560SL Seat Modification

[kevinonboard]

Hi, I am a new poster but long time visitor, we have a '88 560 and I would love to drive it more, but since I am 6'8 it is hard to squeeze in there...so here goes, does anyone have any idea if it is even possible to modify the drivers seat? I would like to take 2-3 inches off the seat height and 2-3 inches from the back rest....is this possible by cutting down the frame or the springs? has anyone ever attempted this before? We want to get the original look just make them lower profile....and ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[Strife]

This would be tricky, and wouldn't really solve the problem...it might take a custom or heavily modified frame, and I don't know who would fabricate it and declare it "safe". I feel for you, you really love the 107 as I do but you are just awfully tall. I have a friend that I took for a ride in my 560SL, who at least is 6' 5" and ~300 pounds...he was actually looking OVER the top of the cowl. It looked like we were driving in a clown car...

My guess is, people really were smaller 35 years ago (when the car was designed) and Germans were probably smaller than Americans. The ergonomics worked well for the average person, 35 years ago, in Germany.

In a similar vein, when I was in high school, I worked after school in a factory/warehouse as a shipping clerk. A welder there was at least 6' 5" and 300+ pounds. He wore size 16 shoes; I remember this because his safety shoes came in a special box, and everyone thought that was funny.

his summer "baby" that he lusted for even when he was a kid was a perfect, pre-ugly bumper MGB in British racing green, with wire wheels. It actually DID look like a clown car when he was driving it. Worse, he was telling us about the big-time problems he was having keeping the genuine wire wheels in balance...no one offered an opinion as to why he was having this problem!

[coleyjf]

Hi
I'm 6'4" and solved access and leg movement problems by changing the steering wheel to a smaller one.

Have a look at the folllowing thread:

How big is the SL steering wheel?


I've enough adjustment in the seat itself - though perhaps there is a difference between UK/Euro seats (my 300SL) and the exported US models (560's) as hight in the car isn't an issue, even with the hard top on I don't (quite) hit the roof and with the soft top there's loads of room.

Either that or my seats are so worn after 120k miles that I sit lower - so perhaps look for some OLD seats or some Euro grey market ones.

Merry Christmas

Jim

[MTUpower]

Remove the seat completely and install a bean bag....
I barely fit and I'm close to 6' 5". Glad I'm thin, but the leg room is not good. Love to hear the solution also.

[t walgamuth]

it is not the total height necessarily. i know folks who are long legged and short torsoed and vica versa so it is really the leg length that matters most maybe. sometimes you might be able to get in better by tilting the seat back thereby raising the front edge and allowing your legs to fold some.

at 5 8 i have no problems finding legroom.

sometimes i run out of torso room though. but not in a benz!

tom w

[tan man]

at 5'10" I also feel there are times when I want to recline the seat or move it back more than is possible. So in my opinion it is not the size of the passenger but the design of the interior that is lacking.
There is enough room along the slide rail to move the seat substantially farther back. There are also enough teeth in the reclining wheel to make the seat back recline a lot more. In both cases the obstruction is the same - on the car body it is the front rounded edge of the convertible top compartment. There is nothing I can think of to cut or bend this out of the way without destroying the ability to open/close the top.
On the seat the obstruction (in the drivers seat) is the top left corner of the seat upright. In the passenger seat it would be the top right corner. Here I think something can be done if someone is willing to take a junk yard seat and experiment. My idea is to cut out a 5" notch out of the top left corner of the seat upright. That would free the seat obstruction allowing full range of motion, perhaps till the seat is touching the rear shelf. That is a lot of room. Cutting out this notch, I don't think it would cause a safety issue because the driver is still fully supported. It would involve cutting out some of the inside wire/metal in the seat frame and welding on a sealing edge in the raw area. The seat back frame is sprung in shape and I don't know how it would react if cut so some trial and error would be needed. Also, the leather seat covers would need a tack strip to hold them tight in the newly created cavity.
Can anybody follow me and picture this?

[t walgamuth]

i think before i would start cutting things i might consider trading the roadster for an slc. (assuming the slc offers more seat adjustment).

again, it depends on your body configuration, a tall man with long legs and a fairly average length torso might benefit from raising the front edge of the seat a bit, raising his knees, while keeping the back fairly upright.

a person such as me with shorter legs and longer torso (and long arms in my case) will be comfortable with the entire seat tilted back and the front edge up placing the feet closer while allowing the arms enough room.

i have changed the front mount bolts out for longer and placed a nut in between the seat and frame as a spacer before to get the lower cushion tipped up in front a bit.

the 350 sdl was great. it has all the seat angle options and adjustable length on the steering column.

on my 74 bavaria i drove the car for about a year, always cursing the steering wheel being so close to the dash when one day i noticed this lever on the bottom of the column. it was a locking lever, and when unlocked it allowed the wheel to pull out. that bavaria had excellent seat and steering adjustment available. all manual too. much better than a 123 benz.

tom w