Making room for Fatbeard (me)

Oay, I got in the front of a Defender and as my centre of gravity has lowered over the years I have to ask,
Is it possible to move the steering wheel away from the drivers side window? Is it possible to move the handbrake to the left? And finally if I remove the centre cubby can I move the seat over a couple ( like 4 to 6 ) of inches?

Muppetdaze said:

Oay, I got in the front of a Defender and as my centre of gravity has lowered over the years I have to ask,
Is it possible to move the steering wheel away from the drivers side window? Is it possible to move the handbrake to the left? And finally if I remove the centre cubby can I move the seat over a couple ( like 4 to 6 ) of inches?

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Fairly sure that would be a no on all counts, without spending vast amounts of money.

What you can do is to remove the bulkhead behind the drivers seat, and fit a bulkhead bar, and that will give room to fit extended seat rails, and then you can fit an aftermarket seat that will go back a bit further, giving you more legroom, and general room around the driver and controls.

I'm with Turboman. The bottom of the steering coiblumn is bolted to the bulkhead, inside the engine bay. It enters the cab through a small aperture in the bulkhead and is held in place by a thick bar bolted to the bulkhead behind the instrument binnacle. Would be a lot of work to move it, if it's even possible.
Turboman's suggestion of taking the centre bulkhead out looks like the best idea to me too.

you cant move steering wheel as column sits between the 2 pedal boxes, you could move the seat or a diet might help

As an hexperiment...................................... Remove seats then sit on the seat box.

I did the the other day as I was fitting a bit of fluff on the rear bulkhead. Theres loads of room .

Got me thinking, if you got hold of one of those orange plastic (school type) chairs with no legs on it, you could jack it and prop it and generally tit about with it until your purfic driving position was found.

Dont know what youd do then. Soon as you put a normal seat in your flummoxed again. Give you a good starting point for a bespoke seat build though. Modern foams make seat profiles very thin.

Remember if the seat goes back it changes you leg position. You cannot always reach the pedals.
You can move the handbrake to the centre seat area just need to reinforce this( you may need a disco/range one)
Get a series seat & shrink this to get what you require before cutting.

Don't know if defender is the same but some series chassis have handbrake mounts both sides, so the lever can go in passenger footwell.

Lol i joke about being fat, but am a 42 waist , but 54 chest, i just can't get my arm between me and the door, moving the seat is more likely with a smaller steering wheel perhaps, but at only 5'10@ i can't move it too far back, I remember the mk2 Cortina, you would be facing 1 o'clock when driving to 12,

okay someone moved outriggers to give himself room , made his car 6 inches wider, made a bulkhead, rear door, wings, custom roof and windscreen hmmm, that wouldn't be too cheap lol

Get a Jeep Wrangler...........................

As said, moving the vehicle's controls ie column, handbrake etc would not only be involved & costly but might also infringe C&U regs.
Looks like you need a bigger car, should be plenty of choice of SUV's out there.

Open the window!! That's what I do, then you can at least throw your elbow out and have some relative comfort! I have a fine selection of waterproof jackets, fleece lined coats etc for all occasions!!
I'm slim and still find my knee rubbing up against the door card, and my elbow twâting the window!
Essentially defenders and series are morbidly uncomfortable, and fairly shìtily build, but that's why most of us have git them!!

Bobsticle said:

Get a Jeep Wrangler...........................

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Where's the fun in that?
I seem to remember a thread where someone took a Disco and added Defender type panels etc to the front of it
also the fun of owning a proper landy is why i'm looking at them I LOVED meccano sets as a boy

i'm a very tall man standing 6'8

And i somehow shoehorned myself into defenders and series landys !!

So with that in mind

If i can fit my XL frame in a landy you can fit your porkyness into one as well

Mind you neck and back pain has stopped my fun in proper landies!!

Lol being able to move my right arm rather than having it pinned against the doorframe would help. And i do mean pinned, it's like when you're leaning against a wall. Hmm picturing someone opening the door unexpectedly and me falling out of it proper Del Boy fashion .

Trust me, just open the window!

But how can I fall out of that?

Muppetdaze said:

But how can I fall out of that?

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You can't.

Well, not with your dimensions anyway!