Bench to Buckets...need help!!!

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superdart

superdart

Shade Tree Tinker Gnome.....
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Ok, I am installing Procar racing seats in my '75 Sport. It originally came with a bench. I have both seats, but only the left bracket as of right now, the right side should be here next week. I tried to mock the bracket up in the car, and I don't see how this bracket (which is supposedly specific) fits in my car.

Dumb question, but is there a difference in floor boards between bucket and bench cars? I can get 3 mount points to sit on the floor, but the front left point is in the air. I don't have a bucket seat car for reference off hand. I'm assuming that I am doing something wrong.

There were no directions with anything except a very generic pic of how to mount the adapter to the seat.
 
You should find 4 dimples in the floor on each side. The dimple/hole spacing is a little different on each side of the car. If your brackets are truly specific to the car, each one will be a little different. The outer dimples are near the bench seat risers. If you drill through those they'll already be reinforced underneath. The inner ones (near the trans tunnel) are not reinforced and you should do something to reinforce them. The floor is not flat so unless they made the brackets in a way to compensate for that you may need to add spacers.

I did an aftermarket seat install recently and have pictures on my site that might make things clearer for you. www.70duster440.com Go to my "Repairs/Mods" page.
 
OK, I found the inboard dimples. I think I found the outboards, but either a spacer is needed, or I need to install the bracket at an angle, and compensate for it in the seat mounting. Each seat setup has three different mount points. If I use the bottom point on the inboard and the top on the outboard, it might level the seat.

After looking at your site, the setup looks as though the brackets I have "should" work. Maybe I have the right side bracket!!

Thanks for the info on the reinforcement. I thought it was needed, but wasn't positive.

Any other ideas?
 
The inboard holes are about 1/8" lower (as you can see the floor drops slightly there). So unless your brackets are interfering somewhere (like near the riser) they should sit pretty flat - a washer or two on the inboards would take care of it.
 
i had the problem when i put 72 challenger seats in my cuda, the bolt towards the front and to the right(sitting in seat) is about 1-2 inches off the floor, now if i add a spacer the stud still wont be long enough to go threw anything, and how does this look with carpet, i dont want it to look all tachy but i will probably go for some of those racing seats like you went with superdart, cheap, look good, i believe they were 250 for 2 cheaper then just seat covers alone :lol:
 
70Duster440, The page is awesome and VERY informative. especially the part about the drive shaft tunnel being offset.

I was in the process of putting in some seats from an avenger and measured, measured, fabbed some brackets welded the driver side in and went to use the brackets that I had made for the passenger side (made all the brackets to the driver side measurements) DOOHH!!! and lo and behold crap doesnt fit!!!!:angry4:

My own fault for assuming....

again project looks great!!
 
player1up said:
70Duster440, The page is awesome and VERY informative. especially the part about the drive shaft tunnel being offset.
Click to expand...

Thanks man. Yeah, it's interesting what you find in the way of Chrysler engineering that otherwise isn't real obvious.
 
OK, it's not the passenger side. If I try to line it up on the dimples the left side of the bracket is sitting on the trans tunnel.

There is no way a flat bracket is going to fit the driver side. The outboard dimples are a full inch lower than the inboard dimples. In the pic below, you can see the driver side bench seat riser (front of car to the left) and the dimples in the floorboard. I think they gave me the wrong bracket. According to Summit, these are suppose to be direct fit brackets. I will get with Procar when I get up in a few hours.
 
I got of the phone with SCAT. I emailed them the pics, with the bracket in place. Their bracket fabricator is trying to tell me they have only designed brackets for "factory bucket cars" and haven't developed brackets for a bench car yet.... HUH? Unless they are using part of the original bucket assembly, there is no reason to use different brackets.
 
Wow, I see what you're talking about now. The floor in your '75 is significantly different than the one on my '70. I wonder why the factory made such a radical change. I'll bet your brackets would work in an earlier a-body. Nevertheless, I would either return them and fab your own, or modify the ones they sent to work. I think you're going to want to keep the seats lower than higher - like maybe cut the inboard mounting tabs off and reposition them up and extend or space the outboard ones to level it out.
 
The odd thing is that my passenger side floor is shaped just like yours, according to your website. Hopefully the passenger side will fit fine. They specify the brackets are for 67-75 only. NOT '76...so I am wondering if I have a late 75 model with a 76 body? That would be just my luck. In the above pics the bracket is lined up perfect on the inside dimples. I would need to shim the outside by 1.25" on the rear tab, and about the same on the front. I think some square box channel will do the trick.

Seat height will be the deciding factor. The seat is designed to be mounted at different heights to the bracket, so I think I can make it work without too much work.
 
I believe the floor is shaped that way on the drivers side for catalytic convertor clearence.If you look at the reproduction four speed hump they are designed off of a later model a-body (to fit the buldge) and have a gap when you use them in an mid 70s or earler car.You have to hammer them down to make them work-dont ask me why the aftermarket cant get things figurerd out!.
 
That would make sense...forgot about the emmissions stuff (E-Z to when you have none).
 
It looks like major fabrication is in order. I can't use the seat bracket at all, as it makes the seat WAY too high in the car. I will need to modify the seat sliders and mount the inboard side directly to the floorboard.

I almost sent them back to Summit, with the intent of just getting a set of Corbeaus. But I talked with them and emailed pics, only to find that they don't make anything that will either.

Apparently I will have to fab no matter what I buy, so I guess I'll keep what I've got.
 
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