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| Sebring Seats https://slantsix.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=61911 |
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| Author: | '67 Dart 270 [ Sat Feb 03, 2018 9:05 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Sebring Seats |
I finally (after they sat on a shelf for years) installed my Sebring seats. Here is a link to the photo album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/151192512 ... 291284659/ Since they have integrated seat belts, I fabricated the floor mounts super heavy duty. On the mounts near the tunnel, I used 1/8" thick 4" x 3 3/4" steel plates, both inside the car and underneath. I made sure to smooth the edges of the plates so they won't cut into the sheet metal in the event of a collision. I used 1/4" thick steel for the base where the main rails bolt on. I bolted them with 3/8" grade 8 bolts. Also, as an extra safety measure, I bolted short seat belt straps to each bracket and mounted in the factory seat belt anchor points. Almost everything is bolted, there are only a few places where welds were necessary for fitment reasons, but I used tack welds a lot to hold the pieces in place while fitting things together. The only way I could get the seats to fit, and not cut and modify the floor, was to use the angled portion where the factory seats bolt and then fabricate cantilevered rails for the mounts near the tranny tunnel, that matched the angled portion of the floor pan. I am 5' 9" tall and nearly all the way back, they fit me perfectly. They are a little higher than the factory bench seat, but OK, I like the feel. They are very comfortable and a firm. If you are like 6' tall or so, this mounting configuration would probably not work for you. In that case, I would mount them a bit further back and maybe cut the angled section out of the floor and fabricate something a bit lower. I POR15'd the floor after some wire brushing, laid down dynamat sound barrier, then 1/8" dynaliner, then new carpet. You can see how I wired the control unit inside a center console. I don't like the cup holders in the console, but it fit perfectly and was deep enough to hide the control unit below a false floor in the console. While I was in there, I dynamated back to the rear deck, wheel tubs and made a new board for behind the back seat and used 1/2" dynaliner on that. I'll have my factory rear seat upholstered to try to match the charcoal leather of the Sebring seats. I got the seats at a junk yard for $200 including the control box. They gave me the rear seat to match, but it was way too narrow compared to the factory seat. Even if I had fitted the rear seat and fabricated new armrests to take up the space, it was a narrow seat (came from a convertible). I think the factory seat will be better back there. I'll have to stiffen it up when I get it upholstered, as it is currently way to mushy. I had planned to do this after I fixed the leaks in the front and rear glass, but I had some time over Christmas so I went for it. Being an optimist, I did all this work before actually testing the seats functions. BUT, I was happy to find out that they work just fine. I wired them to an extra fuse box according to these instructions: http://www.corvairkid.com/sebring.htm You can see that the driver side seat has more clearance (as that floor pan is wider than the passenger side), but the passenger side seat fits fine. The armrest on the passenger side just touches the seat when the door is closed and the seat is all the way forward (which nobody would ever do, it'll most likely be 3/4 to all the way back for most people). Happy to share more specs or whatever if anyone wants. Brian |
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| Author: | Louise76 [ Sat Feb 03, 2018 10:03 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sebring Seats |
How do those seats work out for head-to-overhead and distance to pedals, as compared to the OEM seats? What year Sebring are the seats from? I'm always looking for options, though the 80's and 90's Camaro seats fit pretty well for us. Your new interior is going to be lovely. P |
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| Author: | SlantSixDan [ Sat Feb 03, 2018 10:21 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sebring Seats |
Those look terrific—nice work! |
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| Author: | '67 Dart 270 [ Sat Feb 03, 2018 10:54 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sebring Seats |
There's lots of head room, it's the front to back distance given where I mounted them that I was referring to. I can measure if you like, but the main point was if you are 6' tall or so, then you'll want to mount the seats a bit more toward the rear of the car. This worked out well for me; I wanted to be able to put the stock seat back in if desired, so no changes to the floor pan except extra holes. If you read that Sebring seat article http://www.corvairkid.com/sebring.htm it provides all the information about year of Sebring etc. Certain years had the inertia module as a single unit, then later years it was split up into components in different places and harder to get to/work with. I think mine was a '98 model year. I wasn't sure if this would work, because the Corvair has pretty flat floor pans (like the Sebring). The A body has that angled ridge that I didn't want to cut out and so had to work with for fitment. Brian |
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| Author: | DonPal [ Sun Feb 04, 2018 11:47 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sebring Seats |
2000 is the last year before the seats became computer controlled so 99 and down is safe. The 2000 seat will work with a 99 controller. I've had sebring seats in my 65 Dart and my daughter's 65 Dart for more than 5 years with the 65 Dart rear seat upholstered to match with the following issues surfacing: 1) sebring seat (while in for upholstering) had the seat belt lock up and I had to go and show them how to unlock it to work on the seat. 2) bezel around seat belt keeps coming off over time 3) one motor failure Otherwise these have been great for function and comfort. |
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| Author: | 64 Convert [ Sun Feb 04, 2018 4:29 pm ] | ||
| Post subject: | Re: Sebring Seats | ||
I have '99 Sebring seats in my '64 Valiant and love them. They were relatively simple to install and wire. The only issue I had was understanding the belt release function, as there were so few swaps at the time, and I had no one's brains to pick.
