Knees hit the steering wheel...

In the Pantera, its difficult 'cause the wheel doesn't bolt on- it sits on splines & has a metric nut holding it. To do what you want, you'll have to remove the wheel AND upper shaft from the slip-joint, add in a section (and be REAL sure your welder understands this is the steering shaft so no holidays in the weld!) then rebuild. Or, you could convert the wheel to a MOMO or other unit, cut the old wheel splined section off, weld up a 3" dia tubular spacer & bolt or weld the cut-off wheel section on one end & the new steering wheel on the other. This's what I did in 1990 to move the wheel back for my 5'2" wife. 30,000 miles so far. Finally, you could convert using a commercial spacer & cut/lengthen it, or cut the stocker & lengthen it. Note that all these will raise the wheel as well as move it back. Some vendors still stock the kits. FWIW, I also had the stock seats reupholstered in leather for less than those recovered Fieros cost....

My car had the Fiero seats in it when I bought it. At 5' 11" I was able to drive on the street with the Fiero seats. When I went to play with the SCCA and had to wear a hard hat I did not fit so I put the stock seats back in.

Since I like to have the steering wheel close where I can wrestle with it, I made a 4" spacer for the LeCarra wheel. I think there are some spacers availabe for the LeCarra wheel, but they only move the wheel back about an inch. Check with Pantera Performance Center in Colorado about the LeCarra wheels and available spacers.
Phone: (303) 660 9897
Or you can send me an e-mail address and I can send you pictures of the spacer that I cobbled up out of some 4" plastic pipe. Do you have a high speed connection? Picture files are about 45 - 50 kb for each picture.
Jim Hendrickson chendric@bellsouth.net

Thanks guys. I'll yank the steering wheel and see what I can figure out. It is stock and pretty worn, cracked, and ugly looking anyway. I'll see about using that spline section to adapt another wheel. I'll also get ahold of Dennis and see if he has a solution.
Boy, tell me about it on the final price of the seats!. I was going to have them re-covered by a local upholsterer, but he just let them sit there and I finally gave up on him, took them back, and went the other route. The speakers in the headrests really seemed like a great idea, so I let myself get carried away. Some internet correspondence made the Fiero seats sound like a good fit. Bull$#!+. Don't do it!!

If you're up in the 98th percentile re height or long legs, its also possible (but not simple) to fabricate a plate-spacer to shove the entire pedal support further into the front trunk about an inch maximum, or drop the floor pan(s) by up to 2" max. And with stock early 2-piece seats, the backs can easily be re-angled so you can slouch a bit. Did you fit in the stockers or is this an on-going problem besides the collapsed padding?

here's what I did. i got a used capri sterring wheel and cut the hub off it then I welded a round plate in the center of it with a hole in the center to put a socket down thru to tighten the nut down. I also drilled a pattern for a d shaped wheel adapter. depending on how much you cut off the hub will depend on how long it will make it with the new wheel adapter. you can get up to 3 inches or so if you leave the hub uncut and then weld the plate on then bolt the adapter on it. the original wheel is concaved. its not flat with yhe hub. If you need more instructions on this I can send pics and maybe explain more. Paul..

Jack, I have no problem fitting in with the original seats. I have a long torso and short legs, so the original seats put my head very near the headliner, but legroom was no problem.
The Fiero seats are so much thicker in all the cushions, that I have to recline the back to get headroom, which pushes the seat forward and limits my legroom. The Fiero seats are just not a good fit and I cannot recommend them to anyone.
I may take the cover off one and exchange the 1" foam padding on the back and bottom for 1/2" padding. This would probably do the trick for me, but I'm afraid that the leather seat covers will no longer fit the modified cushions.
Since my steering wheel is cracking and is the least attractive feature in my interior I thought I might fix both problems with a new one.
Thanks for the help. I'll yank it this weekend and see what I can figure out.
Mooso.

Mooso,

I put the same Fiero seats with the speakers in the headrests in my '74. I cut off the lowest point of the bottom seat cushion (between the seat rail mounting points), and used Recaro seat sliders only. This put the seats so on the floor that I had to use spacers in the rears just to be able to move the seat with a bit of difficulty. I did this years ago, and if I remenber correctly, the amount of cushion I removed was about 2" or so. What a difference it made! This part of the seat cushion actually looks like a sump, so I removed that sump entirely so that the whole cushion was roughly the same thickness. If you were to make this modification to your seats, it wouldn't affect your upholstery at all. I'm 5'10" and I have stock floor pans and a 13" LeCarra steering wheel. I've got what I consider to be a goodly amount of headroom for a Pantera (about 2"), and no leg/wheel issues at all. The seats are more comfortable and supportive than stock, and I've driven for hours at a time in them. Maybe you could try this before giving up on a nice set of seats. Hope it helps.

Michael

Michael, yeah, you're right, there is a wedge of padding on the bottom of the seat. I sawed these lumps off right away. My seats are right down on the floor. No tracks, nothing but carpet and thin pad under them. I bet I wouldn't have a problem if I had your 13" steering wheel.
I just have a goofy body structure.
Thanks, Mooso.