how to install bucket seats

[DustinsDuster]

i know most of you would be able to pull off a swap to bucket seats from a bench, but im bored and i decided maybe someone without as much expirience might take something away from this, so here goes:

i'll start out with some before pics:
http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/101/l_350a11e878a24b47ac8acdda652a61f4.jpg
http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/36/l_8f60179d45b74305b09b8f1aae9acb85.jpg
http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/104/l_877e28a822534e48979f33712293472b.jpg

yeah, that thing has got to go..

heres the seats i got from CROWN:
http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/51/l_04a6943602794a6bbb0018e946208d0c.jpg

heres what i bought for hardware and fabrication: 30" length of 1"x2" 16g box steel, two pieces of scrap 1/8th inch thick plate steel, some Grade 8 3/8"x1" bolts, nuts and lock washers, and not pictured is a can of undercoating from O'Reilly's.
http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/17/l_55d051efd2ca445fb2a28389b0db3397.jpg

depending on what car/truck youre working on, you might need different supplies, but this should give you an idea of what youre working with.

just four bolts and the bench seat is out:
http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/16/l_73901560a4dc4fc3865307bbe462087f.jpg
http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/104/l_f85ddd0e4dc14e63a6c702dd1a6f5f0a.jpg
http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/3/l_f7e7295d71d74a288767a691179b716a.jpg

a few more screws and the carpet is loose to come out:
http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/46/l_ee699a5298654f099535a378da46658c.jpg

when the carpet came out, i was pleasantly surprised to find a very minimal amount of rust on the floor boards. not bad for a 19 year old truck from the midwest:
http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/47/l_4dda1f837f3f4349b5936949e6f58080.jpg
http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/61/l_015f7e03ea7a4664b8a9a36af76f4b48.jpg

there was however one nasty surprise, and that was this rust spot right at the seam in the floor and right by the cab's mount for the frame. i didnt plan on having to deal with any of this today, so i'll just try to seal it up for now until i can get to it another day. at least the driverside isnt quite as bad. passenger side:
http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/44/l_49476da19e104a1e8eb12d85ea411447.jpg
http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/11/l_6e49aac751cf45cbb6634d74fdda6c61.jpg

driverside:
http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/27/l_462261fba711447dbeea4d6997e5d644.jpg

now i can get started on making the mounts for the seats. the seat rails are about 14.5" wide, so i used a chop saw to cut two 15" lengths of 1"x2" steel:
http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/34/l_6a0fa85765254857aff49afe09b54d0e.jpg

i also took this time to take a wirewheel to the peices to remove all the dust/grease/surface rust so the undercoating will stick better and theres less a chance of rust later on:
http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/55/l_92e459f9870841419dca6a41186f5b00.jpg

i used the seat rails to mark where i needed holes and drilled them with a 3/8" bit. then i put a nut and bolt through the holes so i could tack weld the nuts to the inside of the box tube. just be sure you dont accidentially weld the bolt to the nut...:
http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/103/l_ac7d4c05e7d846f7adcc8591b732e9f4.jpg

i used the original outside rear seat mount to locate the seats. then i bolted the mount to the seat rails and mocked up where i would have to weld the mount:
http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/10/l_1175cbc2cb514c448b098d80d7477ea7.jpg

i decided i could just use these bolts for the inside rear mounting point, and just bolted the scrap piece of plate steel to the floor so the seat rail was sitting on it, marked the hole to drill. after the hole is drilled for the seat rail, i put a nut and bolt in it and welded the nut to the underside of the plate:
http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/63/l_084ca1a932ba4068bff1f87ce8d48cdb.jpg

here are the two rails welded in. remember to take extra care stripping all the paint where you will be welding. my truck's cab is made of such mild sheet metal, that i had to borrow my friend's 110v welder because even on the lowest setting, my 220v welder was just burning through the floor:
http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/20/l_3eeeaecd0f3b4a3eac0f94310237e1b4.jpg

here's the stock wiring for the seatbelt saftey dash light:
http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/28/l_23f6f761f30a4c1dbe02bb471d4db05d.jpg

unfortunatly, the DSM seats didnt have the same plug, so i cut the wiring out of the stock seatbelt and splaced it into the DSM seat:
http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/34/l_1e13695ca7e34f3d87af5d047e503cf3.jpg

thats pretty much all for fabrication, so now i can put the carpet and trim pieces back in. the premolded carpet doesnt fit perfectly around the new seat mounts, but its good enough for now. i will probably replace the carpet a while down the road anyway.

since i welded all the nuts to the seat mounts under the carpet, i can use a soldering iron to burn a clean hole through the carpet for the new holes so the seats will bolt in like stock. heres the after pics:
http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/26/l_c7b0c5dd190b4461b9d4bb407e7c9991.jpg
http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/11/l_5ad5330dfde943fdb013722a71933ebd.jpg


i know the whole thing seems like a lot of work for very little pay off (when you could probably just throw the seats in where you want, drill some holes in the floor and run bolts throughthe floor to the underside of the truck), but i like how clean and easy it was to actually install the seats this way, and i know theyre sitting correct, straight and level this way.

as an added bonus, since my truck was built by Mitsubishi, the stock seatbelt buckets that are on the seats accept my stock truck seat belts.

hope this helps someone out sometime; im gonna get some sleep now.

Dustin

[Drifte]

awesome article. remind zac to add it to his other website of random car facts.

very similar to what i did for my old nissan truck. Except i had to weld in a big chunk of new floor and your right, they use some THIN mild steel for that. -weld in new floor, prime, undercoat, looks like nothing happened.

[TURBOWHT]

Nice write up. You did alot more work then i did. I just drilled holes and bolted it down. its a little crooked but doesnt bother me. Looking nice though.

[DustinsDuster]

yeah, i wanted them to sit as perfect as i could get them. that and im getting to be a bit of a perfectionist, especially when it involves my DD