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| Author: | jcc [ Mon Feb 05, 2018 7:45 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sebring Seats |
I have installed Sebring seats in two of my cars. Its a great solution. One upside seldom mentioned, in my 62 Lancer, they were a few lbs lighter, that surprised me. (edit OEM were GT Lancer buckets) As with the OP, getting them low enough, in that i like my seat low and back as far as possible ( think Stirling Moss) that was my biggest hurdle with brackets, and the fact the floor seat mounts are now also the shoulder harness mounting points, with a lot of added mechanical leverage. |
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| Author: | Dart270 [ Mon Feb 05, 2018 7:57 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sebring Seats |
Yes, very nice work indeed. Did you reupholster the seats, or were they that nice when you got them? I have used these in two cars, but am not now. Very comfortable and convenient to have the shoulder belt, but quite heavy compared to the CRX seats I have in the 68 Dart now. Interesting that they are lighter than some stock buckets... Enjoy! Lou |
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| Author: | '67 Dart 270 [ Mon Feb 05, 2018 8:11 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sebring Seats |
Wow, they look great in your '64, very nice color scheme as well. They are very comfortable, I have to say...I like that they are firm and not mushy like the old dart bench seat. They fit me well, at 5' 9" I move them up just a tad from all the way back, so as configured they would probably be OK for a 6' person, just not a person much taller. Because I used that ramped portion of the floor, they are highest (probably too high) when fully forward, but you'd never use that position as it is too close to the wheel anyway. Also, with all the sound deadening I did, the car feels completely different, so much quieter and I haven't even done the rear panels or doors or rear deck with sound proofing yet. It really changed the feel of the car, so quiet. Anyone want a '67 dart bench seat? I'm in CA though, I don't think you want me to ship it (seems like that would be a lot of dough). Funny side note. The Dart was down for like two months while I worked on this project. So, naturally (me being me) I let the battery run down to near zero and my FiTech TBI forgot it's programming. I recharged the battery, reset the programming and took it for a drive. It was running OK, but seemed to have a bad misfire. I had forgot #6 plug wire was off....I was doing something on the firewall and popped it off weeks earlier...duh. Slant runs pretty good on 5 cylinders, way better on 6 though. Brian |
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| Author: | '67 Dart 270 [ Mon Feb 05, 2018 8:18 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sebring Seats |
Thanks Lou, These are factory leather, I didn't reupholster them. I'll get the rear seat reupholstered to match them, charcoal vinyl of some sort. It was a gamble, the car in the junk yard had the seats covered in mold and dirt, but I looked them over onsite and could find no scratches or rips, so I bought them. When I got them home, I cleaned them for about 4 hours and was happy to find they were in nearly perfect shape. Brian |
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| Author: | '67 Dart 270 [ Mon Feb 05, 2018 8:20 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sebring Seats |
The driver side is powered and really heavy, the passenger side is not powered and fairly light. Together they are heavier than the bench seat that came out of the dart, but I'm not drag racing, so I'm OK with that. b |
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