Installing Late Model GTO Seats in a 2nd Gen, 1970-1981 Trans Am | Camaro

[oldguy]

Installing Late Model GTO Seats in a 2nd Gen, 1970-1981 Trans Am | Camaro

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Here's our process for installing late model GTO seats into a later model 2nd gen Trans Am | Firebird or Camaro. The vehicle shown is a 1981 Trans Am with T-tops.

The 1974 and later F body's present a little more work due to the cat hump on the drivers and passenger side floor pans. The earlier cars had pretty much a flat floor pan.

As we wanted to get the seats to sit as low as possible in the car, we had to remove the factory GTO power seat assemblies and utilize the trans am seat rails.

Here's a couple of images of the factory trans am seat rails installed and lined up parallel to each other.



You'll notice that the factory seat rails are higher on the inside tracks than the outside tracks and that GM then recessed the outer seat mounts about 1". You could use two sets of seat tracks and re-weld an outer track to replace the inner track if desired. This would give you an additional 1 inch clearance overall when installed.



The next image is of the factory GTO seat frames stripped down, with the power base removed. In each corner of the base is a pressed in bolt which you will have to drive out.



As the inner factory trans am seat track has the raised portion we had to make 1" spacers to allow the seat springs to clear the base with enough room for spring movement. You could use a 3/4" spacer if desired. This would give you an extra 1/4"



Again, if you modified an additional set of factory bases, you could lower the seat an additional 1"



All tacked and ready for rough testing for clearance.



Simple 1" square tubing to raise the GTO seat frame on top of the factory trans am seat rails.





The image below shows the bottom inside corner and the clearance between the seat base and cushion spring.



The seat frame finished welding. The factory frames and rails are unpainted and therefore rust. We coated everything with ospho and then sprayed a satin black on everything. You'll never see any of this, but why not do it right?





View from the front showing how the GTO frames interact with the factory trans am rails.



As an FYI, if the factory foam is a little worn on the drivers side, the passenger side foam is identical and they can be switched.



Seats all back together for the umpteenth time and fitted in the vehicle. We did test fit many times to assure we had enought head room.



Side view showing height. Both seats aligned perfectly to each other and square.





Drivers side clearance to outer sill. Door panels clear perfectly. We will have to trim the GTO seat plastic at the bottom however.



Passenger side clearance. Ugly shoes optional.



In conclusion the fitting of the seats went great. Plenty of headroom for both. If this was a coupe instead of the t-top version there would still be plenty of clearance. The author is 6'3"and my head room is excellent and does not go into the t-top area at all. You could pick up another 1" of headroom if needed by modifying the factory TA seat frames further.

The GTO seats are now manual adjustment front to rear. We did keep the electric seat back tilt feature however as well as the seat heaters..

All in all, fairly straightforward to do.