Changing from swivels to plain buckets

by lagunaman Wed May 13, 2015 12:35 am

I have a 73 Laguna with swivels seats . I love the seats but hate the swivels . I feel like my head is an inch away from the headliner . I feel as though I am on top of the steering wheel and close to the pedals So I am looking for a seat guru . My thought was to change the swivel hardware out for regular bucket seat hardware . Will my bucket work on just regular tracks ? I to keep original as possible .Would buckets from another GM just bolt in ? Someway to lower the stock seats ? Thanks

by Limey SE Wed May 13, 2015 12:39 am

I have seen a lot of Guys go with Pontiac or Olds ( grand prix and or cutlass ) Buckets and love them, And No the swivel seat bottom is specific to the swivel seat since it has the Swivel attachment made into the seat itself.

by Joe73 Wed May 13, 2015 6:04 am

Ive seen reupholsters add improper shaped or too much foam when recovering seats. Then you sit too high. Seats almost look like they have benn "overinflated".

by Roadcaptain S3 Wed May 13, 2015 7:17 am

I would look into 70s Camaro seats. I'm pretty sure GM used the same high back bucket frame and base in NUMEROUS cars throughout the 70s and into the 80s.

Wally will likely chime in soon...he's kinda the local interior guru.

by knightfan26917 Wed May 13, 2015 7:31 am

Joe73 wrote:Ive seen reupholsters add improper shaped or too much foam when recovering seats. Then you sit too high. Seats almost look like they have benn "overinflated".

Yep, I've seen that, too. A guy I knew had a '74mc with swivels. Had them redone ... & had to have them redone again b/c they were overinflated. He thought about switching out seats, but loved the swivels too much to switch to non-swivels.

Cort Smile

www.oldcarsstronghearts.com
1979 & 1989 Caprice Classics | pigValve, paceMaker, cowValve
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by Joe73 Wed May 13, 2015 7:40 am

Pretty easy to tell if they have too much "psi". Lol. They dont look right.

by thatfnthing Wed May 13, 2015 8:47 am

You can always weld the swivel plate and stop the swivel motion, but that doesn't solve your height problem. Impalamonte on this board swapped his for some awesome Pro Car seats -- that might work for you:

swivel-bucket-replacements

by dynchel Wed May 13, 2015 9:02 am

I have '76 cutlass salon buckets in my '74. They match the interior perfectly, but would be (assume) hard to come by nowadays. Mine were in the car when I bought it, along with the junkyard recipient from their purchase from 1986. Best part is they recline

by lagunaman Wed May 13, 2015 9:26 am

This is some great info guys !!! I wondered about the bases being a straight bolt in from these cars . Kind of like to stay with GM since they seem to be a closer match to the general shape . I saw a car on here that had the newer GM buckets and it looked great .

by SSTOOLMAN Wed May 13, 2015 10:17 am

Hmmm. This is strange, I am 6'4" and my head is no where near the headliner. Dumb question: are you sure their mounted correctly/not raised?

by Dinomyte Wed May 13, 2015 10:25 am

Swivel buckets mount different than regular buckets.

Regular buckets will have 3 mounts that attach to the floor, the rear outboard one will mount on top of the lower seat belt retractor just like a bench seat would. Actually the outside belts are the same for NON-swivel buckets and benches, and the inside ones are the same for all buckets from the same year.

Hope this helps.

by Keith Seymore Wed May 13, 2015 1:53 pm

I removed the swivel portion under the seats in my car for weight savings.

My seats are sitting on 4" aluminum channel (with the plastic cover reinstalled).

You might try something similar, to adjust the height yet preserve the seating surface.

K

Changing from swivels to plain buckets 100_0441

Changing from swivels to plain buckets 100_0441

Changing from swivels to plain buckets 100_0442

by Limey SE Wed May 13, 2015 5:50 pm

http://chicago.craigslist.org/sox/pts/5022515985.html

by Mcarlo77 Thu May 14, 2015 9:08 am

I don't think there's anything wrong with the way your seats are mounted. I would agree with the headroom seeming to be tight. Sitting in my Monte, I'd say maybe an inch and a half of clearance...and, I'm of average height (6'-0"). However, I don't get the feeling of being pushed too far forward. On the contrary...I sit back in the seat and everything feels comfortable to me.

one option not discussed is to find some power bucket seats out of a '73-'77. They also mount to the floor on all four corners and could utilize your existing mtg points and seat retractors.

by lagunaman Thu May 14, 2015 10:55 am

My problem is that A lot of my height is my torso . I am also 6.0 but in most cars that have a electric seat I am able to lower the seat .I appreciate the info keep it coming .

by Tom77 Thu May 14, 2015 3:07 pm

Before I went to the swivels I got a pair of leather full electric buckets out of an 05 Monte Carlo that bolted in with little effort and even wired to the car. Really liked those and got the pair for $50 at pick a part.

by sportster_restorer Sat Jul 30, 2016 6:55 pm

How did you mount the 05 buckets? I found a pair of 04 Grand Prix Gtp seats for a great price. Driver's seat is 6 way power. Did you cut off the old mounts and weld on some new ones? It looks like the GP seats (pretty much the same as MC seats) have sliders that are WIDER than the stock swivel buckets mounts. These 04 seats don't use a front fastener, the go into a slot in the floor on the GP.

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Changing from swivels to plain buckets

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