New Member - 72 Jimmy: Project Knuckledragger mountain commuter

[blazin]

i just used some flat iron drilled the holes so i could use the factory mounts.. then welded the seats to the flat iron and painted the metal black....done!! works great i can still pull them if i needed to. o they are 2006 chevy leathers.
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Because every adjustment on these seats is power I can't even check seating position until I get them wired up. I'll put power to them tonight and try and move them into a position that will make the mounting easier.

I'm not sure how I'll mount the passenger seat. It doesn't look like it has any way to tilt forward so I may adapt it to work with some of the original forward tilt hardware. After I get the driver's mounted hopefully I'll have a clearer picture.


Matt[/quote]

[snowblind]

Originally Posted by blazin

i just used some flat iron drilled the holes so i could use the factory mounts.. then welded the seats to the flat iron and painted the metal black....done!! works great i can still pull them if i needed to. o they are 2006 chevy leathers.

I wanted the seats as low to the floor as possible so I cut off the factory 02 brackets. Personally I don't feel comfortable with the factory mounts holding the seats + seatbelts + me in place during a wreck.

Originally Posted by blazin

I'm not sure how I'll mount the passenger seat. It doesn't look like it has any way to tilt forward so I may adapt it to work with some of the original forward tilt hardware. After I get the driver's mounted hopefully I'll have a clearer picture.

My passenger seat doesn't tilt but I welded the mounts as far backward as I could so it will move as far forward as possible. With the seat all the way forward there is enough room for kids and small people to squeeze though.

[blazin]

i can see cutting them to make the seats lower.. but im sure the factory mounts are safe or why would gm make them like that?

Originally Posted by snowblind

I wanted the seats as low to the floor as possible so I cut off the factory 02 brackets. Personally I don't feel comfortable with the factory mounts holding the seats + seatbelts + me in place during a wreck.



My passenger seat doesn't tilt but I welded the mounts as far backward as I could so it will move as far forward as possible. With the seat all the way forward there is enough room for kids and small people to squeeze though.

[snowblind]

Originally Posted by blazin

i can see cutting them to make the seats lower.. but im sure the factory mounts are safe or why would gm make them like that?

GM didn't make them like that.The factory mounts are only designed to hold down the stock seats. The stock seat belts bolt to the rear bulkhead and the seat belts are what hold you in place during a wreck.

Your new seats have integrated seat belts but you no longer have the bolts connecting them to the rear bulkhead. In doing this you have bypassed at least half of the original mounting strength.

Just to be clear - When I say "factory mounts" I'm talking about the holes in the floor that you screw the seat mounting bolts into for 1972 blazer/jimmy seats.

[blazin]

sorry.. i was talking about the NEW seats mounts that you cut off. didnt realize you were talking about the floor mount. so how did you get the strenght back? did you some how bolt them to the bulkhead?

Originally Posted by snowblind

GM didn't make them like that.The factory mounts are only designed to hold down the stock seats. The stock seat belts bolt to the rear bulkhead and the seat belts are what hold you in place during a wreck.

Your new seats have integrated seat belts but you no longer have the bolts connecting them to the rear bulkhead. In doing this you have bypassed at least half of the original mounting strength.

Just to be clear - When I say "factory mounts" I'm talking about the holes in the floor that you screw the seat mounting bolts into for 1972 blazer/jimmy seats.

[snowblind]

Originally Posted by blazin

sorry.. i was talking about the NEW seats mounts that you cut off. didnt realize you were talking about the floor mount. so how did you get the strenght back? did you some how bolt them to the bulkhead?

I think I have your setup pictured in my head... The 2002+ seat rails are riveted to mounts/brackets that line up with floor indentations in the modern trucks. You took these mounts/brackets and bolted them to metal that was welded over the old mounts of your truck. Am I correct? If you did it that way then it might even be a little weaker that using the stock bolt holes/bolting through the floor.

I'm not trying to bust your balls here. On my truck the torsion boxes are gone so I have a really good view of the underside of the floor. That sheet metal is thiiiiiiiiin. The stock seats have angle iron welded in to span the space between the mounts but even then my passenger busted a hole in the floor just from being set down over the years. My biggest worry is that in a wreck the rear seat mounts would just rip the floor up like a beer can.

I put some 1/4" steel plate on the underside of the floor under the rear mounts to spread the force out but it still worries me. For true piece of mind I want to reinforce my mounts with angle iron that spans from the trans tunnel to rocker and then ties back to the rear bulkhead. I don't think it needs to be super heavy duty if it spreads the load over a large enough area. I hope to replace my rockers and torsion boxes this summer. I'll be doing my reinforcements then.

[snowblind]

Here's a few exterior photos.








And the new shroud with dual 12" electric fans from www.classicheartbeat.com.