I am nearing completion of a "bench to buckets" project. I'm doing it all by myself, so it's been a lot of "learning the hard way", but it looks like the end result will be very satisfactory. I do have a question about the seat adjusters for the forum experts. I bought my core seats off eBay. They were supposedly out of a 1969 Grand Prix, and after tearing them down I am sure they were, in fact, original to that model. The seat adjusters arrived wrapped separately from the seats, and I'm not so sure about their origin. As you can see in the photos below (after I cleaned them up and painted them), they are somewhat different. The "driver" side adjuster is longer, has a straight lever, and 2 mounting bolt holes at the "rear" end. The "passenger" adjuster is shorter, with a "bent" lever and 1 rear mounting hole. They appear to function equally well, with the same number of adjustment stops. They both release by pushing "forward" on the chrome knob, and the knob ends up being in about the same location on the "outboard" side of both seats. The 2 other sliders that go on the inner sides of the seats are the same length as the "driver" adjuster, so it appears to me it's the "passenger" side adjuster that is the "odd" member of the set. So my question is: what did the "odd" adjuster come off of, if not the 1969 Grand Prix? Will it work OK for my purposes (the seats are going into my 1970 Skylark)? I can't see any obvious problem, but like I said, I'm a amateur at this stuff. Any info about this mystery will be much appreciated. Thanx.
I'm in the middle of a bench to bucket conversion myself. I was curious what my levers looked like compared to yours. My seats are originals out of a 70 Olds 442. The seat tracks are original also and have never been removed from the seat frames. My tracks and levers are exactly the same as yours. So this mismatch appears to be intentional from the factory. However I don't see what the purpose is. Maybe an interior expert can enlighten uso No:
You have a mismatched set of pedestals....one is from a bench seat and the other is from a bucket seat. I believe the longer one is from a bench seat car....you should also notice a slight height difference between the two.
Randy: Thanks for the response. Glad to hear I'm not the only one with mis-matched levers. Like you said, hopefully some Interior Guru will have an explanation. I was checking out your car at your V8Garage. Very nice ride! Our cars are quite similar - same original external color, same interior color, same basic equipment, and many of the same mods. Great minds think alike. I need to get my V8Garage page filled out, and some pics uploaded. Will put it on my "to do" list. How's your "seat change" project going? I just put the finishing touches on my buckets this past weekend, and "Yes", I do realize they are not the proper pattern for Skylark seats. I'm not restoring my car, I'm just making it look the way I want it to look. I chose this pattern (1970 GTO) because I like the "shape" of the seat cushions better than the Buick shape, it was available in Sandalwood, and it goes well with my original (excellent condition) door panels. I also decided to use Dark Saddle carpet instead of Sandalwood, and so I painted the plastic seat panels to match the carpet. This week I'm working on getting the brackets welded in, and the floor prepared for the new carpet. It's a lot of work, but I can't wait to enjoy the new seats! Here's how mine came out:
Chuck, Thanks for the compliments about my car. Yours looks great too. Nice shiney paint (wish I had that). I like the seat covers you picked. They look good to me. According to George, we both have a mismatched set of sliders. I find that hard to believe since my buckets are supposed to be and look original. As far as I can tell they've never been recovered (but still in good shape) and the hardware has never been removed. I'm going to look at my bench seat sliders to see if there is any correlation out of curiousity. Keep up the good work!
Randy, I had the exact same idea: I've got the original bench seat from my car sitting out in my garage, so I'll just go take a look at the adjuster. Which I did. And then I pulled it off, and took some pics (see below). Now, I would be the LAST person in the world to contradict George N., especially when it comes to Buick trivia... But the fact is, the adjuster off my bench seat does not match either of the adjusters on my bucket seats. It is obviously different from both of them. It has the extra arm for the wire that connects to the release on the passenger side of the bench, plus the front leg is noticeably longer than the rear one (as George said it would be). Unless there are several different versions of the bench seat adjuster, I would say this puts George's solution to the mystery in doubt. Another clue: My bucket seats are both sitting out in the garage, and they both sit perfectly level on the concrete - so I would say the legs on my two different adjusters are the same length. Whatever that means...
Interesting the heights are the same for the two pedestals from the buckets........bench pedestals are a different height than bucket brackets. Also, the release arm curves/runs further out to clear the bucket seat "skirt" vs the bench seat which doesn't have it......possible there is a variation....but I have done about 10-12 bucket seat sets and every pedestal was the same length as the one on the other side of the same bucket seat. Maybe someone else has more info on it....I learned something new today!
Tip Of The Hat to George Nenadovich George, Since you seem to be following this thread, let me take a moment to thank you for your many contributions to the Buick community. In particular, I found your advice about re-building and installing bucket seats to be invaluable. I recently undertook the task of converting my car from bench to buckets, and without the help of your online tutorials, I would have been lost. The diagram showing the precise location for the brackets, with measurements taken off the sill plate screws, is absolutely essential to this project! I set up my brackets exactly as detailed in the diagram, had them welded, and guess what?...my buckets fit onto the brackets perfectly! The seats are straight, parallel to each other and the car centerline, perfectly centered in all respects, and look great. Thanks for your help! If anyone reading this thread is contemplating the "Bench to Bucket" project, I would like to recommend the links below as required reading. The first 2 are by George N. at his website. The others, courtesy of our A-body brothers over at "Team Chevelle", address some of the problems (and solutions) one might encounter when attempting this conversion. All the links are extremely helpful! http://www.buickperformance.com/bs.htm http://www.buickperformance.com/buckconsole.htm http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=236734 http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=192782 http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=118256
Update on Mystery Adjuster I was looking through a old (2009 edition) National Parts Depot (NPD) Chevelle catalog last night. I came across a entry for their Part # 11561, Actuator, Front Seat Slide, Bucket. It's a new reproduction for '68-'72 Chevelles. Guess what? It looks exactly like the "short" adjuster in my set! (photos in first post above) The catalog photo also shows the inner (without lever) track, and it is the same length as the adjuster. In my set, the inner tracks are longer - they are the same length as the "long" mystery adjuster. So perhaps the shorter of the two adjusters in my set originally came off a 68-72 Chevelle bucket seat? But that still doesn't explain the origin of the "long" adjuster on my seats, unless it is some kind of weird bench seat adjuster, as suggested by George N. Who knows...
