4-door seats in a 2-door?

[Mathius]

Does anyone have any experience taking a 4-door car seat and putting it in a 2-door?



I picked up a set of heated leather seats out of a '97 Cadillac Catera for $100, in pretty good shape. I got both the front and back seats. I thought that was a pretty darn good price.

Now I'm trying to figure out how I can put them in my '76 Malibu and still access the back seat.

A guy on Chevytalk who is pretty knowledgable said that any 2-door hinge from a GM car will probably fit a 4-door. This is right along the lines of what I was thinking, even if I have to go a manual setup.

Has anyone attempted this that can give me some pointers?

I never seem to have a lot of extra money, which is why I went this route.

I figure worse case scenario, I can turn around and sell the whole set and at least get my $100 back.

Mathius

[indyjps]

you have the car, you have the seats, how do they fit?

the front seats should be a bolt in physically on the original tracks, you may have to modify your floor to get them to sit level, the wiring may take some work.
Do the front seats fold forward. If not youre in trouble. you may be able to modify the seats with a hinge style like typical 2 door cars but theres a lot of engineering involved in making sure seats dont crush you in an accident so think it through.

the rear seats, who knows until you try. if you need to narrow them pull the covers back, cut out the portion of the seat to fit and restretch the cover, hog tie down. attachment points may be an issue I dont know how Cadillac attached them, if the car was in a yard you may be able to get the original style attachments, probably easier to come up with something of your own.
If they are too narrow just build custom rear door panels.

throw them in the car and post up some pics.

[Mathius]

you have the car, you have the seats, how do they fit?

the front seats should be a bolt in physically on the original tracks, you may have to modify your floor to get them to sit level, the wiring may take some work.
Do the front seats fold forward. If not youre in trouble. you may be able to modify the seats with a hinge style like typical 2 door cars but theres a lot of engineering involved in making sure seats dont crush you in an accident so think it through.

the rear seats, who knows until you try. if you need to narrow them pull the covers back, cut out the portion of the seat to fit and restretch the cover, hog tie down. attachment points may be an issue I dont know how Cadillac attached them, if the car was in a yard you may be able to get the original style attachments, probably easier to come up with something of your own.
If they are too narrow just build custom rear door panels.

throw them in the car and post up some pics.

No access to digital camera. The car is being stored at my mom's as well, no room here right now, but I did take some measurements before.

Bottom of the ack seats measured around 61" or so, and the interior came out to around 57" with the interior panels in. Back seat needs narrowed, OR sheet metal work to cut out the inner steel and patch in a bigger area, letting the seat extend into the quarter panel area. The back piece of the rear seats was one of those three or four piece deals that folds down into the trunk. I can probably make up some space there by not installing the center piece.

I didn't bother with the front seat, I figure whatever space they take up, they take up. Its just less room for a console. The floor pan is going to be re-done again at some point anyways. I repaired it using stock replacement pans, but I don't like the results. There is no room for mufflers to run a side exit exhaust like I want. I'm going to cut'm back out, run my exhaust, and build the floor pan over them.

My main concern is the hinge setup.

As I said before, a guy on Chevytalk claims I can just bolt up a 2-door hinge from almost any GM car and it'll work.

I'm not 100% certain what features the '97 Catera seats had as far as power goes. If they have power lumbar, I'm probably screwed, yeah?

I wish I could find some specs on the Catera's interior package, and a wiring diagram would be handy as well.

Mathius

[shizzy]

have you thought of adapting the slide and flip seat tracks off an old Bronco or Fullsize Blazer? im sure they are hella tall, but with some trimming you might be able to get the passenger side one to work. In any 2 door I have ever had all rear passengers got in and out on the passenger side anyways.

[Mathius]

have you thought of adapting the slide and flip seat tracks off an old Bronco or Fullsize Blazer? im sure they are hella tall, but with some trimming you might be able to get the passenger side one to work. In any 2 door I have ever had all rear passengers got in and out on the passenger side anyways.

Well, I don't need _that_ much room I don't think. I just need the seats to be able to flip forward like stock.

4-door's don't flip forward, because there are back doors for passengers to get into.

Mathius

[BulldawgMusclecars]

I once took a set of "PMD" seats from a 4 door Pontiac wagon (like the 82 TA seats...the Knight Rider ones with the hole in the headrest) to put in a Firebird, and the seats were identical (as far as the foam and covers were concerned) to the Firebird versions. I used the folding mechanism from a standard set of F-body buckets, and it bolted right up with no mods. Not sure if its possible with your seats, but the 80s stuff is pretty much interchangable.