SvenDriver Posted January 9, 2003 Share Posted January 9, 2003 I have been speaking to Oxted (?) today. By chance I was speaking to the owner and we got talking about the legendary inability of the Tall bar to fit under the hood. Anyway, the upshot is that he said that if 20-30 Tall seven owners could get together and want hoods then they would be able to get a reasonable deal from Oxted. Basically, if they have to do a one-off fix/new hood then it is a couple of man-days work for a skilled bod. If they have a reasonable size of order in then they can do things differently. Of course, once you have a nice tall hood then there is the minor problem that the hood sticks wont go over the tall bar. Doh! If you don't actually need the extra height of the roll bar then his suggestion was to replace your existing seat base with a 2-part foam custom job. This would gain you about an inch of height. For most people this would be enough. For leather/cloth seats they can supply an unupholstered base piece that can then have the foam put onto it. For me, I will be going down this route. I have enough clearance with the FIA bar but would like a little bit extra. A custom foam seat is my best bet considering I want to keep the roof. Edited by - SvenDriver on 9 Jan 2003 18:24:55 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony C Posted January 9, 2003 Share Posted January 9, 2003 I was thinking of attaching my drivers seat directly to the floor to give maximum headroom - being on the tall side. Can anyone tell me how much height advantage this will give? Cheers Tony Waiting for my BRG SV kit 😬 Is there any other colour? (Sumo Version?) - Only another 10 weeks to go! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SvenDriver Posted January 9, 2003 Author Share Posted January 9, 2003 Not much. Runners take about 3cm but I think the seat base comes close to the floor. Losing the runners may only gain you 1-2cm but I'm not sure the seat will still fit - someone ??? As posted elsewhere the standard options are : 1. 2-part foam seat 2. Remove the seat base and sit on a pad 3. Tilt the seat back by raising the front by about 1" using either washers or a custom spacer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Durrant Posted January 9, 2003 Share Posted January 9, 2003 I'm having to go the tall bar route as even sitting on the floor with no seat the top of my crash helmet is only just below the bar . I suggest you try this before ding anything else. Good luck Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony C Posted January 9, 2003 Share Posted January 9, 2003 Thanks Mark and SvenDriver. I can't remember many details from the test drive - too much smiling going on 😬 I wasn't aware of my head sticking above the windscreen or anything, I just thought it might be a real good idea to adopt as low a seating position as possible - though a 2-part foam seat or sitting on a pad does not sound too comfortable. I'll be driving 70 miles a day to and from work. If I'll only be dropping down a couple of cm's, it might not be worth doing. Though using my head for a rollbar doesn't sound too apealing either I've ordered an FIA rollbar, so I guess I'd better wait to see where the 'bonce' locates in relation to the imaginary line. I remember it being a royal pain to properly position the seat from my go-kart days, so unless there is an actual head/ground related safety issue, I might as well plan on using the runners. Cheers, Tony Waiting for my BRG SV kit 😬 Is there any other colour? (Sumo Version?) - Only another 10 weeks to go! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SvenDriver Posted January 9, 2003 Author Share Posted January 9, 2003 OK, lets get back to where we are comming from. Most of us who are looking for FIA bars are trying to hit MSA requirments. Firstly the FIA bar is taller than the 'standard' bar. Quoted figures are 15 inches from base of fixing to top of bar. Secondly, for MSA requirements we are assuming a crash helmet is being used. The thickness of a crash helmet on the top is typically 3cm-4cm (I measured a lot, I'm sad). The imaginary line that people talk about is from the top of the roll bar to the top of the front suspension frame - the strongest furthest forward piece of the car that won't collapse. This (as iterated elsewhere) is the contact line if the car where inverted. Anything above this line is being ground into the tarmac in an inverted slide. The MSA requirement for a 5cm gap between the top of the helmet and the top of the rollbar allows for a little bit of give in the seatbelts when inverted and a little bit for bad luck. The stricter requirement is for a 5cm gap between the top of the helmet and the imaginary line. This allows for people who have seat positions closer to the wheel. That is the basic background to this stuff - down to racing/ 7 club track day requirements. It is quite sensible really. Back