Hawk floor lowering

[simonjrwinter]

Have any hawk owner successfully lowered the floor while using Gerry’s seats?

[peterc]

If you can locate the new owner of Roger Kings fibreglass car ( not his later Ali version) then you would be able to enquire how it was done.
I can only guess that the plywood floor was removed in that area and replaced by a suitable thickness Ali sheet spanning the outriggers.
Peter C

[KevinW]

Many years ago (circa 2009) I did some hard googling and dug up a series of build articles outlining how this was done on a Hawk FIA car.
I believe an angle grinder was involved. No idea if those articles still exist, but mod was def completed.

[simonjrwinter]

Interesting……

[clive]

Do you have runners on the bottom of your seats? If so, removing them and bolting the seat directly to the floor will reduce the height.

[simonjrwinter]

Nope, no runners.
I’ve bought Gerry’s seats because they are soooooo comfortable. The trampette under the seat gives it a real quality feel. Unfortunately that means the seat sits slightly higher than one that has just a foam base. Not a problem for most people I’m sure it’s just I could do with another 1-1.5 inches of height.

[Migge]

Plywood floor is approx.14- 15 mm thick, GRP only 6-7 mm I guess. Don't know if it helps just to remove the floor. I guess the outrigger underneath has to be modified too.

[simonjrwinter]

I’m not keen on doing anything structural to the chassis to be honest. Will have to have a measure up and see if it’s viable.

[StuBaker]

Hi Simon,
For what it's worth, I've lowered my dash and steering column to get a 'nearer original' look. To get my knees in and stop my lugs flapping in the breeze I've fabbed up an ally seat with 15mm runner and no foam etc. So my bum is 16.5mm off the floor. It seems about the right height but I've yet to see a seat that low. My armpit is comfortably on the door now and I have halved my Brylcreem consumption. I will fit some padding though.
One thing I noticed was the rake of the seat back makes a considerable difference to your shoulder/head height. I started at 17deg and went to 22deg.
Maybe you could tilt the seat back?
BTW I'm 5' 10-3/4".
Stu

[peterc]

I didn’t think you were that much different in height to me Simon. I believe the reason Roger lowered his floor was to be able to use a 16” steering wheel as per the original car would have had.
Working on Migge’s dimensions you could save 5/8” or 16 mm by having just an Ali floor. No need to modify the chassis just sit it on top of the existing outriggers.
Peter C