Vitesse seat mods

[SixasStandard]

Hello All,

My new 2 litre Vitesse Mk1 Saloon is being delivered on Thursday, and as it will be my first classic Triumph I am really looking forward to it. The car is in lovely condition, but will need a few tweaks to get it right for me. I am 6'3" with long legs, so as the test drive demonstrated I will need to free up some extra legroom for the car to provide a comfortable driving position. My longer term plan is to fit the MGF seats that I bought previously for my Sunbeam Alpine, but as these are black and the interior of my new Vitesse is blue, it will require a change of interior trim which I'm not in a position to do just yet. Consequently I'd like to pick the brains of Forum members to see if anyone has modified their stock Vitesse seats either to increase the travel of the seats on their runners, or else moved the entire seat backwards by some means. I have no doubt that I will be able to come up with a solution myself, but would be interested to see if there are already tried and tested solutions out there which will prevent me 're-inventing the wheel'. As already mentioned I'm aware that MGF as well as MX5 and Alfa seats have already been installed in Vitesses, but at this stage I'd just like advice on modifying the existing stock seats. 

Any help or advice gratefully received.

Ian   

[Clive]

The problem you will encounter is the attachment at the back of the seat runner. The floor drops away very steeply. 

But it should be possible to unbolt the seat rails, use some 1/4 thick steel flat bar? or maybe L section, to extend the underside of the seat runners. That would mean you would not need to drill additional holes in the floor. (I did something similar in my Toledo when I had 2 co-drivers who are both inappropriately tall, and we were doing the RBRR) Downside is rear legroom shrinks alarmingly. 

Not sure if MGF seats are available in blue? but igf you get some leather seats you can use Vinylcote to recolour them.

[SixasStandard]

Thanks Clive,

I had been thinking along similar lines, but didn't want to prejudice any other replies with potentially different approaches. In my particular case I'm not worried about compromising rear legroom, the driver's seat back will probably end up right back to the rear set cushion anyway!...…...any passengers will just have to sit with their knees up to their chin!!  As for the interior colour, the car will be returned to black in due course anyway, as blue isn't my favourite, and I don't think was offered for the Mk1 Vitesse back in the day.   

Ian  

[SixasStandard]

And anyway...…..who are you calling 'inappropriately tall'?...…...bloody cheek!!

[Pete Lewis]

i echo clives idea but dont forget the steering column is adjustable ...   to gain leg room if knees foul the stg wheel

pete

[SixasStandard]

1 hour ago, Pete Lewis said:

i echo clives idea but dont forget the steering column is adjustable ...   to gain leg room if knees foul the stg wheel

pete

Thanks Pete, it will undoubtedly take a combination of both steering column adjustment and moving the seat further back to get my 'inappropriate' frame into a comfortable driving position. In the future I'm hoping to do some continental trips in the car with the better half, so it's something that has to be addressed.

Ian 

[SixasStandard]

Thinking more about Clive's suggestion, I think I'll look into the 'L' section steel idea........that would offer far more strength to the modification. It's obvious really, but I hadn't considered it previously, so just shows that it pays to ask.

Ian 

[Clive]

Ian, not sure how well equipped your garage is...

But I would use countersunk head bolts to attach the new steel bar to the floor, then drill/tap the bat to attach the seat runners to the bar. Maybe nut/bolt at the rear as that will be hanging mid-air. I think you have a welder? if so adding strength at the overhanging bit should be straightforward.

[mark powell]

When I fitted MX5 seats to my Herald pick-up, I supported the rearward extension of the runners with a short length of box section steel of suitable size (2" if I recall). Bolted through the floor on one face and bolted through the runner above.   Should just be visible in the photo...

[Paul H]

You could use 30mm wide x 5mm deep metal bar for the runners . This is the same as suggested for MGTF seats conversion. Purchased my bar from EBay . So if you upgraded to these seats you could remove the “overhang” and fit the MGTF seats 

Paul 

[Nick Jones]

11 hours ago, SixasStandard said:

And anyway...…..who are you calling 'inappropriately tall'?...…...bloody cheek!!

Ah, well, a phrase much loved by the vertically challenged 😋

As a Vitesse owner who is also properly sized (6'3") and alot of that in the leg, are you sure that the original seats are a problem?  I have MGF seats now (since 2006 or so) but I managed 17 years with the original seats before that, doing many long continental runs in the car with them, and I don't remember legroom being the issue with them.  They became uncomfortable  because they fell apart due to old age and use.

Suggest you check that you've got the full adjustment available before condemning them.

 

Nick

[SixasStandard]

Hello Nick,

That's a fair point, when I get the car on Thursday I'll investigate that possibility before doing anything drastic.

Did you use the 30mm x 5mm flat bar method mentioned above to fit your MGF seats?

Ian

[Peter Truman]

Gents I’m only 6’ 2” and I find the Vitesse Convertible decidedly short on legroom esp with those very big B posts as the seat won’t go past them.

Question what alternative seat is narrow enough to get past that big B post. Or alternatively can the original Mk2 seats be modified to give more backwards movement

Regards

Peter T

[SixasStandard]

2 hours ago, Peter Truman said:

Gents I’m only 6’ 2” and I find the Vitesse Convertible decidedly short on legroom esp with those very big B posts as the seat won’t go past them.

Question what alternative seat is narrow enough to get past that big B post. Or alternatively can the original Mk2 seats be modified to give more backwards movement

Regards

Peter T

Hello Peter,

A good friend of mine who regularly posts on the forum has a Vitesse Mk2 convertible and has fitted MGF seats to his car very successfully. He's also a tall chap like us, and I don't remember him saying that he had any problem getting the seats to travel back past the 'B' post. The MGF seats are a definite improvement on the original seats in my opinion, both comfort wise and aesthetically, and also provide the added bonus of headrests...…..which I've always considered a safety feature.

