Hi there! Tall guy seeking advice about which kit to get

[ccm399]

Hi all,

Nice forum you have here!

I have always LOVED the look of a Cobra trouble is I am 6'6" tall and I am thinking the 90" WB will not allow enough leg room.

Can any of you tell me which of the extended WB kits out there are the most comfortable? Or at least which one would have the most room for my legs. I was leaning toward the West coast body but they seem to have taken a lot of liberties when coming up with the lines.

Oh, I am also want to purchase just the body I will be building my own chassis and doing all the work myself. I have built drag racing and circle track cars in the past so I have the tools and skills just need the leg room!

Thanks for any and all replies!

Chris

[vanoochka]

Here's an earlier thread with a lot of information for you.

A tall guy with a Cobra

[ccm399]

Thanks I tried searching tall but I must have missed that thread!

Chris

[Jerry Clayton]

The Gen 4 EM body is for 93 wb

[Ron61]

Chris,

You might look up Emerson Motor sports. I think he still has a link on here. His cars have a 94" wheelbase and he custom builds the doors, seats and anything else to fit the person. His prices are on the high side though, but the cars are very good. However he has build cars for people from 6'8 and over 350 pounds down and they all could get in and out easily and were comfortable in the cars. You could contact him for ideas and then decide what you might do. Also there are others on here that will do custom work such as narrowing the transmission tunnel, dropping floor pans, and so forth to get more room. Oh, and welcome to the club.

Ron

[autobody prof.]

Chris,

I purchased a Pacific Roadster out of Salem Oregon just for the extra room it gives me. They are out of Salem Oregon.

Don

[ccm399]

Thanks for all the replies guys! I should mention that I am 6' 6" and 190# so just tall not big and tall

Anyway, when we built my drag car (89 Trans Am) we had to put the seat right on the floor and tight up against the crossbar for the roll cage. I figure since we are talking side pipe I can slam the seats way down and be good to go.

Good thing my wife is 5' 10"

Chris

[rchitman]

look at the Hurricane im 6'2 and have to move the seat up to drive. it is the only 90 WB car that WILL fit a 6'6 guy.

[lemans24]

On my Kirkham, I got the dropped footbox and no adjustable seat sliders(seats bolted to floor), also had the rear inner fenders relieved to push the seats back some more. Plenty of room.

[mickmate]

If you're a builder you can do a lot by fabbing some exhaust around the footbox position. That is the tightest area around pedals etc. I have done some real customising on fitting them around people and just an inch more legroom is a lot. The rear inner fenders can be dimpled in as close as you can to the left rear tire for clearance on the seat back and it makes for a lot on the leg length. One of my customers had a really nice bottom and back seat cushion made that still looks like a Cobra seat but it's right against the bottom and back of the cockpit. Find out where your local Cobra guys gather and look at a few different breeds side by side. They're a good bunch and like talking about Cobras. Welcome aboard.

[COBRA36]

Try Hunters cobra kit cars the number is 1-352-425-6238 in North Florida.He builds a 96" wheelbase cobras using 84 corevett running on 2x4 frame I have one it's well built

[rms427]

I'm 6' 6" 220 and fit OK in my original 427 (no rollbar). It's tight and I broke off a switch with my knee while slaloming the car. I also can't drive with the key on a key chain since I hit it with my leg and turns off the ignition. I put 48,000 miles on the car in the first 4 years I had it (including several 12 hour ralleys). I could drive the car with the original seat rails but removed them and bolted the seat to the floor, this allowed me to drive the car without my head hitting the top when it's on. One other thing you need to be aware of is foot room. I wear size 13 shoes and the room in the footbox is tight. My car is more comfortable than a Viper or C4 ZR-1 Vette as far as seats and leg room. I drove an original SC and found the rollbar to take up a bit of space and made it more difficult to drive. Many if not most of the replicas can be ordered with more legroom. You can also get extra room by removing padding from the seat.

As others have stated your best bet is to go to an event and check out different cars. Your height isn't the only criteria since the length of your legs, size of your feet and your weight will also make a difference. You can probably adapt most of the cars to fit. My wife is 5' 10" and needs to put a pillow behind her back to drive my car.

[Rwillia4]

I've had a 6'4" in my BDR with no complaints (but I think he was just happy to be driving).

Where do you live? you can come sit in mine. I'm in San Diego.

[vector1]

i have a jbl with 95" wheelbase. i'm just short of 6'2" about 20 yrs ago and i can just barely touch the front bulkhead with the ball of my foot if i stretch and point my foot. with my ass all the way back in the seat i would probably have a hard time touching.

http://www.jblmotor.com/

if you're interested in purchasing one pm me, it would be the gray one on the right.

[PANAVIA]

Superformance with a seat mod and you should be OK . -- CSX wont fit without cutting out the foot boxes. -- kirkhams and ERA both have good options and all of these still "look" like a cobra.

Steve

[mrmustang]

Your height is not really an issue, your inseam will determine which route you have to take in order to fit in one cobra replica vs another. SPF,BDR,ERA all have work arounds for the tall driver. Adjustable pedal box mounts and adjustable seat tracks are the two biggest (besides a dropped drivers side footbox). I'm just over 6 feet tall and need to adjust my seat forward two clicks (I have a 34 inseam) in the ERA. I know of at least one 6' 8" owner in the bunch, he lives in NYC, if I can remember his name I'll see if I can get you contact information, he has owned(or owns) both a SPF (427SC) and a ERA(289FIA)........



Bill S.

[lovehamr]

Originally Posted by mickmate

One of my customers had a really nice bottom

Nice to have attractive clientel I suppose.

[Blittleton]

ccm339,

Since you are in OH, come on down and sit in one of our Backdraft's. We are located on the other side of the river next to CVG airport.

Bill

[ccm399]

Thanks for all the replys guys!

I guess I did leave the important details out....I have a 36" in seam and size 13 shoes. I have been doing a lot of research and I am leaning toward the FFR body right now. As I said in my opening post I will be doing all the chassis and tin work myself so I can put the bars where I need them (within reason of course).

There is a guy on the FFR forums that is 6'-6" (maybe 6'-8") that shows some things he did to help with leg room on the std FFR chassis and it looks like he fits the car very well leg room wise. The Kirkey seats help a lot too.

Nothing even close to set in stone yet so all the input is great!

Thanks again,

Chris

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by mrmustang

I know of at least one 6' 8" owner in the bunch, he lives in NYC, if I can remember his name I'll see if I can get you contact information, he has owned(or owns) both a SPF (427SC) and a ERA(289FIA)........

I don't know about an ERA fitting a 6' 8" guy. I'm skeptical. I have no seat tracks, light seat padding, seat moved back, pedals spaced out (12EEE) and moved forward (with the special Tilton clutch MC), and the car fits me just fine at 6' 4". I guess it would all depend on where you put that extra four inches. Two inches between your foot and knee is not the same as two inches between your belt and neck line. I'm not saying it can't be done, but I would definitely fly up to ERA and have a butt-in-seat test to make sure before I stroked a check. The last thing you want to do is be peering out over the windshield when you're driving the car -- that looks pretty stupid. In order to look cool, you have to be looking through the windshield.