AGreenberg@aol.com said:>I'm thinking of some modifications so I can be more
comfortable. First
>off I'm a big guy (6' 7" 260lbs ). I had a BGT in the 70's that I had no
>problem with.
1st step, *recline* the seat to make your head lower.
2nd step, lower the seat frame. I've never seen the shims that people
speak about, so I dont know if they go between the tracks and the
floor or between the seat and the tracks, but they sound like good
candidates for removal or modification.
3rd step, lower the seat cusion. Everyone who renovates a seat mentions
tha it makes them higher than they would like to be, but there are
comfort and fatigue advantages to a good seat. There are two elements
that determine seated height above the seat frame:
1st, the FOAM
2nd, the Diaphragm (or webbing)
THE FOAM:
You can buy and modify a seat foam, or you can just go out to your
neighborhood foam shoppe and buy some that you cut to size. My seat
foam came from a fabric shop, but I've purchsed small blocks of foam
for other projects from American Foam Products in Painsville, OH; I
found them in the yellow pages under "foam" surprisingly enough.
Foam comes in different thicknesses, but also in different densities.
If you wish to lower the thickness but retain the same support, then
you raise the density. If you want to go thinner than 2 inches, then
stacking layers of closed-cell foam such as used in cheap camping
mattresses will give you the same sort of "bump absorbtion" as the
thicker urathane-type foam original to the seat. Electric turkey-
carving knives work extremely well for cutting and shaping foam.
The upholstery just wraps the tubing of the frame and is clipped on,
so shrinking the seat presents no special problems as far as making
the leather/vinyl fit back on and look good. (althogh the clips do
mar the surface, so this part of the procedure may not be
transparently reversible.
The diaphragm: This is perhaps the most important for seat height,
because when it is flabby we all sit much lower. It also sags to the
middle, which is uncomfortable/bad for the back. Instead of using
your MIG-welding friend to lower the floor, use him to come up with
a clever solution to mount the diaphragm lower within the seat
frame.
Take the time to pull apart a seat and see what you are dealing
with. It may give you ideas.
Douglas
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