Reducing seat height

I have recently bought my first Alvis, a 1963 TE21. To avoid my head touching the hood I should like to lower the driver’s seat which has a wooden block between the wooden seat base and the metal seat runners. Is that wooden block standard or might the seat have been raised by a PO?  Are any workshop manuals available for this car?  Mike. Posted by Firstseadog 25/09/2018 15:16:18

Greeting Mike and welcome.  I cannot answer the first question but can the second. Alvis did not produce a workshop manual unfortunately. That said there is a lot of information that can be gleamed from the AOC Technical Compendium for the TD onwards cars. It is worth getting a set. Back in the early 50's the Motor Trader Service Data Bulletin Number 202 was produced for the TA-TC series. This is handy to have as the chassis is basically the same but overall less relevant. With respect to books I can recommend - ALVIS Three Litre in Detail by David Culshaw.   Hope this helps.  Richard Melbourne Posted by RichardWallach 26/09/2018 06:21:06

Hi Mike  Welcome - the wooden block under the seat rail is standard. I'm 6'3" (190cm) and have plenty of headroom in my TD21. You must be tall!   Have the seats been refurbished, because if the stuffing is too stiff, that might contribute? You should sink into them a little, like a comfortable armchair.  There are 2 "factory" manuals for the TE21. An owner's "Manual of Instructions" (which has very basic maintenance guidance) and a Catalogue of Spare Parts, which has useful diagrams of the important technical parts of the car. Both of these appear frequently on eBay, or you can download digital copies  - if you would like me to send you them, let me know. I'm not sure either will help with your specific issue - I'd suggest showing it to an Alvis expert, depending on where you live (plenty around the UK Midlands)  There is no workshop manual. As well as the Culshaw book wheich Richard recommends (essential!), there is a "50th Anniversary Collection" of technical articles on 3-litres which the AOC is planning to re-print soon, so look out for that.   Otherwise, you could post the question on the AOC/Avis Cars Facebook pages and see what answers you get.  I hope that helps  Philip Posted by Philip 26/09/2018 10:49:07

Mike,        As Philip says, the wood block is standard. I too am 6' 3" tall with a very long back and have had no headroom issues in TD, TE and TF, saloons or dropheads. "Motor Trader" Service Data Sheet No. 343 covers the TD 21 Series 1 - comes up sometimes on Ebay or specialist booksellers. Posted by DeaneHarding 26/09/2018 11:08:44

Thank you gentlemen.  I shall look out on eBay for these publications. The seats on my car have been refurbished at some stage so perhaps they were "overstuffed".  I shall make sure that any modifications can be easily reversed for future owners of this car. Posted by Firstseadog 26/09/2018 14:40:51

I am the excited new owner of TE21 # 27177.  One of the reasons I bought it was that I fit - mostly.   I am  - or at least once was - 6'8" so I have picked the wrong hobby.  I intend to remove the wooden blocks under the driver's seat (I did the same thing on my Jensen Interceptor with excellent effect) and attempt to move the seat track back 3 inches or so.  I'll report back on how all of that works out.