51 Ford pickup

[wfo guy]

The Dodge Dart seats don't like me. I needed to do something different so I bought a 1987 Dakota bench seat. I had bolted it in but this is some more of the story.
This is today's 1st project. The seat was disassembled to facilitate cutting the foam. The shifter needed clearance for 2nd, 4th and reverse. There is a shot of a front mount bracket for the seat. I'm going to drive it for a while before recovering it. I want to make sure this one allows long trips without pain.

[Gojeep]

I have improved the comfort of a stock seat before by just adding a layer of high density foam from a camping mat over it. Building it up under the thighs also helps taking weight off your behind too!

[HotRod47]

Track looks good!

[wfo guy]

Thanks, Glenn.
Gojeep, that's what I did on my 32 where I used a minivan seat. I don't know why the Dart seats hurt me. It may have been the density of the foam or just how they sit. The back on modern seats is pretty thick for safety reasons and that limited for and aft room. The bench is already more than 2" farther back and I'm expecting that to help. I'm aware of the age factor also. As in "my age".

[wfo guy]

I was going to put fog lights in the 2 areas where the bumper brackets used to be. I couldn't find any I was happy with so I moved on to the next plan. Me being the ex-dragracer, I thought a push bumper might work. This is an abbreviated version of that. I used an old 2.75" diameter drive shaft. The mounts are 2" x .375" flat stock. When I mitered the shaft, it had twist in it that I had to deal with. It will be painted when it warms up. The question is gray or white?

[linkstar69]

I think that looks neat

[Protour_Pinto]

Your truck turned out pretty sweet, Needs some Good Humor stickers on the doors!

[Gojeep]

Match the grille colour for sure.

[wfo guy]

Thanks, everybody. It was almost unanimous for gray. Only 1 person thought white would be good. It will be several months before it warms up enough to paint. I will not look at it until then when I walk by.

[wfo guy]

This will be the last update unless I find a coyote sitting in the drive. I got tired of looking at the rusty bumper. This was quick and dirty. I blasted it and shot primer and color on it. If this grows on me, later it will be removed and some filling done and reshot.

[keepat]

Good choice on painting the bumper gray. Looks great!
Pat

[wfo guy]

The dakota seat I installed had original upholstery. Yesterday it was time to fix that. This is the stopping place for the day. i had to clean up the shop to put my wife's car in. The forecast has a possibility of hail. There is several small items left to finish. You get the idea what it's supposed to be like.

[wfo guy]

I spent several more hours on the arm rest cutout. I quit unless I have a better idea. I'm going to make some covers to shield the tracks and mounts from the door ends. That's another item that I need a good idea for.

[wfo guy]

I have noticed that some of these threads disappear without closure. In case there might be some curiosity about how this has ended, it's in regular usage. It's close to 12,000 miles. I took it to the 50th NSRA nats in August. Didn't quite make 20 mpg for the trip but there was some extended idling periods getting around Louisville. That was almost 1900 miles round trip. It has proven to be a wonderful driver. In case anybody wants the condensed version, this is a link to a video that I did so people wouldn't spend too much time seeing if anything was worth looking at in the build thread. https://youtu.be/u7Vno_9-ejU

[Motown 454]

I just watched your video, wow forgot how much you did to it! lol Glad you got to enjoy it as much as you did. It came out great.

[chunger]

Thanks very much for posting the update. Too many threads here that just stopped. No idea what happened to them.

Good job - now you get to enjoy the best reward - just driving it!

[jaybee]

I've enjoyed this project from start to finish. Thanks for sharing with the rest of us.