Building an R1 Powered Seven: In the driver's seat

Building an R1 Powered Seven

A few years ago I got it in my head to build a kit car. After months of searching I came across the Locost concept. In short, quite a few amateur hobbiests around the world have built their own Lotus 7 inspired cars from scratch, following plans available on a variety of Internet sites and published in a book by Ron Champion.

I started gathering parts and finally began building the chassis in July '05. In August '10 the car was titled, licensed and is now street legal. The following blog captures the progress of the build and driving experiences after completion.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

In the driver's seat

I decided to buy a Kirkey racing seat instead of making my own. The "economy drag seat" looked the best since the side supports aren't as big as the standard seats. Problem is the smallest size is 15.5", exactly the size of my opening. I took a chance and ordered one...sure enough it was too big (the 15.5" is an inside dimension)

Nothing a hacksaw and hammer couldn't fix though...

Since I was already modifying the seat I decided to change the angle of bottom to give a little more thigh support. I'll either rivet the sides together in the new position or find someone that can weld aluminum. Since the seat bottom and back will be bolted to the chassis, this joint won't see a lot of stress.

Next step is to fabricate seat mounts and decide what to do for the passenger seat...I need to check with Kirkey to see what they charge for custom sizes...