I NEED to Figure a Way to Get More Front Seat Leg Room

[Tony Stark]

Thank you Padre, for putting up the images for me.

Not sure why I was unable to add them to my post. I tried using the "insert lmage icon" in the "quick reply " text window. When the box pops up asking for the image url, I pasted the link that I grabbed from Flickr for each image. ( Using "grab link" from flickr's "share" drop-down menu... any idea what am I doing wrong? I will gladly post a picture of the seat in full-back position with the new brackets if I can only figure out how to post images correctly here.

I spent part of this afternoon driving around the neighborhood and making a few adjustments to get everything situated correctly.

I want to add a few notes/ caveats to my original post for anybody else who tries to fabricate their own brackets based on those adjustments....

1. If I had to do it over again, I would definitley make my bars longer, not cut them, and instead make a bend for the rear reinforcement 90 degree turn. I would not mess wity with epoxy and angle-irons if I had to start over from scratch. I would have been better off adding 3/4 inch to the bar length, going ahead and losing a portion of that linear distance in the course of the bend, and then grinding/cutting off any remainders to make it exactly reach the floor after-the-fact.. One of the epoxy joints came partially loose already, and I had to reinforce the joints with eight self-tapping sheet metal screws ( I pre-drilled holes slightly smaller than the screws to get through the thick metal ). Four screws in each bracket- Two up-and-down, and two side-to-side. We'll see how that goes. I may have to add some kind of additional corner reinforcement down the road.

2. Since completing this project, I have learned from online reading that my front seats apparently have airbags in them. Had I known this, I would have been careful not to place my face, head, or neck within a foot or so of the edge of the seat while I was working down there. I did not mess with the wiring connected to the seat, as toyota thankfully left plenty of slack and I was able to just slide the seat back and to the side behind the passenger seat with the wiring all still hooked up. I don't know if it is possible to accidentally deploy that airbag by farting around under the seat with the wiring, but I would strongly advise anybody who has airbags in the seats to use caution and treat them like loaded weapons when working around them.

3. As it turns out, I probably added too much additional rearward adjustment with these brackets. 6" is too much to really make much use of, as my feet barely reach the pedals at maximum rear adjustment. The most I would realistically use is 2 or 3 inches of the additional travel, but that extra three inches is heavenly! It makes all the difference in the world. My steering wheel does not telescope, so as a result of sitting further back, I do find myself using the five-and-seven hand position on the wheel instead of the nine-and-three or ten-and-two positions as before, but that's OK. It's well worth the added leg room. It's actually possible to slide the seat back so far now that I can fully straighten my legs. I could therefore theoretically pull over and comfortably take a catnap at a roadside rest-stop now in a pinch, which would have been impossible before due to the uncomfortable leg position. ( It would be impossible to drive with the seat in the new full-rearward position due to the distance to the steering wheel and pedals. )

4. I would not reccomend this modification to anybody who has a manual transmission. It's fine for putting the car in "Drive" one time when you start your journey/commute, but for constant shifting, the distance to the shift lever would be uncomfortable I think.

5. The modified brackets I made resulted in a slightly higher driver's seat- about 3/8 to 1/2 inch I would guess. I am already used to it but if I was 6'5" instead of 6'0" it might be a problem.

6. The modified brackets I made resulted in a slightly more reclined seat angle, which I did not like. I have read some posts in Yarisworld from people who do this intentionally by adding washers or spacers to the front attachment points of the driver's seat to add more thigh support. Personally, I liked the original seat angle, so I put the angle back to normal by adding 8 flat washers to the rear attachment points. I had to switch to 2" threaded bolts instead of 1 1/2 to accomodate the added spacers.

I have my leg room just the way I want it now. My next project will be to make a flat storage area ( with carpet ) where the rear seats used to be.....

[fnkngrv]

Originally Posted by Tony Stark

Thank you Padre, for putting up the images for me.

