Fitting the Pelvic Support Car Seat

All production seats are located by bolts at each corner on the floor of the car.

This is essential for quick installation on the production line. The seat unit comes to the car manufacturer from the seat manufacturer complete with height adjustment, slides etc. and must be bolted into place in seconds.

The Gorman Pelvic Support Seat is manufactured in exactly the same way with seat slides, height adjustment (very large range) seat belt anchorage etc. all in a unit which is mounted by four bolts underneath.

There- unfortunately- the simplicity stops because the placing of the mounting bolts in each car depends on the design of that car and varies enormously. There must therefore be special brackets for each car.

In order to ensure that the Gorman Pelvic Support Seat will still fit in any car, it has been designed as a very compact unit with the slide rails withdrawing into the seat bolsters at the lowest height adjustment, and no mechanism or cross shaft underneath the low part of the seat pan.

This design achieves two great advantages over any other replacement seat.

   1.    It will fit into the smallest of sports cars such as the "cockpit" of the Lotus Elise.

   2.    In almost every saloon or hatchback the seat can be mounted low enough to give 1-2 inches
         (3-5cms) more headroom for the tall driver than the standard seat.
          (If you wish to take advantage of this possibility this must be specified at the time of ordering.
          Normally mounting brackets will be designed to give the same maximum headroom as the
          standard seat.)

MOUNTING BRACKETS

These must therefore be designed for the particular car. Because of the compact design of the Gorman Seat these will almost always need to lift the seat, and, steel or aluminium box section is particularly suitable.

Design and manufacture of these brackets is not a job for the amateur. It can be undertaken by Gorman Design Ltd. at Reading (UK), and by approved engineering organisations which will generally be car racing organisations.

Once the design for a particular vehicle has been done the seat can be supplied with brackets already fitted and the whole unit only has to replace the existing unit.

The following is a list of vehicles for which brackets are already available:
                                 Ford Galaxy
                                 Seat Alhambra
                                 VW Sharon
                                 Lotus Elise
                                 Fiat Brava Bravo, Marea
If your vehicle is not included in the above list then various routes are available see below:

  1. Buy standard bracketary for your vehicle from another seat manufacturer such as Ricaro (www.ricaro.com) or Sparko - sold in UK by Demon Tweaks (www.demontweaks.co.uk).

    Due to the compactness of the Gorman Pelvic Support Seat it will usually be necessary to add an additional spacer above these brackets so that the new seat is at the same level as the standard seat. Gorman Design are investigating the situation in the case of several vehicles at the moment and further information will be added here when available.

Make your own bracketary. Note that this is not a job for the amateur and requires fairly careful measurement and planning if it is not to become a weeks work! The following sequence is suggested:

  • Adjust the existing seat as far back and as low as possible.
  • Place a standard football in the seat. Place it against the back.
  • Measure the vertical height from the top of the football to the underside of the slide-rail at its rear mounting bolt.
  • Measure the horizontal distance from the front of the football to the same mounting bolt.

Compare these dimensions with the dimensions shown for the Gorman Pelvic Support Seat in this picture.

  • This will show you how much vertical spacing must be added and whether the slide-rails for the Gorman Pelvic Support Seat need to be set forwards or backwards on the top of the spacing bars in relation to the mounting bolts on the underside of the spacer.
  • Gorman Design Ltd are able to supply spacers consisting of aluminum box section. Either 1" (25 mm), 2" (50 mm) or 4" (100 mm) in depth.

  • If you wish to use this method of mounting these spacers will be supplied free of charge with the seat but responsibility cannot be taken for the mounting unless performed by Gorman Design Ltd.

    To find out more about the fitting in the different models, click on the name below:

                   [ Ford Galaxy / Seat Alhambra / VW Sharon ] [ Lotus Elise ] [ Fiat Brava, Bravo and Marea ]

 

Ford Galaxy / Seat Alhambra / VW Sharon - Car Seat Fitting
These vehicles are very simple, both in manufacture of the brackets and in their fitting. Seats for these vehicles can be supplied with the brackets fitted and it is only a matter of undoing four bolts, removing the standard seat, placing the Gorman seat in position, inserting the same four bolts and fitting the seat belt attachment.
This can be undertaken by an amateur



Note: The Gorman Pelvic Support Seat does not rotate as a 'Captains Seat' and there is no armrest.

                               

        [ Lotus Elise ]                  [Fiat Brava, Bravo and Marea ]

 

 

 

 

Lotus Elise - Car Seat Fitting
The Lotus Elise has one of the most restricted cockpits of any road car. By wasting no space on seat upholstery or seat adjustments, very large people can't be accommodated.
The Gorman Seat does have upholstery (and very good pelvic support) -plus a large height adjustment so people above about 5ft 10inches can easily be accommodated.
However for anyone smaller - even down to 5ft (or so - the Gorman Pelvic Support Seat gives an enormous improvement in driving position as well as in comfort and support. Because of the very long and heavy clutch movement this seat must be used in conjunction with the Gorman Design option of the clutch extender and this is supplied with the seat at no cost.

** SPECIAL OFFER ON LOTUS ELISE SEATS **

If you can bring your Lotus Elise to Gorman Design Ltd at Grazeley near Reading we will fit a test seat into your car within one hour which you can then use for one to two days before returning. A clutch extender will be fitted at the same time as we consider that the whole driving position in the Lotus Elise is spoiled by the clutch travel.
Note that the Gorman Design Seat in the Lotus Elise is only suitable for people up to around about 5’10".
If you order a seat on this basis the introductory price for the Lotus Elise seat is £490 - until further notice.

Lotus Elise Clutch Extender

For the logic behind the use of this extender see Design Philosophy. Price for the clutch extender is £40 posted to anywhere in the world as a small packet (UK first class post)

Easily fitted in five minutes with one 13 mm spanner.

 

[ Ford Galaxy / Seat Alhambra / VW Sharon ]                              [ Fiat Brava, Bravo and Marea ]

 

 

 

 

Fiat Brava, Bravo and Marea - Car Seat Fitting
The standard Gorman Seat bracket incorporates a 2inch
(5 cm) box section spacer. The seat can be supplied with these brackets fitted and fitting into the car is simple. Non standard brackets can be supplied which give 1 or 2 inches
(2 or 5 cms) more headroom for the tall driver than the standard Fiat seat.

This must be discussed at the time of ordering.

 

 

                          [ Ford Galaxy / Seat Alhambra / VW Sharon ]                           [ Lotus Elise ]