Bluevista

I'm looking for a set of power bench seat floor mounts for my '71 Vista Cruiser, same as the Cutlass. Not sure what other years will interchange , '68-'72 at the least I would think. It's the thing the #4 ground wire is attached too in the illustration.
They're spot welded to the floor so they'll have to be cut or chiseled off or the floor section cut out to remove them.
The power bucket mounts are different than the power bench mounts so they won't work.

If anybody has a car with the mounts accessible and could measure the height from the floor the the top of the rear mount perch I could probably fab some if I can't find any. I think the front of the seat mounts in the same place in the front as the regular bench so the rear mounting position shouldn't need to be measured... I hope.

Thanks,
Allan

wel181.jpg

2blu442

Allen, my 1971 flat top had a power bench seat that I pulled with the plans to go to buckets. If someone doesn't privide the measurements for you first I can take photos of the floorboard mounting brackets. John

Bluevista

Thanks John, that would be great.
They don't look too complicated to make, just need that rear height, pics would help a lot.

MDchanic

Not to sound dumb, but are you sure there's a difference in mounts?

My experience is limited - I changed the bench seat in my Chevelle to buckets in the early eighties (both non-power), and all I had to do was drill holes for the inboard bucket mounts. I've got a power base for the driver's bucket hanging on the wall in the barn, and the bottom of it looks just like the bottoms of the manual brackets. I may actually install it this year, so I guess it would be helpful to know whether I might encounter unexpected problems with it.

- Eric

Bluevista

I'm 100% sure on the bench seat that it's a different mounting for power bench. The regular bench mounts directly to the floor pan in the rear like the front, it has no floor brackets.
If you change from a bench to buckets you normally have to weld or bolt in an inboard bracket from what I know. You may be able to drill holes and mount the seats to the floor but it's not the way they're supposed to be according to the Fisher manual.

You have to change the manual buckets seat floor mounting brackets to power seat brackets if you switch over, they sell both types so they must be different.
The power seat mounting points are closer together/tracks are shorter by a few inches I think.
Measuring your power base and then your manual seat base would be one way to find out for sure if I'm full of it or not.

MDchanic

Well, that would explain it.

When I was a kid I didn't need no steenkin' manuals!

I'll measure it up when it thaws and figure out what kind of bracket I need.
Wonder whether that would explain why it's always felt as though those buckets sit so low?

- Eric

2blu442

Hey Allen
The PO of my wagon must have been short as there was a spacer between the seat and floor mount. Check out the photo...

P1010254-1.jpg

P1010255-1.jpg

Buuuuuuuut to accomplish this they decided to cut the studs down shorter

P1010256-1.jpg

I took some rough measurements and have more pictures posted on the photobucket site.

http://s90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...cpZZ2QQtppZZ20

I got to thinking, since I'm going to put buckets in here I might as well (uh oh.... here it comes!) remove these and weld in the correct bucket seat brackets. How soon are you wanting the brackets? It feels like the threaded studs are just that, a flat head attached to the underside of the bracket. Would you want to mess with removing them and putting a bolt or stud in their place? I think the best way would be for me to scrape off the black tar like stuff and use a small grinder to grind away the tack welds. What do you think? John

MDchanic

Thanks for those pictures, Blu! They may really help me down the line.

-Eric

Bluevista

Hey John, thanks for the pics and info!
That eliminates the confusion, it looks like the height follows the same plane as the manual track mounts.

Oh no!... The mightaswells have struck again!

Those brackets would be really nice to have, would save me a lot of headache and I would appreciate it immensely, but I don't want to give you a big headache either John.
If it doesn't look like a major project to remove them and it won't mess up your floor pan that would be great.
Don't want two big holes in the floor the shape of those mounts if they won't come off any other way.
I can't have them or something I cobble up welded in until the weather gets nice anyway so no rush if you want to tackle the job, usually not until late April around here.
Just cutting the hole in my million dollar seat for the switch will take me a month to build up the nerve to do all by itself.
I'd come over and do it myself if I could, I'm planning to go out there on a hunting trip someday, how many of those elusive northwest cars can you legally bag during the auto hunting season?
I'll need an experienced gun bearer and a work crew of natives to pack my supplies if you know any.

MDchanic

Just one question, 2blu,

What is the height from the floor of the bases of those brackets - the flat part that the seat bracket sits on? Looks like maybe an inch or so?

Also (okay, two questions), this is for buckets in an A-body, right? And are the two rear mounts the same height, and are the two front mounts both at floor level?

Okay, maybe that was four questions...

Thanks,

- Eric

1001coins

the parts place sells bench seat power brackets

Bluevista

The brackets John took for me are for a power bench seat, not buckets.
This explains it a little better than I can for manual bucket seats, the guy says the power brackets locations are basically in the same location but the rear mounting points are closer to the front of the car by a few inches.

http://www.buickperformance.com/buckconsole.htm


You can get the brackets at The Parts Place ond others outfits like them, all the A-bodies use the same ones as far as I know.
They also have the manual brackets for the left or right, power buckets only the left side.

These are for power buckets, left side set.
bucketbracket.jpg

Manual bucket seat floor mounting brackets for both sides.
manualbucket.jpg



Be great if they do.

I'm sorry but I've searched all over their site and I can't find them.
Could you post the link or direct me to the page they're on? Or are they in a print catalog?

MDchanic

Yeah, I looked at those pictures already, they will be a big help setting up the power bucket seat.
The BuickPerformance info is good, too. Funny how I never knew there were any special brackets - I just bolted my seats in years ago and never thought about it again.

I'm interested in the power seat details as well because I want to put a power unit under the seat of my '73 Delta convertible. I'll probably have to cut the seat out of the junkyard car I'm planning to get it from, so I'll need to be sure to get that part of the floor, even if only to use as a pattern.

Just planning ahead...

Thanks,

- Eric

2blu442

Allen, if you don't find one sooner and can wait a couple months that would be great. Right now I'm trying to get rid of a couple parts cars and clean up the clutter back of the garage. I'd like to focus on the "keepers" this spring/summer if I can get these others out of the way.

Here's a couple pictures of a 1968 Cutlass floorboard with the power seat brackets attached. This is what I had planned to put in the wagon. The repop pictures you posted Allen look pretty darn close! John

P1010295-2.jpg

P1010296-2.jpg