Is it possible to extend the stock steering wheel?

[dwe8922]

I'm tall (6'4"), and I struggle with the seating position in my car. I'd love to get a little more extension of my steering wheel. Even with the wheel fully extended, my hand catches my knee in tight turns. I've thought about going the non airbag R route, but I really want to keep my stock wheel. Has anyone worked in a spacer for the stock wheel?

Thanks,
David
'91

 

[docjohn]

have you tried removing the oem seat cushion and replace with a thinner pad ala dali cushion?

 

[dwe8922]

I tried a friend's once who had his seat cushion loose, with just a towel in the bottom. It helped a lot, but the narrowing of the side bolsters pinched sitting that low. I'll try his again with a cushion in between stock and nothing. What's the best way to trim the foam evenly from the seat bottom? I did a quick search, and it doesn't seem like the dali cushion (or dali) are still around.....

 

[jwmelvin]

It’s not too hard to make a cushion that is thinner than the OE seat. I made one for my seats when I used a 6-pt harness. In my case it was roughly covered in fabric but you could have an upholstery shop do a nice job in matching leather.

You need to take out the seat then remove the bottom cushion. It’s a bit of a pain but if you work slowly it’s not bad. Save that because you really may want it one day if you sell the car.

Take a thick garbage bag and tape it in place without wrinkles on the bottom and the opening facing back and extending up the seat. Mix and pour two-part flexible urethane foam into the bag; manipulate the bag to push the foam to the bottom of the bag (front of the seat) and sit on it. You can support yourself to control how thick the cushion is. The foam expands to fill the contour of the seat base and to match you. You have to remain in that position for a few minutes and then let the foam cure all the way. Then you can peel the bag off the cured foam. At that point an upholstery shop should be able to work with it.

I used Smooth-On FlexFoam-iT! V. A trial size is ample. I’ve done a few inserts with expanding foam. I use rigid foam for track/autocross inserts. The flex foam was for my passenger seat but is similar to the OE cushion material.

 

[Old Guy]

Since you have a coupe, a second set of hands can make extracting the drivers seat easier. A blanket / large towel over the sill will help to prevent paint scratches.

jwmelvin's method works. The other option is to source some foam in 1" layers (even better if you can find some 0.5" for fine adjustment). With the seat installed in the car (minus the bottom cushion), you can add and remove layers to adjust the height and experiment with the front / back cushion thickness. When you find something that you think you like, you can contact cement the pieces together for a longer term trial. At the point you are happy, you take your foam template and have it shaped and covered or have a new single piece foam hot cut to match and have that covered.

The other variable will be the density and compressibility of the foam. You probably want to start off with something that matches OEM. If you don't live in an area with some good auto specific upholstery shops with foam samples that you can check out finding the appropriate foam may present the biggest challenge to this experiment. In my limited experience, the foams used by residential / commercial upholstery guys typically have a lower density and compressibility than automotive foams.

 

[natcc99]

The other variable will be the density and compressibility of the foam. You probably want to start off with something that matches OEM.

Hello David - Here is a table that might help you. I am sure there are others on the net too. The link below is from a small "mom & pop" shop that I used for past projects. Perhaps there is a similar shop in your area.
http://www.houseoffoam.net/foam_types.htm

If you can find a place like the one above in your area, sometimes they have a scrap bin (similar to a lumber yards) For a discounted price, you can try out different samples of foam densities. Once you find the one you like, you can ask the shop to cut you the appropriate size for your needs.

 

[dwe8922]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll try taking the foam out, and try some different thicknesses to get it comfortable.

 

[dwe8922]

I got to drive my friends car with the removable cushion. I had a 1" bottom cushion from a recaro race seat i put down, and it worked well creating all the room I needed. The seat narrows as you go down though, and it pinched my hips. That part was uncomfortable. Gallardo seats with the stock cushion do the same thing. I've read of people expanding the aluminim wings to alleviate the pinch. Is that possible with our seats?

 

[Old Guy]

Fix one problem and create a new problem.

An alternative is to unwrap the bolsters and reshape the bolster foam on the inside. Where is the tight fit - outside of your thighs or at your butt? If the tight fit is at your thighs, reshaping the side bolster foam or spreading the pan might be doable. If its at your butt, you have to deal with the interface between the seat bottom and the seat back. A wide seat bottom with a narrow back is going to create an offset where the two join up. You wold need to figure out how you deal with that.

Whether you modify the seat pan or reshape the bolster foam, you are increasing the width of the seat bottom on the inside and at that point the stock bottom cushion will no longer fill the space in the seat base. You become committed to a custom fitted seat bottom cushion. Modifying / widening the seat pan does create the potential for problems with the power seat control switches and the seat belt buckle. It all depends on how backward compatible you want to be and how much effort you are prepared to go to.

I would be inclined to investigate reshaping the bolster foam. Make sure that you have a line on a good upholstery shop because after the foam is reshaped some work will be required to get the cover to fit properly if you want a good looking result.