Steering wheel clearance

[A ron]

I've purchased an older grt late model (will be run as a crate ) and am a bigger guy mainly in my legs. My steering wheel is very close to catching the buckles on my belts on the bottom. I've pulled the wheel up as far as it will go using the adjustment bolt. The guy I bought it from said the seat was mounted a couple of inches higher than normal. I'm guessing this is the cause of my problem. Is there anything I can do short of cutting and rewelding the steering shaft? It's already a 15" wheel not sure if I wanna go smaller. What about Turing the wheel inside out? Would that pass tech?

[zeroracing]

Tech does not care much about our steering wheels, if they did they would require an SFI approved coupler.

That said, what about lowering the seat? Get your head more clearance at the same time as your steering wheel.

[latemodels4life]

Or get a smaller dia. steering wheel, or cut the steering bracket thats welded on the rollcage and tilt it up more and reweld it.

[A ron]

Alright guys I appreciate it. I have a ton to learn.

[AmickRacing]

I had similar problems in my rocket. My seat is on the floor, and laid back fairly good. I'm not super tall, but I have the torso of a giant (legs of a midget some say lol).

My bracket had 2 or 3 slots you could put the heim in. I put it in the furthest one away from me, and cut the others off. This let me get the wheel up 1-1.5" higher than it was before. I also run a 15" wheel with no dish. I did end up cutting the steering shaft and welding the coupler on so there was more clearance (before the wheel would have been about 6" in me, now it lines up right where my legs and body make a 90 deg angle.

Make sure what ever you do is comfortable. The longer I race, and more little things I do to increase my comfort in the car, the more relaxed I feel in the car.

[bowtech]

I would shorten the shaft I'm a bigger guy myself I found that if I move the wheel farther away from me and use a 17 inch wheel its not hard on my arms and safer than having the wheel crammed up in my gut with that said the first thing I would do is lower that seat and get u some more head clearance

[A ron]

I bought a full containment seat and lowered it. Also bought a wheel with no dish. I'm fitting pretty good now. Just gotta get some track time in now. Thanks for all your help guys

[centralpa43]

being comfortable in the car is the biggest thing you need in order to feel the car. If you're a tall guy then I'd suggest lowering the seat and see what needs done from there. get in the car with all your gear on and make sure you fit comfortably before you hit the track. If you lower the seat and wheel is still too close see if you can move the seat back and further or move the pedals further away. at last resort cut the steering shaft because it's easier to cut shaft and shorten it than it is to lengthen it!

[Matt49]

I never even considered the possibility that someone would NOT be running a collapsible steering column. Should be mandatory in my opinion for safety reasons but it sure makes getting the wheel where you want it a lot easier if a crushed rib cage isn't enough incentive to cough up a couple hundred bucks.

[CMS73]

I feel you pain. i'm a very large driver. 6'9" tall, 400+ lbs. and most of me is upper body. (which is great for the NFL but not for racing) I have bin racing for a little over 20 years. the one thing i found out being the size i am is to make sure you have no problems turning the wheel all the way from lock to lock. what i did was made up steering wheel extenders. i have three. 6", 9" and 12". the reason i did this was it was hard for me to get in and out if the car with the steering shaft in my way jamming me in the legs and you know what!!!!!!. cuz some of them really stick way out there. this way when you took the wheel off, the steering shaft came with it.i also had the steering wheel up very high in front of me. almost to where i was looking threw it. and the safety part of it is that if your have a bad wreck and like to push on the wheel, it will bend out of the way to take up some impact energy. hope this helps. good luck.
ps. no one makes steering shafts that long, you will have to get someone to make it for you. and in the grand sceam of 10,000 for a car, what another couple hundred to make sure you have no issues with that part of steering.