Headroom, how to get more?


BlackICE

BlackICE

GT Owner
Nov 2, 2005
1,416
SF Bay Area in California
I have about 1/2" of clearance for my head without a helmut, but with a helmut I cannot find a comfortable position. Even with my seat reclined as much as possible I still feel my head smashed against the roof. I am only 6'0", but long in the torso and short in the legs. Any ideas on how to get more clearance short of a Gurney bubble?

I measured from the compressed seat cushion, where your rear goes, to the top of the roof and compared that to the bare floorpan under the seat. I measured 1.25". So if I get rid of the seat rails and mount the seat directly to the floor and remove some padding I might be about to pick up a maximum of 1". Any suggestions on seats with thin bottoms, or helmets that are thinner on the top that also meet SA2005?

Another drastic change would be to cut the floorpan and mount the seat lower in the cockpit.
 
The GTX1 guys have an assembly that lowers the driver seat.. Not sure how much but I believe it was around an inch.. don't quote me on it... When I met them at the Detroit rally I sat in the yellow gtx1 and it had the lowered seat.... So there you go.... That along with the Gurney would probably give you 3 inches more

and wouldn't we all love 3 more inches:bored :rofl
 
tmstunts#1233 said:
The GTX1 guys have an assembly that lowers the driver seat.. Not sure how much but I believe it was around an inch.. don't quote me on it... When I met them at the Detroit rally I sat in the yellow gtx1 and it had the lowered seat.... So there you go.... That along with the Gurney would probably give you 3 inches more

and wouldn't we all love 3 more inches:bored :rofl
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I sat in another GT with the GTX seat mod and it didn't provide much addition clearance, where it counts, my head!

Ford did are great job lowering the seat as much as possible to keep the design of the car true to the past. As I posted, there is only a 1.25" to be gained and the seat bottom is about 3/4" about the floor. That means if the seat had zero padding and the seat shell was paper thin, you can pickup only 1/2". I think I need more that that.

How much more headroom does the bubble give you?
 
tmstunts#1233 said:
The GTX1 guys have an assembly that lowers the driver seat.. Not sure how much but I believe it was around an inch.. don't quote me on it... When I met them at the Detroit rally I sat in the yellow gtx1 and it had the lowered seat.... So there you go.... That along with the Gurney would probably give you 3 inches more

and wouldn't we all love 3 more inches:bored :rofl
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They do not lower the seat. They remove padding from the seat. It is claimed that it provides 1 1/12 - 2 inches of additional space. The Gurney type bubble would add more.

Dave
 
DROVE,AWSUMS GURNEY BUBLLE, ITS ALL YOUR GONNA NEED!!!! CALL MIKE AT SALEEN, IF YOU USE YOUR DOOR AND HARDWARE, THE PRICE IS VERY!!!! REASONABLE, 3 PEOPLE I KNOW HAVE IT , USE THE CAR ALOT, NO CRACKING, CRAZING, ITS FLAWLESS, DUE TO THEIR PAINT PROCEEDURES...MY NUMBER 2 GT WILL HAVE ONE. DDDOOONT CUT THE FLOOR ,YOU WILL OPEN A HUGE CAN OF WORMS!!!! GTJOEY 1314:thumbsup
 
gtjoey said:
DROVE,AWSUMS GURNEY BUBLLE, ITS ALL YOUR GONNA NEED!!!! CALL MIKE AT SALEEN, IF YOU USE YOUR DOOR AND HARDWARE, THE PRICE IS VERY!!!! REASONABLE, 3 PEOPLE I KNOW HAVE IT , USE THE CAR ALOT, NO CRACKING, CRAZING, ITS FLAWLESS, DUE TO THEIR PAINT PROCEEDURES...MY NUMBER 2 GT WILL HAVE ONE. DDDOOONT CUT THE FLOOR ,YOU WILL OPEN A HUGE CAN OF WORMS!!!! GTJOEY 1314:thumbsup
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Do you have pics of the bubble? I have yet to see the GT with it.
 
Ferrari Beater said:
Do you have pics of the bubble? I have yet to see the GT with it.
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http://www.fordgtforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3692&highlight=bubble
Search function found it right away.

