What seat/vehicle to look for?

[vince72]

Another upgrade on my list bench seat with arm rest upgrade. I am having trouble finishing the right donor vehicle, I’d like non power seats, factory seat belt mounting locations, buckets with jump seat or bench is fine. I plan on purchasing brackets from Start or OBS outpost once I don’t the right seats. What are my seat options?

 

[someotherguy]

Plenty of options on the 1995-up GMT400 trucks; that's where you'll want to look for a seat that will be the correct appearance. The bench seats on the 1995-up design don't have a regular narrow armrest available, but there are two designs with a large fold-down center piece. The upper level trim one has a console in it but you'll find many of them have broken latches by now and get to where they're impossible to open. There's a lower trim model that is less common that just has a wide padded fold-down area that looks similar to the console but has no compartment to open. You may also find these in the rear of a crew cab. I had one like this in a 1995 extended cab parts truck; first time I'd seen one without the console compartment.

What I can't recall is if the bench with console is limited to the split bench seat or the straight bench. You'll want to be careful with the split bench seats; if it comes from an extended cab, the brackets will not fit your regular cab correctly and will require hacking.

Buckets and console are pretty easy though if your truck came with a bench you'll find yourself drilling 4 extra holes (2 for each bucket seat inner bracket) and the 4 holes for the console (transmission hump likely already has dimples to mark the spots) and then very slight hacking to attach the hardware, you'll want to use very large, thick washers to reinforce the holes you drill for those seat brackets so in the event of a crash, the bolts don't just rip through the floor. Tip: if you don't have a helper to hold a wrench for you while you're under the truck tightening the nuts, vise grips on the bolt head will hold just fine against the seat bracket as a "helper"

Richard

 

[vince72]

Is these a set that might work?

 

[vince72]

Here are better photos, I wish they were manual. I ready that I can just replace the tracks to manual will work?

 

[sewlow]

88-91 factory bench for a 400.
'92-'94 are the same, just with headrests.
Small driver side flip-down armrest. Can still seat 3 with it down.
They come in blue, red, grey or tan.
I find these much more comfortable than the '95-'98 style. Way more.

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[alignman88]

Here are better photos, I wish they were manual. I ready that I can just replace the tracks to manual will work?

I put buckets/console in my ‘88 out of a ‘13, the drivers is power passenger is manual. You only need a power and ground wire ran to the seats, and their is already the seatbelt buzzer wires ran to drivers side. You will need to cut the “legs” or risers off the tracks then either make brackets (a few pics of what I did are in my build thread) or buy from another member here that makes very nice seat brackets and console bracket Stark Fabworks.

C/K 1500 Seat Brackets

Seat brackets to adapt 2014-2018 Gm Truck Seats/ jump seat to the GM obs C/K platform. Full Kit Comes with Driver and passenger bucket seat brackets, Center/Jump seat bracket, all hardware needed for install. Front Buckets Only Option is available. Will come with hardware needed for install...

starkfabworks.com

 

[someotherguy]

88-91 factory bench for a 400.
'92-'94 are the same, just with headrests.
Small driver side flip-down armrest. Can still seat 3 with it down.
They come in blue, red, grey or tan.
I find these much more comfortable than the '95-'98 style. Way more.

You must be registered for see images attach

Weren't these just 90-91 (stripey material, no headrest)? I thought all the 88-89 stuff was that tweed-looking material. Could be fuzzy memory.

Richard

 

[sewlow]

Weren't these just 90-91 (stripey material, no headrest)? I thought all the 88-89 stuff was that tweed-looking material. Could be fuzzy memory.

Richard

As far as the various materials go, you're probably right.
All that OEM material is unobtanium, so I've never paid real close attention to the year specifics.
Throw on top of that GM's oh-so brilliant idea of gluing the covers to the base foam. If it's coming to me for a re-do, it's going to be 'custom'. With some aftermarket fabrics, I could get it kinda-sorta close to looking original, but it ain't.
Nature of the beast. No way around it.
I posted that pic just as an example of the early bench design.

*side note*
The seat's armrest is the same height as the door's. Makes for much more comfortable distance driving, especially for those with bad shoulders. (moi!)

 

[vince72]

I picked up the seats for my sway & emailed a few companies about the brackets. Anyone ever convert 4th gen chevy seats to manual from power? I plan on removing all the airbag and wiring to keep them old school
It looks like the seat covers can be removed and washer too, they have not rips and hoping they clean up nicely

 

[sewlow]

I picked up the seats for my sway & emailed a few companies about the brackets. Anyone ever convert 4th gen chevy seats to manual from power? I plan on removing all the airbag and wiring to keep them old school
It looks like the seat covers can be removed and washer too, they have not rips and hoping they clean up nicely

Don't remove the airbags.
Doing so will cause the foam to collapse into the void where the bags were, creating a poor cover fit.
Just leave all that wiring unhooked.