If you swap your brake and gas pedals, flip them around, and install “backwards” you may be able to get the pedal portion closer to you. You’ll have to adapt the connection at the brake pedal… Foot boxes (risers) can be made of sheet metal and riveted or bolted to the floor pan. I can fab a set here at work for a nominal fee if you can’t find them elsewhere.
Add a FAT 5* steering wheel angle adapter to gain another inch or so closer to you (every bit counts), and add any weights HIGH on your seat to help too. I’m on the lighter side, but relatively normal height (5’8") but I’ve had to resort to semi-unconventional tuning setups before. Really, though, I try not to deviate much because once you’re outside the factory “norms” you’re into self discovery land for tuning…
Appreciate that Ted, I have asked a colleague at work about making a set, he’s looking into the design on the cad for a set so will see what he comes up with. I work at a engineering firm so if I can’t buy a proper set up look at making something either way but I appreciate the offer 
.
It does work out to be a pain sometimes being more vertically challenged than most 
. Ah well least I’m taller than my old man.
Finally mounted my seat this afternoon, set it at 590/595 and flush with the top of the chassis tube.
Only query I have is how far off center should it be? I’ve set it up against the right hand seat stay and put a spacer between the left side stay and the seat is that correct method or should I have equalled the spacers out either side meaning it would be further left off the center line.
Cheers guys.
I usually center mine, but if I have to, favor left for weight distribution reasons.
Cheers Ted Il bear that in mind, thankfully with the seat now sat at the correct position I have minimal contact with the toe rods except when on full lock and with some pedal extensions I’m actually ok without relocating them so just need to fit some heel risers and will be all sorted hopefully.
I’m a big advocate of adjusting seat position to cure numerous handling problems. Push and loose are often times curable by moving the seat forward or backwards.
Driver comfort? Not to be ignored, and of course there are limits, but in my case, within the limits, I could adjust to changes. We’re not talking major positioning changes. A change of seat position, forward or backwards, of 1 inch, can make significant differences in handling.
Moving the seat is a fairly radical adjustment these days. The karts are so sensitive, and there are so many other smaller adjustments, that moving the seat should really be somewhat of a last resort. Since most manufacturers offer a seat placement chart to get you in the ball park based on your height and weight, setting it at that recommended spot and tweaking it slightly to get the kart to scale out is the way to go. From there it should almost be “set it and forget it”, unless you run into chronic balance issues, it’s raining, or there are extreme track conditions.
And yes, if the seat is in the place it needs to be and the driver is a little uncomfortable, they need to deal with it and adapt.
I am having a hard time getting all of my measurements to be in spec. I just realized that the measurements are for the G-seat but I am using a Tillet. I will have to look at each seat and compare to see how much I need to adjust their recommended. #s
My question for you guys is at 6’1 and 190# how far below the rail would you want the seat? I messed around a lot last night trying to get everything right, but I think the difference in seat was messing with my mind and making me go crazy.
I went from 5/8" below the rails to 1/4" over the bottom of the rail (that position my legs were rubbing the wheel. to 1/16-1/8" below the rail. I would like to have it down another 1/8 or so to give myself some extra room from my legs to the wheel. But I am not sure how far is too far. Its a Ignite k3 kart.
I want to tack-on to this and say that “the place” is not necessarily the factory position. It’s whatever works for your build, tires, track etc etc.
By all means, in the absence of any local knowledge that might pertain to your situation, start at the factory position but understand that it really is just a starting point.
I’m 6 foot 2, I mount my seat even with the frame rails and 25 1/2 from the inside the front chassis tubing. 8.5 from the top of the seat to the axle. Margay told me I could move it back to 26 inches to give me more room if needed. Is your kart a limo? I have some long legs but they are no where near the steering wheel
I think all of the Ignites are limos, but I could be wrong. I was hitting with the seat 1/4" above the bottom of the frame rail and the seat at 25" from the front of the front hoop. I realized yesterday after you posted that the measurement was supposed to be from the back of the front hoop. I was barely touching the bottom of the wheel but enough that I didn’t feel right going out like that.
My mis-measurement explains why I always had so much front grip. In the heat I always had to pull the front bar, and narrow the front up quite a bit compared to their baseline settings. I was a solid inch farther forward of where I should have been with the old seat.
I am going to move the seat back to 25 1/4" off the back of the front hoop and go with 1/8" below the rail and see how it feels.
I have no experience with the front bar, but, in my experience with front tread width is that narrower always gave me more front bite. I’m pretty sure you’ll find that most have the same experience.
You may want to ask margay on that, I have a brava limo. I always thought that the limo was just an option for us taller drivers. Being cramped up in a kart is no fun and super distracting. Move your steering shaft up if you havent already, that helped me. And remember margay told me I could move the seat back to 26 inches from the front without sacrificing performance!
I like @tjkoyen’s comment a lot. I’d agree that starting with the seat in a factory position is the best way to begin. Tuning go karts is hard! At least for me, sometimes. I’d say that moving the seat isn’t a first move, but if the kart isn’t responding to several adjustments, the driver isn’t comfortable, etc, why not consider it?
Go karts have so many great adjustments built into them - but the heaviest and most crucial component to consider is the driver. Why be wholly averse to considering their affect on the handling?
Ended up grabbing a set of good scales and built a leveling table for them to get them all even.
Scaled the kart with the seat at 25 1/2" left side and 25 3/4" right side ended up at 41/59 F/R and 49.4/50.6 L/R. 51% cross weight.
I am 4# under weight so I threw a 6# chunk up front along the steering shaft support. Ended up getting to 42/58 and still the same 49.4/50.6 L/R. 51% cross weight.
I have lost 15# over the last 2 months, and hoping to lose another 5# which will let me throw another chunk up front to get me close if not dead on to their recommended 43%
I didn’t notice a total weight so I used 400 pounds. The corner weights may not match yours, but the percentages are still correct.
| Total | 400.00 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Front | 41.00 | % | |
| Left | 49.40 | % | |
| Cross | 51.00 | % | |
| Left Front % | 19.70% | ||
| Left Front lbs | 78.80 | ||
| Right Front % | 21.30% | ||
| Right Front lbs | 85.20 | ||
| Left Rear % | 29.70% | ||
| Left Rear lbs | 118.80 | ||
| Right Rear % | 29.30% | ||
| Right Rear lbs | 117.20 | ||
| Front Cross lbs | 6.40 | Difference Right to Left | |
| Front Cross % | 7.51% | ||
| Rear Cross lbs | (1.60) | Difference Left To Right | |
| Rear Cross % | -1.37% |
Close, 367.4# Min. weight for our class is 365#
Here’s my spreadsheet with the weights.
Anyone have a seat position chart for an Intrepid FK4?! I am installing a DeepSeat to try to solve recurring rib injuries, no idea how the different shape will affect the install position…
If I can’t get a seat chart I will just try to replicate my old setup with the new seat, I was at least happy with that.
Not sure such thing exist. probably why they are fading away. I can barely find any information on Intrepid chassis nowadays, I have both Cruiser and Suzuka chassis, no setup guide, specially 4 stroke setup can be found. I think the best way is to try flash mount the seat with chassis rail and scale the kart to determine how much forward or backward you need to move.
Have you seen this yet: 2009 Setup guide for IIntrepid Sirius, Cruiser, Maki and Chicco https://forums.kartpulse.com/uploads/default/original/1X/6fbd563d337234b7dc246cde0f42ac4d9e7fae50.pdf