No response from "Technical" Forum, so maybe "Cosmetic"--installing bucket seats

I have nice clean bucket seats from an 88 Honda Accord, and mounted the driver side into my mav. It sits nice and straight, and firm, but I had to use varying types of mounting brackets and spacers, and think it looks "less than professional".

Could some of you please provide pics or suggestions on how to mount these seats so they look like I know what I am doing?

 

Don't know what to tell you other than trial and error fitting. Maybe try a set of tracks off another car in the junk yard. Go walking through the yard checking out how other car seats are mounted. Then weld, cut or grind yours to make them look at sit like you want,
clint

 

Mount them so you feel SAFE, don't worry about the cosmetics. You could always fab an aluminum cover to cover the brackets. Not standing there looking at your car, it's hard to say what you need, trial and error will always be part of trying something different.

 

The suggestion to fabricate a cover...GREAT suggestion! Then I can keep the strong (but ugly) mounts I have made, but they can't be seen.

When I took the seats, I took the tracks with them. But, they have turned-down bolt holes and mount in places where the bumps in the Mav floor don't match. I have used various brackets and spacers to fill in the bumps. A chunk of 2X4 was a perfect spacer for one corner. Definitely not the kind of work I want to show off...

 

get that wood out of there and replace it with aluminum. Just go to your local fab shop and ask if they have any chunks laying around you can have for a few bucks. If you're lucky they may even drill the hole in it for you, so have a clear idea in your head of what you need it to look like.

 

Just knowing the seats are from a Honda wouldn't be happinin in my Comet. Like courier said, you can find spacer stuf at fab shops. Try like welders or metal fabricators listed in ph book near you. As much as I hate Pep Boys, they do have some really nice aftermkt bucket seats, I think you can special order the colors too. Last time I looked at them they were like 150 ea. Currently I have escort gt's and they fit with minimal problems and the head rest looks really cool. They are excellant for taller people though cause they sit you down low. Dude, for someone who is talking cutting coil springs and adjusting ride heights and stuf, I think you can handle a seat install problem with minimal efforts, unless those Honda seats are really posing a problem greater than the worth. Don't compromise a good (safe) seat for low budget. Remember, your wife is going to be subcontiously judging what you have her sitting on, and you might get lucky to ride in the back seat:evilsmile .

 

I am pretty sure I can handle the seat issue. I don't currently have a welder, and if I did, I would still want these bolted to the floor for removal sake.

On the first one, due to the various bumps and humps in the floor of the Maverick, I had to make all kinds of crappy brackets for the front to make it sit level. I mean "level" with a carpenter's level placed on the seat and the bubble perfectly centered.

It looks good from afar, and feels nice, but without carpet or covers over the brackets, it looks like crap. The rear bracket on the hump is fine. the front ones...

 

i would find a good local fabricator and have him build a set of mounts.that set-up with the square tubing is not safe and will not hold up in an accident.the seats look like they are nice but i would go to the junkyard and get a set of ford buckets they will mount in better.

 

Ask someone on this forum if they have a set of Bucket Seat Tracks from a Maverick for the year your car is. Then adapt them to your seat. That I think would be the safest and best solution to your problem. But just my opinion

Mike

 

good suggestion mike.

 

Whoa. That's not gonna fly man. Burlap is right. You need to pitch that setup and start over. I'd pound the tabs that come down at a 90 on the front flat and start from there. Bolt the left front down straight to the existing hole and you should only have to space the other side up about half an inch or so to level it out. The back should be pretty easy to deal with. just poke some holes where you need them to be and make sure you support them from the underside with plates to spread the load out. A large diameter body washer is fine as long as it's fairly thick, but a 3"x3" square of 3/16 flatbar would be better. good luck.

 

Worked on the passenger side today. Approached it a bit different.

Bolted right to the floor with the outside one, then cut a piece of 2X4 to fit as a spacer with the bolt running right through the center, from top to bottom. On the first one, I tried to bolt the bracket down, then bolt the seat to the bracket. This one, I bolted the seat straight down, with the wood as a very long washer/spacer. Adde a washer inside to level it out.

Once I get the measurements correct, I will take out the wood and cut a piece of aluminum to match and replace the wood.

This one is going in quite a bit better.

At the back, I bent a piece of angle bracket to approx 35 degrees and bolted straight through the tranny hump.

This one sits about an inch lower. I will have to copy these mounts for the driver side, and start over on that one.

Thanks for the help.

By the way, anyone have any of those Maverick Bucket Runners that I could put in there? That is a good idea.

 

The Honda seats are VERY comfortable, and you can see in the lower pictures that they are clean and nice.

I am doing Honda a service by mounting them in an American MAVERICK!

 

seat brackets

i like the way the one bolts up to thefloor, but where you have the 2x4 in there why not put in a rectangle tube that runs the entire length of the seat?should only cost a couple dollars for a piece long enough.if you are in an accident a lot of force will be exerted on that bolt i would rather be over safe than hear about you going through the windshield.