Coupe to convertible seat modification
June 8th, 2018, 09:50 AM
#1
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Fox Valley, WI
Posts: 259
Coupe to convertible seat modification
Hi everyone,
I have a ‘70-72 coupe rear seat(straight sides both seat bottom and back) that I want to modify to fit my ‘70 442 convertible. Having a tough time justifying finding and cost for convertible seat if we can make this work. Who’s done this? Suggestions on how you did it? Anyone have dimensions for convertible rear seats? Plan would be to cut seat frames and reweld back to fit dimensions to fit spacing and for new seat covers I already bought that are correct. Any help is greatly appreciated!
I have a ‘70-72 coupe rear seat(straight sides both seat bottom and back) that I want to modify to fit my ‘70 442 convertible. Having a tough time justifying finding and cost for convertible seat if we can make this work. Who’s done this? Suggestions on how you did it? Anyone have dimensions for convertible rear seats? Plan would be to cut seat frames and reweld back to fit dimensions to fit spacing and for new seat covers I already bought that are correct. Any help is greatly appreciated!
June 13th, 2018, 07:23 AM
#4
Ben
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Snohomish, WA
Posts: 1,824
I have dimensions written down for a 70-72 convertible back seat- though I'm in the middle of moving so it may be a bit before i can dig them out.
The upper cushions is actually quite a bit different than the hard top upper cushion, not just narrower side to side, but its Thinner too.
Not to say that it cannot be done- but you will definitely be earning every penny that you will have saved by not just buying one. I've looked into doing this before as finding good back seats is becoming a challenge.
BTW... you don't want to weld the seat spring edgwires (the 9ga rod that runs around the perimeter of the seat) once welded they become brittle and break. I've taken apart many seats that have had this kind of "repair" done to them and have to fix it right. The proper way is to just rebuild/bend a new edgewire rod and clamp it into place like the original was. Then it can bend and flex with the seat movement as it was designed to do.
The structure under the springs of course does need to be cut and welded back together- but you will need to keep an eye on the locations of the rods that actually attach the spring to the car. cutting a frame in the middle to section out a few inches will move those mounting positions so the seat won't be able to catch the floor and rear pan hooks... so you have to consider those when sectioning. It would be better to cut off each side section it and weld it back together again, ensuring the rods that catch those mounting hooks on the floor and rear panel will still be where they should be.
Anyway- Just a few things to consider.
The upper cushions is actually quite a bit different than the hard top upper cushion, not just narrower side to side, but its Thinner too.
Not to say that it cannot be done- but you will definitely be earning every penny that you will have saved by not just buying one. I've looked into doing this before as finding good back seats is becoming a challenge.
BTW... you don't want to weld the seat spring edgwires (the 9ga rod that runs around the perimeter of the seat) once welded they become brittle and break. I've taken apart many seats that have had this kind of "repair" done to them and have to fix it right. The proper way is to just rebuild/bend a new edgewire rod and clamp it into place like the original was. Then it can bend and flex with the seat movement as it was designed to do.
The structure under the springs of course does need to be cut and welded back together- but you will need to keep an eye on the locations of the rods that actually attach the spring to the car. cutting a frame in the middle to section out a few inches will move those mounting positions so the seat won't be able to catch the floor and rear pan hooks... so you have to consider those when sectioning. It would be better to cut off each side section it and weld it back together again, ensuring the rods that catch those mounting hooks on the floor and rear panel will still be where they should be.
Anyway- Just a few things to consider.
July 8th, 2018, 11:56 AM
#8
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Fox Valley, WI
Posts: 259
Anyone have exact dimensions? My seat at yard here was a bust. Told me seat was "solid", but needs new covers.p(as one would imagine). Get there and car has tree growing thru floor pans, but rear seat bottom looks ok. Seat back is another story: springs rusted clean through. As soon as I touched it I knew. There's 4 hours of travel and time spent for nada. Back to either cutting coupe seats or locating A-body frames here semi-locally. Tough weekend.
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