Thread: re- doing seats help..

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Slantback... loose the conversion van seats.... you'll hate them ... the foam is not of a high quality and neither is the frame. plus they are to tall for the car... if you're going to try your hand at a pair of buckets to recover for the first time try a set of honda or old toyota seats... and if you buy the beer I'll come over and help plus get a good chuckle at a newbe trying to sew for the first time... kind of like watching a baby walk ... or try... gotta start some where !! LOL honestly the van seats suck and get the others I mentioned and buy extra material...

ps. thats a good looking sedan too btw

Found seats.. 99 Chev Cavailer. In real good shape. I have to pull them from the car. No tares, but not as dark as I would like them to be. Still.. $75.00 for both front seats, and they will throw in the back seat free.. Back seat folds down. Good place to hide a box in the back of the seat for valuables. Is there any real good seat covers?/, or is there a GOOD dye out there. I used that water based crap, and it made the material real stiff.. Al

Originally Posted by slantback37

Found seats.. 99 Chev Cavailer. In real good shape. I have to pull them from the car. No tares, but not as dark as I would like them to be. Still.. $75.00 for both front seats, and they will throw in the back seat free.. Back seat folds down. Good place to hide a box in the back of the seat for valuables. Is there any real good seat covers?/, or is there a GOOD dye out there. I used that water based crap, and it made the material real stiff.. Al

Check these out, a buttload of choices... http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trk...All-Categories

Originally Posted by randyr

Check these out, a buttload of choices... http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trk...All-Categories

Those seat covers may all suck, I don't know. You can also google for possibilities. Congrats on the seats!

Yeash. I saw the suede ones for $35., but even here.. You get what you pay for. Now which is better.. Seat covers for $35., or seat covers for $170.?? I have to pull these out, and shampoo them, and extract them to see just what I have. The back seat uses some sort of plastic clip to hold the seat down. You have to pull them straight up. The rear is something dofferent. I will need to take the whole works in order to retro it to the 37's back. The whole thing has to be oiled up to make everything work. Looks like longer tracks for the seats to ride on. That would make sence. The passengers side slides more than the drivers. I guess you can just push it foward from the back seat and the seat will slide for easy access.

When putting in new seat risers.. How does that work.. I heard that your sight should be just above middle of the windshield.. This right?? Al

Originally Posted by slantback37

Yeash. I saw the suede ones for $35., but even here.. You get what you pay for. Now which is better.. Seat covers for $35., or seat covers for $170.?? I have to pull these out, and shampoo them, and extract them to see just what I have. The back seat uses some sort of plastic clip to hold the seat down. You have to pull them straight up. The rear is something dofferent. I will need to take the whole works in order to retro it to the 37's back. The whole thing has to be oiled up to make everything work. Looks like longer tracks for the seats to ride on. That would make sence. The passengers side slides more than the drivers. I guess you can just push it foward from the back seat and the seat will slide for easy access.

When putting in new seat risers.. How does that work.. I heard that your sight should be just above middle of the windshield.. This right?? Al

It's safe to assume that a set of suede seat covers for $35 probably isn't going to be worth the time it takes to put them on.

As for risers, I'd say mock the seats up on boards/blocks in the car to figure out what is the most comfortable for you with your height, body type, steering column position, pedals, etc. Take into account anybody else who might be driving the car (like your wife) and make sure the seat can be adjusted so she can also drive the car comfortably. Then take your measurements and build your risers.

Ok.. I will start by using 2x4's under both tracks. if a piece of 2x4 worked.. Could I use that??, or would pieces of 2x4 steel conduit be the better?? I have even seen 13/16" sockets used on all four cornors.. Al

Originally Posted by slantback37

Ok.. I will start by using 2x4's under both tracks. if a piece of 2x4 worked.. Could I use that??, or would pieces of 2x4 steel conduit be the better?? I have even seen 13/16" sockets used on all four cornors.. Al

Personally, I would definitely not use wood for the seat risers or the sockets idea either. You expressed concerns for safety by insisting the seats have high backs so apply the same amount of safety concern to how the seat is mounted to the floor. You should also add a 1/16" or 1/8" steel plate under the floor at each mounting bolt on the front seats to reinforce the floor.

I have these washers under the floor made from 12 gauge steel. A grade-8 bolt goes threw each. I could even cut down that riser I have under the van seats now. I will have to see how high I sit first.. Al

I made my risers out of angle iron. I welded up a "box" with a slight angle (later remembering that the seats have a tilt adjustment ). Part of the problem I ran into is that the front holes on the seat slider are not in line with the rear holes (which are farther apart). In other words simply using 2x4 steel down each side of the seats would not bolt to all four holes. So this box lines up with all four holes. My next problem after thinking I was done welding and painting those boxes is that the two holes on each side closest to the doors do not have room for a plate under the floor. The front hole needs to be on the edge of the frame below and I think the rear hole might go through the frame, but instead of hoping I am going to weld another two pieces accross the bottom of the boxes so I can drill through the floor a little more towards the middle of the car and use the plates I got from Juliano's. Pricey, but they come with grade 8 bolts and probably saved a day of my labor cutting 8 steel plates and welding nuts on. I need to get this thing on the road!!

Just some of my own thoughts that may help you.

I have one by conduit under the floor. I went right threw it. Should be strong. Not sure with the new seats that I will be putting in.

I need to know about line of sight.. Where should I be looking when I have the new seats in?? If a line were in the middle of the windshield.. Where should my line of sight be??

Originally Posted by slantback37

I have one by conduit under the floor. I went right threw it. Should be strong. Not sure with the new seats that I will be putting in.

I need to know about line of sight.. Where should I be looking when I have the new seats in?? If a line were in the middle of the windshield.. Where should my line of sight be??

I don't know that there is a hard & fast rule on that one, Al. You'll just have to apply a little common sense. You know that the windshield isn't very tall. If you sit too low you can't see over the steering wheel. If you sit too high you'll see nothing but the top of the hood. Somewhere in between will be a height that feels right to you. Consider the side windows, back windows & blind spots, too. Try the seats at different heights using the temporary blocks until you find the one that works best, feels safe and looks good. Then build the permanent risers to mount it solid.

Is this to high??

Oh, and as far as the rear window goes.. I have a back-up camera. The little screen is mounted in the hole of the header panel.. Al