Lowered Floor.

[Kingsley Young]

Numpty question 

What are the advantages and disadvantages of a lowered floor for the driver?

 

[DJ.]

Advantages if the driver is tall are the drivers head is lower relative to the roll bar, and there is more clearance between the drivers legs and the steering wheel.

Possible dsadvantages: I found the centre tunnel felt very high when I tried a car with lowered floors and Tillets. For a shorter driver, it might be possible to have a less good view of the road, and the ground clearance for going over driveways etc is reduced.

[Nick Chan]

Lower centre of gravity in car as the driver is about 2" lower in car.  This can improve the driver comfort too as the taller drivers tend to look through the top of the screen/doors if you have weathergear on and you have to crane or crouch to avoid visibility problems.  I have had lowered floors retro fitted to my cars and its well worth the investment.  Trish has standard floors on her SLR and finds driving my cars difficult as she can't see over the bonnet!  Maybe try before you buy....

 

Oh not sure about the reduced clearance over driveways as they aren't the lowest part of the car.  I think its still the clearance under the gearbox

[ScottR400D]

I'm a shortarse but have lowered floors to suit my son. Visibility might be better for me without but I don't find it a problem and I do prefer the slightly stronger feeling that you're in the car rather than perched on it. 

[The_ASH]

I've had both Imperial and Metric cars with lowered floors and Imperial cars without, I liked the Imperial car with the lowered setup but don't really like the Metric one, somehow the Metric cabin feels narrower and longer so have had to move seat and pedals forward to minimise the shoulder on the door popper and side panel issue. In all the Imperial cars I always had the seat back resting hard on the rear bulkhead and then adjusted the pedals to suit, I can't do that in the Metric car. A car without lowered floors very much feels like I'm sitting on it rather than in it now I've had cars with the lowered floor, a bit like the 'why am I sat on a barstool' feeling you get sat in an MGF.

Another thing to add is that with the seat hard back against the bulkhead the seat base is then slightly better supported and less likely to flex the floor as you drive now Caterham insist on relying on the floor alone for seat mounting, years ago the seat runners were also supported at the rear using what are now 2 of the 6-point belt attachments.

[JNC]

I'm with the group that prefer to sit in the car rather than on it , that's the best way to describe it. I can't say the 2" makes a noticeable difference to center of gravity, But I have fitted Ali skids under the floor instead of the nuts that hold the seats it helps to slide over speed ramps at slow speeds rather than a nasty scrape noise .

[Kingsley Young]

That's very helpful guys. 

Thank you. 

Kingsley. 

[Tony Whitley]

I'm fairly short and have lowered floors and Tillets.  Pros as already mentioned (I like looking through the middle of the windscreen) but one con is difficulty placing the NSF wheel when I have the aero fitted.

The tunnel is high but I soon got used to it.  Clearance - it's still the sump/gearbox.

[Ren]

Sorry to hijack somebody else's topic but it seemed better than starting a new one. Being quite tall I want to fit a lowered floor but I'm unsure whether to do both sides or just the driver. I've already caught the bottom of the car a couple of times on the cushion type speed bump so I'm considering doing just the drivers side. What are other peoples opinions?

[The_ASH]

Academy cars of the mid-2000's had just the drivers side floor lowered. My last Seven was one of those, I did experience the odd touchdown but the seat bolts were quite long, however if you already experience this with standard floors I'd think twice and clarify what is actually touching down. If I come across double cushions in the road where possible I either slow right down or put the sump between the two of them, at other times the biggest chance of grounding usually comes with the suspension compression when 2 people are in the car.

[JNC]

Do the job once and right do both sides ! . You go from a flat floor to uneven does the air flow get disturbed ? With only one side done, does it cause lift to the lowered side ? And alter the handling ? My view is do both then the car is the same both sides air flow equal . I may be talking a complete load of #### .No one as far as I know has gone in a wind tunnel and proved one way or the other.

[Tony Whitley]

My car has now done 50,000 miles and I only remember grinding the floor once - going "very quickly" on an unclassified road in Wales that had a sharp dip I didn't spot that caused the rear suspension to go to full bump. Even then it was only the bolts.  I'm thinking of fitting titanium ones so if it happens again I'll get F1-style sparks 

Aerodynamics? On a 7? 

[JNC]

Aerodynamic's !! Freestyle Caterham Black and Ali in Surrey with under rear aerodynamics ! Someone else thinking on the same lines.     

[The_ASH]

The other thing regarding lowered floors that I'd forgotten to mention is that if you have an aeroscreen you are less likely to get wasps bursting on your forrid as you sit lower and further down in the airflow most of which is deflected over your head.

[Alan Archer]

I can't believe you are discussing airflow on a 7 JNC, I am sure it is non existent with a screen fitted :)

[Alan Reeves]

mine has lowered only on the drivers side, the man who had the car was 6ft 7 ins !! his wife 4ft 10 ins

think he might have made the right decision 

[JNC]

AA ! I'm talking under floor Not windscreen or aero . A standard car is flat , Now lower one side this would be like putting a large wedge under one side and the other still flat I think at high speed air passing underneath will cause lift ! Perhaps  not on 149 BHP but 200+ . If tiny carbon whiskers on the nosecone are measurable. Prove me wrong !! That my theory hasn't got mileage .

[Roadsport06]

Of course the whiskers are measurable (it's the weight of them) ;-) . I suspect the lowered floor makes little to no difference if one is done or both. I only have my side done and don't notice with only 140bhp, but 120mph on the straight. The Seven has enough turbulence going on under the car anyway. If aero testing were to be done on a seven we would have something like an Exige. Lowered floor feels better as you sit in a more natural position. As Nick says, it lowers the centre of mass which I feel like I notice (no timed laps to compare)

[Alan Archer]

That is it, I am going to get a complete carbon aerofoil to go underneath the whole car now to help my poor little 149 bhp girl on her way.

JNC, if you keep putting on a kilo for everyone I lose you will be needing more than 220 bhp :)

Alan

[JNC]

SHAME ON YOU ALAN ! You can be very spiteful,  ( Meow ) Anyway I thought you said you were avoiding Carbs , I take it you meant Carbon ? 

Note to all it's just banter No nastiness here 

 

 

[SM25T]

Just got the driver's side done in our car .... otherwise Sue wouldn't be able to see !!!

[Ren]

I think it's my seat bolts that catch slightly as it is towards the middle of the car I get a scrape. I've tried going over the speedbumps with both wheels and the sump in the middle and it catches, normally only when I have a passenger though. I normally take them so only my left wheels go over and get a slight scrape from the passenger side hence my thinking of only doing drivers side. Thinking about it a bit more I reckon I'll do both sides and worst case adjust the ride height slightly.

[7 wonders of the world]

I've put lowered both sides in this car and it will be interesting to see SWMBO's reaction as she will be somewhat lower and with an aeroscreen !! - hopefully low enough to be out of the wind.

Floor is 40mm lower and I'm ditching the ally box section under the tillets too, so another 15mm there !

Might have a dummy run if all else fails I can put the box sections back in .................