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2005 GTO Seat install in 66 GTO
I know this has been covered in limited detail before, but I thought I would do a quick writeup on my experience.
I bought 2005 GTO seats last year and I am finally getting around to putting them in. My existing seats were in excellent condition, but not very comfy for the long haul. The 2005 seats were sourced from EBAY for a reasonable price and are in excellent condition. No rips, seam separation, stains, etc. I started by measuring the center point of the steering column and the 1966 drivers seat to see if the two are in line with each other. Using a plumb bob and tape positioned on the carpet in front of the drivers seat, I dropped a line down for each and made a comparison. The original seat measured 1/2" off of the centerline of the steering wheel. If possible, I wanted to correct this and make the seat perfect with the column. Because the 2005 seat track has some weird brackets on them to bolt the seats in the late model car, I cut the brackets off one of the tracks. http://i1010.photobucket.com/albums/...psc1585b18.jpg http://i1010.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8ddb2dce.jpg http://i1010.photobucket.com/albums/...psbd48b7b8.jpg The track was longer than it needed to be, so I cut a small section off and dressed the cut. http://i1010.photobucket.com/albums/...ps576b58f3.jpg http://i1010.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5564e518.jpg The other track just needed the factory bracket removed. http://i1010.photobucket.com/albums/...pse7e4fd26.jpg http://i1010.photobucket.com/albums/...psef0fe69a.jpg http://i1010.photobucket.com/albums/...ps25249674.jpg The tabs on the front of the tracks just needed to be removed. They serve no purpose. http://i1010.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3e22aaba.jpg 2005 seat tracks modified http://i1010.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3708c5c3.jpg I removed the original 1966 seat and positioned the 2005 seat bottom in the car and repeated the procedure with the plumb bob to see where the late model seat positions in the car with the humps in the factory floor. The 2005 seat tracks just cleared the rocker hump in the floor and no further modifications were needed for the tracks. The 1966 seat mounts in the car with 2 studs in the front that are welded permanent and a stud and bolt combo in the rear. Because the factory mounts are are closer together than at the 2005 seat uses, brackets were necessary to adapt the 2005 seats to the factory mounts. For the front of the seat track, the plan was to use some 1/8" X 1.25" flat stock to adapt the 2005 seats to the existing floor studs. I cut two pieces of stock about 3" long, transferred the holes from the 2005 seat tracks to the stock, drilled 5/16" holes and bolted the brackets to the the 2005 seat tracks. This was temporary until I had final position of the seat tracks dialed in perfectly. I put the seat base back in the car, aligned the seat to the steering column and marked the location for the holes that needed to be drilled in the adapter plates to bolt the tracks to the front floor studs. http://i1010.photobucket.com/albums/...pscd28bd56.jpg http://i1010.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7acad6a3.jpg Note...in order to make sure the track was not mounted crooked in the car, I used a large carpenter square against the outside edge of the rocker and measured the front and rear edge of the track to make sure that the two dimensions were equal. With the front mounts figured out, next was to address the rear mounts. Because these seats are notorious for sitting high in A-body cars, I wanted the seat to mount as low in the car as possible. Also, the seat needed to be high enough so that the carriage will not drag on the carpet. I powered up the seat and ran the carriage back and fourth several times. I determined that a rear seat bracket about 1" tall would fit the bill. The brackets were designed to mount to the tracks using existing holes in the track. When I fabbed up the brackets, I also welded in gussets to ensure that there would not be any movement. http://i1010.photobucket.com/albums/...pse4255fcf.jpg http://i1010.photobucket.com/albums/...psc489e7c3.jpg http://i1010.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3f79fad1.jpg The brackets bolt to the frames. http://i1010.photobucket.com/albums/...psfebe021e.jpg With the brackets secured to the tracks, I mounted the drivers set in the car for the first time. They look awesome. http://i1010.photobucket.com/albums/...pse3608647.jpg http://i1010.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1848eb98.jpg http://i1010.photobucket.com/albums/...ps72e6caee.jpg http://i1010.photobucket.com/albums/...ps0434066b.jpg More coming later with the passenger seat and the rear seats. |
Looking good bro.
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Looks great.How will you power them?will a relay be needed?
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Thanks for the added thread. I haven't seen this method of removing the brackets and removing a few inches from the rail before. How far back does the seat slide back now. Is it still enough leg room for 6'2". I don't like to bend my knees when I'm driving. Also are you planning on doing the rear seat mod as well
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Looking good! Do you think a big fella would be able to fit in there?
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Just 12 volts from the fuse block. All controls are contained I
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I have a friend that did this and I had no idea what it took top put them in correctly. His results were outstanding. Looks like yours will turn out the same way.
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I removed the short section of rail from the one side to make installing the brackets easier and more uniform . Also keeps the kids from hitting their toes on the rail. The seat has full travel in both directions. My neighbor is 6'+and i will have him try it out to see if his noggin clears the roof. I suppose if more leg room was required, different brackets would be required to move it back some.
Stay tuned for the rear seat mod. Quote:
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Man, I would love to chat about a few things with you. I have an LS3/T56 and trying to get some column quirks knocked out and seats.
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