Seat Springs?
 

I have a '65 LeMans with bucket seats. As I am preparing to recover them, I have been thinking about the springs. These, like every other older bucket seat I recall sitting in, seem weak compared to the vehicles manufactured in the last 30+ years.
So, I have 2 questions.

1) Is this just age or were the originals not as stiff as they seem to be in more recent cars?

2) Is there something I can do to stiffen them up?


Thanks in advance.

I re-did all the springs in a bench seat for my 64 Tempest. I really didn't have much to work with in the beginning. The foam was terrible and the cover over the driver seat was non existent. I was really concerned about the springs being too weak as I would about hit the floor. With no foam or cover I would bottom out on the bench. I added tie wires across the spring and put in zig zag helper springs along the sides.
What I learned is the vinyl and foam make a huge difference in how stiff the seat is.

I had to remove all the helper springs. The seat is still very firm.

My advice is just make sure you don't have any broken springs. If you do repairing them isn't all that hard.

So

I replaced the driver's seat bottom and back springs on my 64 a long time ago with reproduction springs that were available at the time. I hope they are better these days as mine never felt right. The bottoms were okay, but the backs stuck out forward at the top into your neck. Tried to correct it with tie wire, but was never right. Ended up getting and replacing an original spring for the back and it was much better. Maybe think about just replacing the bottoms, as they do the most work bearing our..... weight. I do believe that these seat springs were soft from the factory and likely get worse with age. As Rohrt stated, you can use the foam to stiffen them up a bit and make sure you don't have broken springs. Good luck.

I haven't been able to see any damage to the springs. I was pretty much just hoping that someone would say "Oh yeah, here is a simple (inexpensive) way to stiffen them up". I may just be stuck with the seat not feeling right as I have always been a big guy (6'4") and as I have gotten older my mass has increased a bit.

I would try and reach out to rambow in the interior tech. He is very knowledgeable and was doing interior work on the side. Not sure if he is doing it still, but He is very help and probably will share his knowledge. I was going to do my seats and buy stuff from him, but I got sidetracked with mine for now. Good Luck…

This is a great resource site. Look for posts from DanTwoLakes. He is a great resource.

https://www.hotrodders.com/forums/interior.20/

Here is a very detailed thread posted by Rambow about rebuilding 1964-65 seats (probably should be a sticky over in interiors).

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...highlight=1965

Nice read, hopefully your post helps.