Stock seat brackets mounting to Procar seats

[68 Sport Satellite]

My car is a 1968 Satellite with stock bucket seats. The seats have been restored and they have decent support, but I've ridden in a few other classic Mopars with aftermarket seats and I'm thinking about installing either some Procar Elites or the Procar 1680's so I can get a higher seatback and also adjustable recline. Some side bolstering is a nice bonus. I'm a thin build guy, 5' 10".

Below are example photos of the Procar Elites and Procar 1680's. Let me know which you prefer and if it's for a reason more than just looks (comfort, adjustability, fit, etc). I would love it if one of these seats not only offered recline, but also up/down height adjustment after the seat is mounted (meaning, adjustment while driving like in a modern car, not with just moving bolt hole mount location). Can anyone confirm if height adjust after mounting is possible with either of these?

Procar Elites (not my car - this is a Dodge Charger)

Procar 1680s

A few years ago I swapped in some bucket seats from a 2004 Honda Civic since I found them cheap. They were decent and more comfortable than my stock seats and really helped my back on a 15 hr drive road trip, but they didn't look right in my car. I remember when I installed those I had my friend John help me fab up some custom seat mounting brackets to make them work. He's a very good mechanic and craftsman and it took about a dozen trial mounts, removal, tweaking, re-mounting, measuring. It was an all day affair and I didn't really enjoy it one bit. I'm glad he helped with the fab and fine tuning. Anyway, I prefer not to go through that again. I was all set to order the pre-made Procar mounting brackets that are supposed to be car model and year specific, but I've read countless bad reviews reporting that the brackets are not good to go right out of the box for our B-bodies and almost always require modification to make them work. So my new plan is to use OEM seat brackets and mount to the Procar seats. Has anyone done this and have any cautions or advice? At a glance it looks like to mount to each seat it's just 4 bolts and the brackets mount to the floor pan with the other 4 bolts for each.

Below is a photo from the repop seat track assemblies offered by Classic Industries. The photo view is looking top down so 4 corner holes shown are the ones that mount to the underside of each seat. I was thinking to remove my current stock seat track assemblies from the stock seats and mount them to the new Procar seats, then wrap up the stock seats and put in storage. Good idea?

 

[Bird 426]

I wouldn't, but it's your car.

 

[davek]

Modern seats

Are these Challenger or Charger seats? How'd the rear fit when done? I'm looking at doing something similar in my 72 satellite. Nice! I like it!

www.forbbodiesonly.com

 

[68 Sport Satellite]

http://[URL][URL][URL]https://www.f...ads/modern-seats.178308/page-3#post-912245390

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thanks, I've already read that thread and others. But what I haven't seen are reports and pros/cons of someone using modern seats mounted to the original seat tracks.

 

[68 Sport Satellite]

I wouldn't, but it's your car.

why not? It won't fit without modifications or you just don't like the look of modern seats?

 

[davek]

thanks, I've already read that thread and others. But what I haven't seen are reports and pros/cons of someone using modern seats mounted to the original seat tracks.

I used a set of dodge daytona sets in my 69 charger when I was younger. I did use my original tracks and had no problems mounting them to the seats. I think I had to drill one hole in each track.

 

[68 Sport Satellite]

I was also reading elsewhere I may be able to use the original tracks by adding 2 pieces of flat steel strip stock 3/4" wide x 3/16" thick to drill the mounting holes.

 

[Coelacanth]

I was also reading elsewhere I may be able to use the original tracks by adding 2 pieces of flat steel strip stock 3/4" wide x 3/16" thick to drill the mounting holes.

That might've been my post. I am doing this with my '70 Charger to mount some Procar Sportsman recliners. They aren't the nicest of the Procar seats but I got them for a fraction of the cost. Adding modern seats to old muscle cars isn't a bad idea if you're not a purist or have a show car; the modern seats have better lumbar support and the side "wings" to keep you seated when cornering (or doing donuts?).

I didn't want to change or mess with my original seat tracks. Doing some careful measuring, I found that 2 steel rectangles (per seat) could be drilled, with one set of holes for the seats and another set of holes for the tracks. They might need a thick washer or two to prevent obstruction with the sliding mechanism, but certainly not much. I have my welder neighbor making me the plates and I'll do the hole drilling myself. Hope to install the seats in the spring.

 

[Kern Dog]

Fitting non stock seats does take time. The shape of the floor pan was accommodated by the engineers in regards to get the stock seats to sit level and square. I don't know of any bolt in seats that fit these cars with no modification except original seats.
There are guys that love the look of original stuff while also having no interest in going around corners fast.
That isn't me. I do like the look of the factory seats but they are inadequate at holding you in place in the turns. We switch to radial tires, electronic ignitions and 3 point seat belts so why not improve the seats? For many, it is the styling that looks out of place. I do agree, the modern seats can look out of place in some classic cars. I've seen Rick Ehrenberg's articles about this subject...He wrote of a set of seats he modified for his '69 Road Runner. He took the stock seats and had foam buns that were not flat like original but instead had raised edges and sides to provide much better lateral support. They had stock appearing vinyl skins so at a glance, they looked stock.
I went with Dodge Neon SRT4 seats in my red car...

They do look different from stock but they are far more comfortable and they hold me in place. I can drive for hours and get out feeling as spry as I do in my truck. The stock seats looked nice but had almost no lateral support.

 

[68 Sport Satellite]

thanks guys.
I've decided on the Procar Elite 1100.