on the road you need to remember that if you have a windscreen then you will probably not be wearing a lid and so win back 3cm-4cm. If you are wearing an inertia reel then you will not be held in as well as a 4-point or 6-point harness. Also remember, that 7's are hard to roll compared with lots of cars and that lots of sports cars do not have roll bars. Take a look at TT's, MGFs, MX5s. So it is important to keep a sense of perspective when thinking about this stuff. I'm personally getting an FIA bar because I want to do track days. I have been until now driving around on the road with the standard bar knowing that if I hit somthing and roll the car my chances of survival are less than 100%. That is my choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leadership Team Mcalvert Posted January 10, 2003 Leadership Team Share Posted January 10, 2003 Assuming reasonable costs (not even sure in my mind what these are though...) I would be interested in having the hood modified. Any other takers? Michael. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiF Posted January 11, 2003 Share Posted January 11, 2003 I am at this present time debating which FIA roll bar to get too. I would opt for the high if there was a roof at a reasonable price. I have to decide by mid Feb as buying the parts for my new car. It seems hard to get the proper measurements so the 15" for a std FIA bar is useful. I shall sit in my old se7en and see where that comes compared to the ordinary std roll bar. Do you know the height of the high FIA bar. I gather the 15" should be measured up from the most obvious place, not looking before posting. Richard in France se7en weeks to go before delivery of chassis to start building my Duratec 7 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SvenDriver Posted January 12, 2003 Author Share Posted January 12, 2003 I've booked my car in for an FIA bar to be fitted - not brave enough to DIY. I expect to have enough clearance (with a lid) without doing anything else. It may be marginal in which case the leather seat base will be replaced with a 2-part foam equivalent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterS Posted January 14, 2003 Share Posted January 14, 2003 A couple of points. My roof which goes over the tall roll bar only uses one of the hoops. The remaining hoop is held by a single strap with Velcro to the roll bar. So the roof spans to the hoop, then the roll bar, then the screen. It does give an amazing sense of space when one is used to the original Caterham roof. Secondly, I understand that MSA have changed the Blue Book to indicate 50 mm to the roll line. (This is second hand information, so I apologise if it is incorrect). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Haighton Posted January 14, 2003 Share Posted January 14, 2003 Subject to costs etc -I could be interested. So thats 2 of us? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Durrant Posted January 14, 2003 Share Posted January 14, 2003 I could also be interested, so that makes 3 Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Sture Posted January 16, 2003 Share Posted January 16, 2003 And now there are four Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leadership Team Mcalvert Posted January 17, 2003 Leadership Team Share Posted January 17, 2003 Hmm - looks like we need a few more for this to become commercially interesting. Any others? Michael. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiF Posted January 20, 2003 Share Posted January 20, 2003 Hi SvenDriver As you don't seem to be getting the 10 enquiries as required what is the situation 🤔 Can we get a price based on five now and the thought that there will be many more over the years and Oxted Trimmers will get their money back easily over the next year I am definitely interested as I said before and need to know within 4 weeks Thanks and good luck PS Back to the top Richard in France six weeks to go before delivery of chassis to start building my Duratec 7 😬 😬 Edited by - Richard in France on 20 Jan 2003 20:43:18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SvenDriver Posted January 20, 2003 Author Share Posted January 20, 2003 I'M out of the loop. I have just fitted a standard FIA bar and am track legal. My local neighbourhood MSA scrutineer has checked me out. I would guess that those who want a tall hood should gang together and make a call to Oxted Trimming and do a deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiF Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 OK, I will take over. All thoses still seriously interested let me know. e-mail direct to easiclad@aol.com Lets see how many are still with us and I will hammer out a deal. Richard in France five weeks to go before delivery of chassis to start building my Duratec 7 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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