Chrysler Sebring convertible seats with integrated seat belts in 1971 Chevelle

[ACworld34]

Haw anyone installed these into a car before? How much space should there be from the door to leave room in the middle because the 1971 is a 4 speed and had a bench seat previously.

I wanted to put these into my chevelle. I was wondering about alignment because I will have to fab up some seat brackets to fit it in because of hump in the floor plan. The holes of course don't line up and would put the seat off center from the steering wheel.

I know if I drill holes in the floor plan i will need to reinforce.

I am just wondering about the alignment and how much gap should be between the door and the seat.

Does anyone know how much space between the seats and the door on the regular buckets?

[dontlifttoshift]

Two things.

You are going about this wrong. Gaps to doors or consoles are not important. All that matters is that the seat, when mounted, puts you in the optimum driving position. In general that means centered on the steering wheel.

Are you prepared to fabricate mounts in your floor pan to carry the load required? The integrated seat belt will do a fantastic job of holding you in the seat but that will mean nothing if the seat decides it wants to leave the car in a crash.

[ACworld34]

Two things.

You are going about this wrong. Gaps to doors or consoles are not important. All that matters is that the seat, when mounted, puts you in the optimum driving position. In general that means centered on the steering wheel.

Are you prepared to fabricate mounts in your floor pan to carry the load required? The integrated seat belt will do a fantastic job of holding you in the seat but that will mean nothing if the seat decides it wants to leave the car in a crash.

Yeah i realize that didn't make to much sense. I really wanted to see if anyone had any examples or expereince doing this before with after market seats that were not just drop into the factory bolts. I noticed that the seat wasn't centered to my liking if I use the factory bolt holes/

You are 100% correct on the gaps and centered position. I am definitely going to reinforce the floor pan to carry the load. I didn't want to buy aftermarket brackets and have to modify them.


I am concerned with the seat being level and the spacing for comfortable shifting. So i am mocking it up and will get everything welded down once i get the right alignment.

I will also brace underneath the floor pan with steel for the bolts which actually should be better than factory.

[Camaro68+69]

I installed 2018 mustang seats in my 68 camaro convertible, I made a template of the original hole location with some metal, then measured the distance f
In between the bolt holes and made some L brackets and welded them to the mustang seat frames, I installed the seats using the original bolt holes, all electric hooked up and are really comfortable,

[OldTimer]

Donny’s right about this. Once you’ve established that the seat generally fits where you want it for optimum driving position, you then would be best off modifying the Chrysler seat frame so it bolts down to the chevelle’s four seat mounts. I did this with 2000 Pontiac TransAm seats in my ‘69 Camaro. I removed the entire power seat track assembly and built a simple wooden frame to square up the left/right side of the seat tracks. I cut the rear legs off the tracks and made cardboard patterns of new legs that would line up with the original Camaro floor pan mounting. Used a level to keep things honest left right and fore aft. Welded up the new legs and then welded them to the lower tracks. The upright sections of the new shoes are welded on both sides of the original leg stump. Lines right up and I know that my new seats are in there as solidly as the OEM seats.

Here’s the seats installed.

[showdog75]

I put a pair of Cadillac cts front seats in my 63 Chevy II wagon. Obviously it's a ugly compromise being that I wanted shoulder belts in the car and comfort. I modified the cts tracks with 4 corner bolt tabs. I also reinforced the floor pan where the bolts are. If my seats come out in a crash the floor pans are coming out with then, lol. I'm still in the process of getting them recovered to match my red interior. I got a extra pair of belts/retractors so I can have then rebuilt and have red webbing verses having a upholstery shop dye the original webbing. I'm hoping that they look decent when finished.

[cdrod]

I fitted a pair of factory seats from a 2001 BMW M3 convertible and had them recovered to resemble the factory buckets. I'm pretty satisfied with the results. You must reinforce the floorpan where these seats bolt into the car; in an accident, the factory mounts were only meant to retain the seat, not the occupants. I built mounts out of 1/8" steel and reinforce the floor pan with several layers of 16ga sheetmetal and large washers that overlapped the floor braces under the body tub for strength. Here's some pics.

Rodney

[morrisclassic]

Morris Classic Concepts has 3 point retractable seat belts for Camaros & Chevelle body styles that bolt
into the body of the car. As always year and car Specific.
We have a Patent on the design.

Billy