll do whatever needs to be done. Does anyone have any ideas?

 

maybe look into getting an adjustable racing seat, buying the brackets and then modifiying the brackets?

not really sure as to any other solutions...

Steve

 

I e-mailed you with an idea,,

 

buy a convertible you don't need headroom just don't put the top up i never put my t-tops on even in the winter most of the time

 

I have a manual seat base from a '96 camaro in my Z .. it has an aduster to lower the seat.

Try looking around a few salvage yards.

 

thanks andy, but that might get a little cold. ha ha ha

jim, i looked at your homepage. very, very cool car.

are the pics of the red and black seats the ones you're talking about? did you just keep the seat bases that came on those seats and use the original mounting 3rd. gen. brackets? do all 4th gen manual seats have that height adjustment, or just '96?

thanks

sp

 

Aw, someone beat me to the answer. Or you could have a body shop bead twin bulges into the top. Viperesque looking.

Lon

 

Don't get Corbeau seats with thier seat rack, makes the seat sit about 2" higher.
This happened in my friends 82 Trans Am when we installed the seats a couple of months ago.
almost feels like you are sitting in a Mustang now.

 

I have no problems with Corbeau's or their seat adapters. I haven't noticed that they raise the driving position at all. I did modify them slightly though. I cut off the cross-bar in the front since it was interfering with accessing the adjuster handle. I also used several washers in the front to get the angle of the seat right. Of course there is never a headroom issue in my car anyway.

Lon

 

I notice power seats sit way higher than non-power seats do. But since the power seats are in my convertable..dot.dot.dot...

 

I think my power seat is about 1/2" higher than the non-power seat... I would think you might be able to fab something up if your handy with metal... For the driver seat, if I was really ambitious, I might consider cuting part of the legs, and weld in some brackets to move the seat back a few inches...

I got t-tops, and I sometimes just touch the roof of my car with my flat top...


John