80-81 TA Recline-able Seats? Stock conversions?
 

Ive posted multiple times on the hunt for seat options for 81 TA. Im sorry for redundancy here. Is it me or is there a huge gap between stock (40yo, too soft, blown out, non-recline, clunky) and the “race seats” everyone is selling? Ive read every post i can find. Not finding what im looking for. Is it possible to rebuild stock seats into reclining option?

I want vintage-ish looking seats that recline. No race car seats, no shoulder harness stuff. I dont weigh 120lb with size 28 back-side nor am i going to. Not building a race car.

My winter goal was to have some seats in this rig…. Im not making it.

Cant make stock seats recline.

I was in the same boat building my 72 firebird, didnt like the original seats & would have cost as much or more to restore than the aftermarket seats I went with.

The best option by far for aftermarket seats that look vintage & recline are the Procar ralley seats, heres a pic of mine, they have a vertical stitching that matches most mid to late 70's vinyl rear seats, I used 1980 rears, but most of all they fit very nice with side bolsters to hold you in and are very comfortable, thick but firm cushions. They arent exactly cheap around $350ea but you will spend that much or more to rebuild stock seats.

Other option is 1981 pace car recaro seats that recline... but very rare & expensive to find in good condition. Or seats from other cars like 4th gen firebirds, a friend of mine has used them in a 69 firebird pro tour, used the motor, driveline & seats from a 99 TA.

Do you know What version of recaro seats were used in the 80 Pace cars?

Recaros weren't used in 1980, was only for 81 pace cars. Not sure what version they were called, but they used the same seats in 79 pacecar mustangs too but had different color/type fabric covers.

Procar has a few different styles of retro looking seats, low backs without head rests that match other car models better but these look good in 2nd gens and many other cars IMO.

Another brand is called corbeu that makes seats similar to recaros but are also very pricey, close to $1000 or more for a pair.

I know a guy that put seats from a late model Nissan Z car in his 79 TA. They fit well and he even hooked the power up to them. Some guys will use a late model GTO seat as well, but with an '04 in the garage I have a hard time condoning parting those out, LOL.
Pro car is probably the best bang for the buck.

Racerinnovation reclineable seats?? Ebay store
 

Has anyone seen the raceinnovation seats in real life?

Why would you want to recline in your seat?

Fiero seats used to be quite popular;
You can buy replacement parts for them too.

Thrid gen seats recline and can be installed - you just need to swap seat tracks;
I believe that the 1981 Recaro pace car seats were virtually carried over into the early third gen Firebirds with the Recaro option - but I might be off on this factoid.

Fourth gen seats also swap in - as a matter of fact they are essentially the same optional sport bucket seat offered in late third gen Firebirds - albeit with different covers, and different headrests...

I believe that for a spell, it was semi-common to see that people had swapped fourth gen front AND rear sets into second gen Firebirds...

I hope this helps.

Lots of reasons to recline seats... mainly to adjust the seat position to whats comfortable for you... same reason why most all seats in later cars are reclinable.

Or when parked at night with a pretty girl you can recline back & look at the stars through the T-tops... or do other things. ;)

Or on a long road trip you can catch some Z's much better with the seats reclined vs stock seats that dont, did that a couple times driving my 81 pacecar home 1500+ miles.

It looks like someone figured out a way to recline the F-body seats

come to think of it, the mid 1970's GP had a factory reclining seat, and iirc those seats used the same foams as the Firebird.

Very cool, never saw that before, is that a HO racing kit?

Anyone got pics of whats involved to make stock seats recline like that? Must be a pretty involved mod considering how the rear of the bottom seats are shaped to stop the upper section from folding back.

Were there other Pontiac models that could? I seem to remember recently, seeing a vintage brochure from another Pontiac that appeared to have the same seat covers as what a 77 Trans Am would have, but it appeared to have power options.

HO Racing sold that deal. It amounted to a L shaped torn bit along with instructions to unscrew the thick outer bolt along with the plastic coated cable stop, & 5 or 6 hog rings from the back of lower cushion. Performed the trick on passenger seat of my 80 over 40 years ago. it's not real convenient, got to keep track of the big bolt & the washers.

The '75-77 pass side GP reclining seat is a better deal. Used to pull nice clean horse collar buckets in the pick n pulls & swap tracks on them from '75-81 Camaro's.

the other thing about the HO Racing seat recliner deal, it simply allows the top of the bucket to near fully recline, no locking at a certain level. Fairly simple deal though, once you've done the little modification, you can turn the thick bolt out with your fingers, no T50 or T55(?) bit required.

I have a 1st gen, but I went with 4th gen Trans Am seats. Cheap and readily available. Very comfy and they recline. The '69 seat tracks bolt on and the holes in the floor line up. I chose to eliminate the headrests and I sewed up new trims front and rear.

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...1&d=1744932673

$370 for both seats on eBay. (Racerinnovations) Do i dare? Even if i recovered for more period look?