Lowered floor, Prescription Goggles et al.

[ottocycle]

Hello all,

I have not posted in a while though I check in from time to time. I wanted to go to NJMP this year but we were in the UK at the time. Hopefully next year. About a month ago I had my first l long blat in my 2004 SV. I took a 5 hour RT trip to take a ride in a WW2 Mitchell B-25 bomber. It was a hot day and it drew my attention to a few issues I need to address before next season.

Issue 1.
I would like to lower the drivers side floor, I'm 6'3". I looked on the Caterham site to find out about lowering the floor but could only find the "kit" they sell with no dimensions. I contacted the company for further details but have yet get a reply. Rather than modify the seat squab I would like to lower the floor 2"+, if I can (I have a bad back). How low can I go and does anyone have any experience of doing this? Does the floor drop just at the seat area or taper from the footwell to the seat area? Upon getting the car the first thing I did was build a steel sump guard that saved my motor more than a few times on our crappy east coast roads. I'm wondering if I need to "armor a lowered floor or if an aluminum unit will suffice.

Issue 2:
Eye protection. I normally wear prescription driving glasses but above a certain speed my eyes water from the venturi effect of moving air. I have found a few companies on the web that do prescription goggles but I would like to get first hand experience feedback. Any suggestions?

Issue 3:
I normally drive bare headed or wear a wool monkey hat in cold weather. As i loose more hair I'm getting sunburnt in places that have neverseen the sun before! Any suggestions for lightweight head gear?

Thanks in advance for your feedback/help. I'm sure it will help others too.

[xcarguy]

. . . lightweight head gear . . .

Try a dew rag.

[Croc]

Issue 1.
I would like to lower the drivers side floor, I'm 6'3". I looked on the Caterham site to find out about lowering the floor but could only find the "kit" they sell with no dimensions. I contacted the company for further details but have yet get a reply. Rather than modify the seat squab I would like to lower the floor 2"+, if I can (I have a bad back). How low can I go and does anyone have any experience of doing this? Does the floor drop just at the seat area or taper from the footwell to the seat area? Upon getting the car the first thing I did was build a steel sump guard that saved my motor more than a few times on our crappy east coast roads. I'm wondering if I need to "armor a lowered floor or if an aluminum unit will suffice.

Hi Dermot

Good to hear from you! Hope all is well?

The kit just fits an SV or CSR - no dimensions needed. There is also an S3 kit that is narrower. I have the lowered floor fitted on my CSR - love it. It lowers both sides - driver and passenger about 1.5 inches from recollection. Two separate "pans" so you can lower just one. It does taper down from footwell to seat base. I never bottomed out on the floor as I bottom out the rear suspension on its stops first. The lowest point of the floor is just in front of the rear wheels. My concern was engine like yours.

If you google "Caterham lowered floor" and look at the images options you will see various installations and can click through to the various websites underlying for owner commentary.

If that does not provide enough height lowering then take the seat off its movable track and bolt to floor directly. That takes out another inch in height. 2.5 inches lower should be enough to fix the problem.

Issue 2:
Eye protection. I normally wear prescription driving glasses but above a certain speed my eyes water from the venturi effect of moving air. I have found a few companies on the web that do prescription goggles but I would like to get first hand experience feedback. Any suggestions?

I have the exact same issue. I went 2 ways and used both:

1) safety goggles over my prescription glasses

https://www.uline.com/Product/Detail...B&gclsrc=aw.ds


https://www.sportrx.com/oakley-l-fra...UaAvJAEALw_wcB


These work fine but the shape occaisonally gave vertigo in regular goggle variety eg the ULine ones. The Oakley ones were great.


2) prescription inserts in safety goggles

https://www.sportrx.com/bobster-dzl....UaAqa1EALw_wcB

Option 2 was much better. No visual distortion and fit was much better. This was my preferred option.




Sorry I cannot help you with option 3 as I am losing hair elsewhere - legs, chest, etc. Saves my usual waxing I suppose?

[Dave W]

I have a pair of safety goggles and use prescription glasses, but prefer to use safety slip-on side shields. The side shields do not restrict your vision as much as the goggles, and still give you protection across the top, side, and bottom. Plus they will slip in your shirt pocket when not in use. If looking for the side shields, you want the soft, not hard, plastic shields. Dave W

[panamericano]

For road driving you can easily get prescription safety glasses. They cut out the breeze and debris and are more impact resistant than glasses.

[powderbrake]

I always wore "over the glasses" motorcycle goggles, available at any dirt bike shop. I kept an extra pair for the passenger.

I was getting bald also, so I wore a welder's cap, the kind without the bill. It is like a skull cap.

[wemtd]

for my head i have a 3mm rope to my Birkin ball cap.
I like the sun glare reduction of the bill, and rope helps retrieval if the wind pulls it off.

[JohnCh]

I've always worn baseball hats with infinitely adjustable size adjusters (either velcro or sliding buckle) that allow me to tightly cinch down the hats. The bill stops the glare and seems to minimize draft behind my eyeglasses, which I attribute to blocking airflow out of the top and upper sides of the glasses. In ~40k miles of driving, I've yet to lose a hat, although I do have very large wind deflectors which reduce turbulence compared to running without side curtains.

-John

[powderbrake]

for my head i have a 3mm rope to my Birkin ball cap.
I like the sun glare reduction of the bill, and rope helps retrieval if the wind pulls it off.

I had the same problem with the cap flying off, so I went to the "over the glasses" motorcycle goggles. I added a couple lines of black tape across the top of the goggles, and that blocks the sun and sky glare. Particularly useful when you are blatting through a narrow road with tree cover, and the sun glare is hitting you intermittently.

While it appears that it might block the view, the goggles ride high on the face, and your normal view of the road and vehicles ahead are not impaired. Besides it is foolproof eye protection for you and your passenger from all those small rocks which enter the cabin.

[panamericano]

I added a couple lines of black tape across the top of the goggles, and that blocks the sun and sky glare. Particularly useful when you are blatting through a narrow road with tree cover, and the sun glare is hitting you intermittently.


[/QUOTE] So it's not just your Dan Gurney imitation?