Ian   

[Clive]

I reckon MX5 seats are a fair bit narrower than the MGF seats (i had mx5 seats in my spitfire, and have had mgf seats in my Toledo for 8 years)

So Mark with his herald Pickup may be able to measure the clearance from the doorseal to the seat?

The B post in a CV car makes even the std Vitesse seat foul. Pretty certain Richards car teh MGF seat contacts teh B post, but on a saloon it should be fine.

[SixasStandard]

11 minutes ago, clive said:

I reckon MX5 seats are a fair bit narrower than the MGF seats (i had mx5 seats in my spitfire, and have had mgf seats in my Toledo for 8 years)

So Mark with his herald Pickup may be able to measure the clearance from the doorseal to the seat?

The B post in a CV car makes even the std Vitesse seat foul. Pretty certain Richards car teh MGF seat contacts teh B post, but on a saloon it should be fine.

A slightly modified approach with two flat bars bolted to the existing mounting points in the floorpan, then two further flat bars bolted to them at right angles to attach the runners to? That would allow you to move the seat further towards the centre of the cockpit and clear the 'B' post. Maybe I've got it wrong, but that's what I thought Richard had done on his car.

It's all in the eye of the beholder, but I've always preferred the look of the MGF seats, as they look more period correct...….more retro than the MX5 seats.

Ian  

[AMcP]

I have MGF seats in a Herald convertible and they do contact the B post, even with a slight 'manipulation' of the prop tunnel.

[Guest]

Hello,

The B post in CV cars will limit the rear travel - with the DL that is not so much of an issue as the B posts do intrude in to the inner area of the car as much.

I have the seat fully back (being 6' 3") but a shade away from the B post, this provides an ideal seat arrangement for me with no physical movement issues. Additionally I tend to drive cars with the seat fairly vertical - but not bolt upright. The seat back position plays a pivotal role in allowing or limiting how far a seat will travel rearwards, as one would expect.

I have attached the MGF seat conversion sheet, plus some photos which make sense as you read through the written guide. Have also included a photo of a nifty little leather loop I use to  keep the seat belts in situ, this works very well.

As Eric Morecombe said: they are all there, just not necessarily in the correct order !! 

With regard to securing the seats to the floor, I drilled through the floor pan and used 5mm thick metal plate cut & shaped to give a substantial floor surface area with the bolts going through the metal and secured accordingly. The plate was etch primed, painted and then coated with anti-corrosion muck to ensure maximum resilience to rust which seems to be working very well to date.

The conversion was carried out 5x years ago and have never regretted doing so. They provide comfort and safety plus the benefit of being able to put the original seats back in situ should that ever be required. 

Hope this assists.

Regards.

Richard.

[Peter Truman]

thanks Richard, I've taken a copy to fully digest, it appears that the MGF seats are significantly wider than the standard seats esp on the seat squab.

I notice they still don't clear the B post BUT wit back rest adjustment the back can be rotated up to give more rear slide movement.

Both MX5 and MGF seats should be available here in OZ

I might temp try the bars to see how much I can shift the seat across to the transmission tunnel, I will report same, the weekend looks cooler here in Melbourne to have a play.

Peter T

[Guest]

Hello Peter,

Having looked at the original seat set-up that I did via the instruction sheet, I think it is very possible that moving the seats closer to the tunnel is possible and as such side-step the B post. This is purely speculative, but I believe possible in hindsight.

I will be interested to hear how you progress and I think others who are looking at doing similar will also be interested.

Best wishes.

Richard.

[Peter Truman]

like your leather seat belt guide under the headrest Richard.

I have a Dolly Sprint also whose overhead hand grips had deteriorated in the OZ heat, I had a couple of stiff old black leather belts and replaced the vinyl plastic hand grip with the leather strip around 1.25in wide looks great and doesn't sag.

Driving a Sprint there's plenty of leg room but even with the steering wheel dropped it's still a bit of sit up and beg! With the Mk2 Spit, Vitesse and Sprint all different driving positions!

Will report on original seat location in a couple of weeks.

Regards

Peter T

[Guest]

9 hours ago, Peter Truman said:

Will report on original seat location in a couple of weeks.

Sounds good.

The seat belt guides cost £3 (a black leather belt from a charity shop) and took me 10x minutes to do; worth all that money and time involved 😊 !!

Regards.

Richard.

[Pete Lewis]

i like red  ,  here's the  MGF in my Vit6 saloon

 

 

[Gary Flinn]

MGF Seats do look period and are very comfy, but as stated rearward travel is restricted in the Convertibles due to the 'B' Posts intruding?

I've also seen early MX5 Seats fitted and these are a lot narrower on the Back rest and are better suited to the Convertible models if you want maximum rearward travel due to being tall, although they are not quite as nice looking in my opinion.

Newton Commercial do re-trim kits for MGF Seats to suit the Triumph range of interior colours, Black, Red, Blue and Tan as far as I know?

Here's my Early 1999 MGF Seats when purchased and after fitting a Newton Shadow Blue re-trim kit (Not cheap though!!), they do look period and are very comfortable and safe with the headrest too😉 

Regards

Gary 

 

 

[SixasStandard]

Hello Gary,

The MGF seats pictured in your car look very good. Did you opt for the full seat exchange option offered by Newton Commercial, where they supply the seats fully trimmed? or did you purchase the covers and fit them yourself? Also, the only blue currently being offered by NC on their website is called 'Navy'...……...which looks darker than your seats. How long ago did you buy them?

Thanks,

Ian