Dave
 
BlackICE said:
I have about 1/2" of clearance for my head without a helmut, but with a helmut I cannot find a comfortable position. Even with my seat reclined as much as possible I still feel my head smashed against the roof. I am only 6'0", but long in the torso and short in the legs. Any ideas on how to get more clearance short of a Gurney bubble?
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I am 6'1" and with the recline and seat forward a little can fit with a helmet. Makes me wonder which one of us is more of a freak :biggrin
 
AZGT said:
I am 6'1" and with the recline and seat forward a little can fit with a helmet. Makes me wonder which one of us is more of a freak :biggrin
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You are probably normal and I am the freak in more ways than one. I have been told that by more than one person. I have plenty of leg room but no head room. I tried moving the seat up a lot and reclined a lot and still couldn't fit!

I wonder if there is much variance in the thickness of the top section of the helmets?
 
I did not want to send my seat away, so I have not done it yet. I was thinking about contacting Sparco (since they made the seat), and using a different seat instead that sits lower or is height adjustable. That way I can keep the original seat in perfect condition, and use the new seats. The only problem is that I love the seat backs on the stock seats.
 
The stock seat are optimizes well and the most you will get is about 1.25" by sitting on the floor without a seat! The stock seat has only a little padding where your butt hits and that smashes down when you are sitting on it. The seat shell is about 3/4" from the floor. With custom non adjustable seat brackets you might get the seat within 1/4" of the floor. You need the 1/4" for the heads of the mounting bolts and brackets. That will pickup 1/2". You might be able to get another 1/2 to 3/4 by removing most of the padding where your rear hits. The padding under your legs don't affect the headroom height at all. I will have to remeasure if 1" would be enough for me. If so I would make a custom seat bracket with seat belt and fire extinguisher mounts. If not, a Gurney bubble, or no events that need a helmet.
 
With the bubble, hope the car isn't rolled. Cause the thing that will get smashed first, would be the protrusion in the roof, and maybe what's underneath it. Don't mean to be negative, but, its good to think about all ramifications of a change.
 
Here are few photos of my Gurney Bubble.

jd_gt_with_gurney__3.2.jpg

jd_s_gt_at_ritz_dearborn.jpg
 
californiacuda said:
With the bubble, hope the car isn't rolled. Cause the thing that will get smashed first, would be the protrusion in the roof, and maybe what's underneath it. Don't mean to be negative, but, its good to think about all ramifications of a change.
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I agree, this topic was discussed in detail in conjugation with a race harness. Most racing cars require the rollbar to be 2 or 3 inches above the helmet of the driver. In Gurney's day the rules must have been different. The Gurney bubble may be useful to get by the helmut requirement for open tracks, Texas mile, Silver State Classic, etc. I have no illusions that it is safer to have a bubble, only that it helps me meet the rules. My head without a helmet is only 1/2" from the top of an unmodified car. In a rollover I am sure that roof would easily compress more than that 1/2" of clearance! It is only a thin sheet of aluminum, bubble or not.

With all of the GT wrecks, it is a good thing I haven't seen one that rolled yet.

Awsum, how much additional clearance did you get with the bubble? Did Saleen do it? Can the Southern CA office do the mod, or does it have to go to Troy?
 
I'm putting a roll cage in my car. I will be using different seats to make more side room. I had hoped that more headroom would come out of the seat change. I have to check measurements to see if we will gain head clearance.
 
californiacuda said:
I'm putting a roll cage in my car. I will be using different seats to make more side room. I had hoped that more headroom would come out of the seat change. I have to check measurements to see if we will gain head clearance.
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My crude measurements were done by placing a 2x4 on top of the gaskets of the roof opening. I slid the seat forward. Then I measured the distance from the floor to the bottom of the 2x4. Then moved the seat back and measured from a compressed seat cushion to the 2x4. All I got was difference of a 1.25".
 
Sounds like a reasonable approach, I'll provide some of my data after I take a closer look.
 
don't forget that the tops of your 5 point racing harnesses when belted into your GT have to be higher than the mointing points that the harnesses attach too. obvioulsy i am referring to the should belts here. if you lower your seat the stock mounting points will be to high. so in order to pass tech you will need to lower the mounting points :thumbsup

i am not sure that a gurney bubble will pass tech :confused your head would be effectively higher than the roof of the car. tech books say that you head has to be below the roll bar.
 
The bubble looks kinds funny, like a single small boobie.:lol
 
californiacuda said:
The bubble looks kinds funny, like a single small boobie.:lol
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One could always get matching boobies with painted nipples in the center. That way it would look right and a tall passenger can wear a helmet in comfort too.

Just think if your car gets attention now, it will really draw a crowd with the boobies! You can also get a matching bra for them.
 
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