NEED SEAT ADVICE

PostPost by: JOHNKENNER » Wed Nov 23, 2005 4:17 am

HI..I'M NEW TO THE GROUP. I HOPE THIS MESSAGE GOES THROUGH.

I'M NOT SHOUTING, I'M TYPING CHALLENGED.



I HAVE A 66 ELAN WITH 68 RUNNING GEAR. I'M THINKING

ABOUT GETTING SOME NON STOCK SEATS. I WANT BETTER SUPPORT AS I LIKE TO SIT
PRETTY STRAIGHT UP.



ANY IDEAS??



THANKS



JOHN KENNER

66 OR 68 ??
JOHNKENNER
New-tral
 
Posts: 9
Joined: 15 Feb 2009

PostPost by: elansprint71 » Wed Nov 23, 2005 9:23 am

John,
Welcome to the group. I have a crook back and find that the basic Elan
seat gives little (no!) lumbar support, so for a while I've been looking
for something to replace it with. the problem is that every seat I have
looked at is too wide to fit in the Elan; I think that a seat from the
AH Sprite (the bug/frog-eye original) may fit but it looks to have even
less lumbar support.
If you just want to make the backrest more vertical, maybe you could
block the rear?
I am looking for a spare seat which I will dismantle and fit a lumbar
pad to, maybe even cut the frame and re-weld back at a different angle.
I'll be interested to see what responses you get.

Cheers,
Pete.
User avatar
elansprint71
Coveted Fifth Gear
Coveted Fifth Gear
 
Posts: 4437
Joined: 16 Sep 2003

PostPost by: Elan45 » Wed Nov 23, 2005 1:11 pm

You do realize that the seat can be mounted both in front of the hold down bolt or behind it. I'm sure the main intent of this is to provide a longer for/aft adjustment, but since the incremental adjuster on the front leg of the seat is adjusted through an arc, moving the seat say to the in front ofthe bolt position and then adjusting the seat to near it's farthest back position (or either end of the adjustment arc) would lower the front edge ofthe seat and tilt the back forward. Not a big change, but this may make itsomewhat more to your liking. And yes, you could block up the rear rest points of the seat. Probably wouldn't take much and would be easily undone bythe next owner.

You might also have the seats reupholtered or at leat new padding installed. Elan seats were never plush, but the foam is pretty much 40 years old now.

Roger
Elan45
Coveted Fifth Gear
Coveted Fifth Gear
 
Posts: 2518
Joined: 23 Nov 2008

PostPost by: "e s" » Wed Nov 23, 2005 5:27 pm

Fiat X19 seats fit in the +2, which has the same basic seats, but I don't know if they would fit in the Elan
"e s"
 

PostPost by: john66s3 » Wed Nov 23, 2005 6:56 pm

John

Look at a Sparco catalog. They have classic looking bucket seats that
will work in an Elan and are comfortable with modern construction (think
safety). I've been thinking about them myself.

John

66 Elan S3
john66s3
New-tral
 
Posts: 8
Joined: 23 Sep 2003

PostPost by: leojenbo » Thu Nov 24, 2005 2:46 pm

One of my friends has seats from a Lotus Elise in his Baby Elan. Of course
you will need to fiddle with the mounting brackets, but you will be able
to get good and modern seats with headrest. They are sometimes offered on
eBay.
/leo
Lotus Elan Sprint FHC 1971
Lotus Seven S2 pre-XF 1961
User avatar
leojenbo
First Gear
First Gear
 
Posts: 41
Joined: 11 May 2004

PostPost by: davidallen » Thu Nov 24, 2005 4:08 pm

If you are in the UK, europa specialist spares, http://www.europaspares.com/
stock a range to seats which will fit.

David
davidallen
Third Gear
Third Gear
 
Posts: 292
Joined: 11 Aug 2005

PostPost by: cliveyboy » Fri Nov 25, 2005 7:46 am

Some one mentioned once that the Mazda MX5 seats fit. (or Mazda Miata Eunos
etc)
Clive
cliveyboy
Fourth Gear
Fourth Gear
 
Posts: 848
Joined: 22 Sep 2003

Total Online:

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 26 guests