Sebring Convert Seats in My charger

[dkn1997]

http://www.corvairkid.com/sebring.htm

That article has been on the web for a long time. Ever since I read it I wanted to do this swap. Seatbelt in the seat, power on the drivers side, and definitely more comfortable than the stockers. Also, since they came from a convertible, they fold forward for rear seat access. Unfortunately, the seats I got were white but I had a bitch of a time finding any that weren't 500 bucks. plus it seems like black wasn't a hugely popular color on these cars so the odds were against me. I will go over how I will handle that in another thread.. I have a plan.

Last winter I was finally able to score a decent of seats and the electronics. Just started working on the swap. A friend of mine works at a performance shop and has all the goodies at his home shop... so here is what I have so far.

first one is the donor, next two are the seats placed in the car. NO, I am not using wood for my seat brackets lol. I just wanted to see roughly how much steel i'd need to get them at the right height. 2 gen charger stock seats even sit pretty far off the mostly flat floor.

 

[dkn1997]

The seats are very similar in overall size to stock ones with the exception of the addition of headrest and seatbelt area that's raised up. Since neither me or my friend is a seat expert, I decided we should try to duplicate the stock factory mounting system. Frankly, I have seen some other installs of these that have me questioning if the occupants will survive a crash. the stock seat brackets are roughly .080 but it has a lot of indents and other stampings to it to give it more strength. so to be safe, I got a piece of .120 wall steel cut 4' x 1'. more than enough material for the job. You could drill out the rivets that hold the stock riser brackets to the seat track and use them on whatever seat you wanted. since repro seat tracks cost a small fortune and I may want to put the stockers back in some day, I chose to get my own steel and make them.

It's worth noting that while the floor of the 2nd gen seems flat, it's not. For seat mounting, the side of the seat closest to the console has a much "shorter" height bracket. Both brackets are also pitched. both higher in front that back...however the shorter inside bracket has a steeper pitch. I can measure the pieces we used for anyone who wants them. It was a bitch of trial and test fit because neither one of us is a math wiz lol.

Ok... pic of stock seat bracketss...and pass seat in mock up. we cut off enough of the sebring bracket to leave the sebring seat track intact and have a straight edge and the first side bracket is tacked on. After mocking this one up, we ended up cutting this down a bunch. everything below that black line got ax'd

 

[dkn1997]

Here is the somewhat finished passenger side: It looks crooked but it's sitting on a flat bench. As I said, the floor is not flat and the seat is level in the car. I can always correct any minor crookedness with spacers, going no thicker than the stock ones is my plan.

still to do:
- final welding, these are just tacked
- drill holes in bottom, install bolts, and tack them so they function like the factory studs
- make bolts longer and use large washers under floor since now the floor is responsible for supporting me and seat in a crash..no help from roof mounted shoulder belts.
- weld gussets to strengthen these brackets.
- wire up the G sensor, power motor wires, and seat belt locking control module wires.
- sand and paint new brackets with black wrinkle paint. I was going to drill holes in the side for that A body lightweight look but the brackets didn't end up having enough height for that

 

[dkn1997]

Once we final fit them, we will do some creative rounding and blending of the brackets for a more factory look.

 

[5.7 hemi]

You could roll some beads in those brackets to give it a more factory look. Awesome job by the way!!!

 

[dkn1997]

I like the idea of bead rolling, but I'm not sure there's enough there. It doesn't look it in the pics, but those side pieces are very short. I'm fired up. I hope that we can just duplicate the brackets for the drivers side.

 

[dkn1997]

Been working on them some more. drivers seat done, have to add gussets and trim pass seat, then grind. I didn't bead roll, but we did gusset the front of the bracket (tall, the rear of brackets is short so I don't think it needs the extra bracing)
also cut some curves in the bracket to make it look more factory, though nobody will ever see it. At least in 30 years when the next guy is removing them he won't think I was a hack lol.

 

[dkn1997]

The last two pics are of the covers I got for them. they slip over the factory covers. I wanted to put factory black covers on but they are huge money, I've seen them for 6-800. I got these from a place called iggees of ebay. 179 with free shipping. Not leather, but neither is the rest of the interior so who cares. the pattern is actually pretty retro and they are "loose" enough that I'm gonna play around with adding some extra bolstering.

I drove home with the drivers seat in and It's way better than stock. I still have to run relays/wiring and hook up the g sensor/int light door switch and ign switch to the controller so belts lock and unlock the right way. I think we made the brackets for this one a bit short in the front, but I'm going to add a spacer to make up for that.

 

[mmmtasty_2000]

Hey cool swap, I am currently looking for some of these seats from an 08-09 for the same reason. They have a much smaller shoulder on them that the seatbelt attaches to. Although the seat foam is much boxier I think It will look good after it is recovered.



Did you delete the seatbelt? In the pics after you got the cover it is gone. If not have you been successful at dying it?

 

[dkn1997]

Hey cool swap, I am currently looking for some of these seats from an 08-09 for the same reason. They have a much smaller shoulder on them that the seatbelt attaches to. Although the seat foam is much boxier I think It will look good after it is recovered.



Did you delete the seatbelt? In the pics after you got the cover it is gone. If not have you been successful at dying it?

those are just test fit, I still have to cut the hole for the seatbelt. I didn't dye the belts and I might not. I have the drivers seat in the car, but it's gotta come out because I'm changing the carpet and also sound deadening with some Ramaat and home made lizard skin: long story lol... so I'm not much further along than in these pics.