HM2017 Build

[Jeff K]

I didn't find a hood prop rod holder in the parts of my kit so I created one myself.  I used some stainless steel I had and bent it into a shape that would work.  To keep the rod end stop from contacting the body, I put a jog in the rod.  I could see that hitting the painted body someday.  Seems to works well.

[Jeff K]

I took Michael's advice and installed nut inserts on my fan shroud for attaching the fan.  Good catch.

[Jeff K]

I decided to ditch the provided heavy steel hood latch brackets and made some from some aluminum angle I had around.  As a bonus this saved over a pound.  I also made some backing plates which will allow bracket adjustment without reaching behind the firewall with a wrench.

[Jeff K]

When I installed the driver's seat, I wanted the seat to line up with the steering wheel obviously.  But the frame seat bars don't line up with the steering wheel.  They're off by about 1-1/2".  Frustrating.  So, when I drilled the seat mounting holes in the cockpit tub centered with the steering wheel, they missed the bars.  I'm installing my seats straight to the floor, without slides, to keep them as low as possible.  One of the seat bolts actually goes through the 2" x 2" frame tube.  While not ideal, my plan is to just install washes and nuts to secure them to the fiberglass floor.  That should be strong enough.  The white dots on the cockpit floor in the second picture are where the holes in the frame seat bars are.

[Greg K]

Just wondering what or how you plan to anchor your lap belts to? Bolting the belt brackets flat to the floor is wrong too according to every harness manuf. If you have a pull down style lap belt, the right side will be very difficult to adjust.

[Paul Proefrock]

When these cars (originals) were built, they were put together to work, making compromises as needed. The seats will not line up with the steering column, nor will they line up with the centerlines, they are twisted and off-center.

It may look different in photo's but it works quite well when driving, you don't even notice it. If you do try to 'line things up', you'll find they don't fit or drive so well.

[Bob Worley]

If you only bolt your seat, and lap belts to the fiberglas with washers, in the unlikely unfortunate event of a collision, it could rip through.       Also, as paul mentioned, your seat is never going to line up with the steering wheel and pedals.  Look how far your pedals are to the left now.        I've driven mine 10k miles+ and dont even notice the steering wheel is off.

[Jeff K]

A lot of good points being made.

Being an engineer, I like things to line up.  So, when I installed the seat, I naturally wanted it to be aligned with the steering wheel.  An added benefit to moving the seat towards the center was it allowed me to move the seat back further due to the curved wheel well cutout.  Granted it does increase the pedals offset.  Hard to eliminate all the compromises.

I'm not worried about bolting the seat to the fiberglass floor.  The force on the seat during a collision would not be enough to dislodge it.

The seat belt anchor points on the other hand did make me think.  Currently the left end of the lap belt will be bolted to the frame.  The right side would be attached to the fiberglass floor which I know is not ideal.  So, Bob's comment got me thinking about this again and after looking at pictures I believe I can tie the seat belt right side to the transmission support bracket.  That would provide a strong anchor point.  I'll investigate this further.

I'm curious how others attach their seat belts to the floor.  I have seen where the seat belt end is sandwiched between the seat and floor using the seat anchor bolts.  Is that what most people are doing? 

Thanks for your comments.

[FFR428]

Nick Acton sells a driveshaft loop assy for a Contemporary Cobra. He states it's also a good anchor point for the inboard seat belt. Not sure how that mess would apply to our Hurricanes.

https://www.actoncustom.com/products/p/driveshaft-safety-loop-and-belt-mount-1

[Greg K]

I'm curious how others attach their seat belts to the floor.  I have seen where the seat belt end is sandwiched between the seat and floor using the seat anchor bolts.  Is that what most people are doing? 

Thanks for your comments.

I planned to use a clip in style lap belt with pull up adjustment and eyebolts, so I had Hurricane add and weld on additional brackets for the belts.

[Jeff K]

Greg, thanks for the pictures.  That's a good idea.  I think I'll do something similar.

[Greg K]

You're welcome, glad it got you thinking.

[Jeff K]

I mocked up the foot box fresh air fans and hoses.  I'm using the front brake air intakes for the inlets.  I'm wondering if I'll need to insulate the hoses where they pass over the headers.  I also mocked up the wiper assembly.

[dawger]

Jeff,
I mounted mine to the factory seat mounts much like yours, just drilled different holes to relocate the position. Couple things I see, with the seats being centered as you have the driver's side then do the same to the passenger side will be really close to the tunnel on the inside and create an issue with the emergency brake lever and being able to use it. The slight offset alignment really isn't noticed when driving, the offset might be more noticeable if you center the seat rather than offset the seat. To be honest I don't think the slight offset is as noticeable as one thinks when all done, but may be more noticeable if one centers the seats, The other thing I noticed is that Alec and Jason mentioned to me one time in London Ohio cobra show was they were going to change the way the down leg was made into the cock pit, they found the strap type mount caused a little too much flex and was cracking the factory car windshield. They suggested adding a brace of some sort. This is what I did welding to the leg, see photo attached. Sorry for the dowels in the photo but this is all I have looking over the back into the cockpit and the seat offset alignment. Only noticeable if one knows...


Michael-
HM-2013

[Jeff K]

Michael, thanks for the tip on the upper frame legs.  Really good information.  I had wondered why the factory went back to rectangle tubing for the legs on later cars.  I'm going to copy you and weld on some metal to strengthen the area.