Not sure why I was unable to add them to my post. I tried using the "insert lmage icon" in the "quick reply " text window. When the box pops up asking for the image url, I pasted the link that I grabbed from Flickr for each image. ( Using "grab link" from flickr's "share" drop-down menu... any idea what am I doing wrong? I will gladly post a picture of the seat in full-back position with the new brackets if I can only figure out how to post images correctly here.

I spent part of this afternoon driving around the neighborhood and making a few adjustments to get everything situated correctly.

I want to add a few notes/ caveats to my original post for anybody else who tries to fabricate their own brackets based on those adjustments....

1. If I had to do it over again, I would definitley make my bars longer, not cut them, and instead make a bend for the rear reinforcement 90 degree turn. I would not mess wity with epoxy and angle-irons if I had to start over from scratch. I would have been better off adding 3/4 inch to the bar length, going ahead and losing a portion of that linear distance in the course of the bend, and then grinding/cutting off any remainders to make it exactly reach the floor after-the-fact.. One of the epoxy joints came partially loose already, and I had to reinforce the joints with eight self-tapping sheet metal screws ( I pre-drilled holes slightly smaller than the screws to get through the thick metal ). Four screws in each bracket- Two up-and-down, and two side-to-side. We'll see how that goes. I may have to add some kind of additional corner reinforcement down the road.

2. Since completing this project, I have learned from online reading that my front seats apparently have airbags in them. Had I known this, I would have been careful not to place my face, head, or neck within a foot or so of the edge of the seat while I was working down there. I did not mess with the wiring connected to the seat, as toyota thankfully left plenty of slack and I was able to just slide the seat back and to the side behind the passenger seat with the wiring all still hooked up. I don't know if it is possible to accidentally deploy that airbag by farting around under the seat with the wiring, but I would strongly advise anybody who has airbags in the seats to use caution and treat them like loaded weapons when working around them.

3. As it turns out, I probably added too much additional rearward adjustment with these brackets. 6" is too much to really make much use of, as my feet barely reach the pedals at maximum rear adjustment. The most I would realistically use is 2 or 3 inches of the additional travel, but that extra three inches is heavenly! It makes all the difference in the world. My steering wheel does not telescope, so as a result of sitting further back, I do find myself using the five-and-seven hand position on the wheel instead of the nine-and-three or ten-and-two positions as before, but that's OK. It's well worth the added leg room. It's actually possible to slide the seat back so far now that I can fully straighten my legs. I could therefore theoretically pull over and comfortably take a catnap at a roadside rest-stop now in a pinch, which would have been impossible before due to the uncomfortable leg position. ( It would be impossible to drive with the seat in the new full-rearward position due to the distance to the steering wheel and pedals. )

4. I would not reccomend this modification to anybody who has a manual transmission. It's fine for putting the car in "Drive" one time when you start your journey/commute, but for constant shifting, the distance to the shift lever would be uncomfortable I think.

5. The modified brackets I made resulted in a slightly higher driver's seat- about 3/8 to 1/2 inch I would guess. I am already used to it but if I was 6'5" instead of 6'0" it might be a problem.

6. The modified brackets I made resulted in a slightly more reclined seat angle, which I did not like. I have read some posts in Yarisworld from people who do this intentionally by adding washers or spacers to the front attachment points of the driver's seat to add more thigh support. Personally, I liked the original seat angle, so I put the angle back to normal by adding 8 flat washers to the rear attachment points. I had to switch to 2" threaded bolts instead of 1 1/2 to accomodate the added spacers.

I have my leg room just the way I want it now. My next project will be to make a flat storage area ( with carpet ) where the rear seats used to be.....

Awesome write up on your DIY work! As for your pic posting woes I have noticed a bit of troubles using the built in copy and paste feature with MyPhotoAlbum.com. I instead go into the field, right click and choose select all, then copy. That fixed my troubles, it could possibly help you?

[padre1964]

Originally Posted by Tony Stark

Thank you Padre, for putting up the images for me.

I have my leg room just the way I want it now. My next project will be to make a flat storage area ( with carpet ) where the rear seats used to be.....

feel free to just post the flickr link and i can fix it for you. look forward to seeing a flat storage area. i am also planning on doing this but its still to hot here in ATL