Driver seat position

[DanEC]

I'm in about the same place that I was last spring on my car due to several things. One thing I've been trying to figure out is the seat - pedals positioning. Being 6'2" and figuring leg room was at a premium in these little cars - I set the seats about 1 in. from the rear bulkhead. It still required drawing my left leg up pretty tight to get it past the front of the door opening but it's OK. With the pedals roughly where ERA recommends (7 to 7-1/2 inches) I have about 42-1/2 inches from the clutch pedal face to the back of the seat and it's a real stretch to disengage the clutch.

Well, today I took my 66 Corvette out for a drive for the first time in about 8 or 9 months (which I'm kind of ashamed to admit) and I climbed in and holy cow, I have to pull my left leg all the way up to the steering wheel to get it on top of the clutch pedal. And I do have the clutch pedal rubber snubber installed. Also the clutch feels like it has about half the overall travel of the ERA's clutch. I felt like I had climbed into some clown car in the Corvette - I had forgotten how small these things are what they are like to drive. So I get out and measure from clutch pedal to seat back - 37-1/2 inches - with the seat in the rearmost position - a 5 inch difference with a longer clutch throw in the ERA also.

For comparison, I measured my late model Mustang GT which is my daily driver and it measures 40 inches to the clutch with the seat not quite all the way back. It has a fairly long clutch throw too. This distance is what I've become comfortable with and most used to, for seat back to clutch.

So, I'm faced with either moving the ERA seat up about 3 inches and strugging to get my leg past the door opening - moving the pedals rearward about 3 inches (if possible) - or some combination of the two. I figure I need to be about 3 inches closer due to the relatively long clutch throw.

ERA recommends adjusting the pedals for 7 inches +/- 3/4 from the firewall. Assuming there is enough adjustment in the rods, is there any problem with setting them about 9 inches from the firewall (Bob?)? Then I could move the seat up about an inch and maybe still be able to climb in without too much contortion.

Those of you in the approximately 6' to 6'3" tall category - is about 40 inches from the top of the clutch to the seat back just above the bottom cushion about what you have set up?

Thanks

Dan