5th gear, long legs.

[captain]

Got my first Elise today (thanks to RichieK for a good deal and being an all-round decent chap)

Driving home tonight I selected 5th for the first time. Bugger. Nowhere for my knee to go. I'm 6'4" and fit perfectly fine - except for the gearknob setting up camp in the very spot where my left knee lives. Now, the majority of my commute is on wee b-roads so I'm not using 5th but is there an easy solution to this? Don't really want to shorten the shaft but possibly a wheel spacer?

Driven a few Elises in the past, both s1 and s2 and never noticed this but I probably never tried top gear. I had a vx220 years back which wasn't a problem.

[Dave]

I'm not sure which variant you've got, but when I had my S1 Exige I moved the position of the foot rest and it gave my knee a bit more room, had to drill the rivits out that held it in place and then it was just a case of re-drilling and riveting it back in place.

[captain]

Ahh that's interesting, cheers.

It's an s1 I got, love it

[BigD]

I bought a spacer for the steering wheel which is 40mm so spaces the standard wheel out and leaves more room for the knees. Makes a good difference. Think it was from Elise shop.

[tut]

i have the same problem so just shortened the gear lever.

tut

[Corranga]

My S1 has a short shifter kit (shortened gear stick) in it and my brother in law has the same issue as you do with that so it won't necessarily help you, though he is a bit taller at 6ft9.

[captain]

Jesus H. 6'9", I assume he needs the roof off?

Thanks chaps, I think if I remove the footrest completely I can rest my foot against the bulkhead which ought to help.

[Dominic]

I bought a spacer for the steering wheel which is 40mm so spaces the standard wheel out and leaves more room for the knees. Makes a good difference. Think it was from Elise shop.

Think I could be tempted to fit one of these - works nicely in your car Donald.

[BigD]

Jesus H. 6'9", I assume he needs the roof off?

Thanks chaps, I think if I remove the footrest completely I can rest my foot against the bulkhead which ought to help.

My problem was mainly with the other leg as my hand would get caught between the wheel and my leg when turning, the wheel spacer helped that a lot.

[mxvx]

Is it a blue s1?

[Shug]

Some short shifters also give you the option of moving around the lever positioning. The actual lever has a dogleg back into the cockpit, on some, you can rotate it so it points more away from the driver, giving that couple of inches extra as legroom in fifth.

So you can mod the steering wheel position or the lever position - whichever works best for your height.

[captain]

Is it a blue s1?

Aye...did I see you last night on the a944?

[captain]

Jesus H. 6'9", I assume he needs the roof off?

Thanks chaps, I think if I remove the footrest completely I can rest my foot against the bulkhead which ought to help.

My problem was mainly with the other leg as my hand would get caught between the wheel and my leg when turning, the wheel spacer helped that a lot.

Thanks, yes that is a bit of a problem for me too but not insurmountable with a bit of thoughtful hand placement on the wheel. Think I might try a small spacer, I have pretty long arms and the wheel is in a perfect position just now.

[mxvx]

Is it a blue s1?

Aye...did I see you last night on the a944?

Seen a blue s1 in Shell car park this morning around 0730 - guessed that was you?. Sounded good!

Yellow s1 here on a daily basis also with a hard-top, anyone here?

[captain]

Aye that's me! I know the owner of the yellow one, it's a Honda and is getting a turbo soon.