Foam covered plywood was always a fast cheap alternative to factory refits or High Dollar customs... and the home made seats I've built in the past still left much to be desired as far as comfort was concerned..! Since I've been through 4 "Back surgeries" I wanted a comfortable seat that had the "folding seat" feature... the "strength" for mounting the seat securely to the floor as well as have secure seat belts. So I obtained a "FREE" seat from a Chrysler Mini van and started sizing it up for the roadster! I've sat in a bunch of "ILL fitting" minivan seats in Hot Rods... where the back fits well... but the base was a foam covered board or the really short "mid-van" base cushian where the whole damn thing is so narrow that half of your ***-cheek is falling off the seat...! I found that the "Very rear van seat" back cushian fit like a glove but the lower cushian was too rectangular and didn't follow the tapper of the roadster body and I was unable to close the doors. So I knew that I had to re-engineer the lower frame to fit. Ever notice that a "Whole bunch of designing skills comes from a whole bunch of dis***embly"...! I also learned that you never throw anything away until the job is finished...! After separating the top from the bottom frameworks I started the dis***embling the Material from the frame. This is easily accomplished because the auto manufacturers use a ton of vinyl slip strips and hardly use hog rings or other skill based fasteners...! And "Walla"... it's ready for separation...! Next I measure out the distance of the lower frame of the seat and then measure the width of my roadster floor at that point. It's a good idea to mark it about and Inch narrower so that you can account for material buildup on your door panels and the replacement of the material on the seat frame!!! When marking the frame... I marked out a "Pie section" to be cut so that the side pieces can be bent inward creating a smooth transition. Don't forget to take the spring webing out before cutting...! After making the initial cuts with the "Sawsall" I take the Die Grinder and cut notches in the channel so that they fit on the outsides of the side rails. After pushing the side pieces inward you just need to hammer the metal for the final finish go to the other side and repeat this proceedure and then you can weld or pop rivet your frame together. Re-install your springs and get ready to resize your Foam and material for recovering. I'll probably just cut the foam to fit and sew darts in the material... but you could just pull the material in place and "Hog Ring" it into the general shape and cover it with an "Indian Blanket" I'm looking for the most comfort on a budget... but that doesn't mean that I don't want it to look good...! I'll post more photo's as I finish this project...
Well I welded up the framework after squaring it up... I checked the frame for fit. Next I installed the spring system and placed it in the foam to mark and cut. I forgot to stop and take photo's of that process but what I did was to cut a Pie piece out of the foam so that I could glue the smooth edge piece back to the main piece so that the material wouldn't telegraph the serated cut. Next I stretched the fabric back over the frame and bolted the two frames together and put the seat in the roadster to recheck the fit , and see if My doors will shut...! (They Do...!) Since I'm no "FatLucky" the fabric is a little loose and it could use a better material... like "Metalic Roll and Pleated" vinyl... but I'm happy that it's very comfortable, solid, and it folds forward for storage access! Just thought I'd share this tip... This whole process took only 3 hours of work and one and a quarter of those hours were spent drinking 2 beers and cleaning the bench...! !
Looks good, wonder how well that would work in a sedan? more room inthe sedan I guess. Good job. What year van did you get that from?
I have the bottom cushion in my roadster with the original Model A seat riser. It lowered the height about 2" which is much more comfotable. I just removed the bottom brackets and sawed off th back rest of the van seat. I still have the original Model A Back rest . It fits real well with no other modifications. I used the center seat from the mini van.
nice tech Mark - glad to see you up and about...and working on the roadster...Will it be coming to the roundup this year? - Kyle
I used a seat that looked just like that one in my old rp. Had to cut it up a bit more though. Didn't even need any tools to get it out. Thinking about doing the same thing in my a roadster. Great tech, thanks for posting.
Yeap this is the easiest way to make one. My first Coupe I just cut it down the middle, the 34 truck I sliced the sides and made it fit the contour of the inner body , and the latest roadster I slit down the middle. Drove a few 10-14 hour trips with my skinny **** with no problems. And it saves you about 350.00 abose to the compe***ion. Just need to save up some money to have Fatlucky cover it for me
Nicely done. Clean and simple. Good pics, nice writeup. I'm curious if there are other mid-van two p***enger seats than the one I got out of a mid-90's Soccer Mom van. Did ChryCo make an even smaller van? Reason I ask is the bottom cushion - genuine two p*** seat - fits well in my 31 roadster and the bottom cushion seems about right. 17 1/2" long from rear (at the bottom of the back cushion) to front. 40" wide and it clears the doors by 1 1/2" on each side at the front corners. Once the doors are upholstered the seat should clear by a 1/2" or so. I built a low seat base for my seat and the seat tilts back a touch. I like a bit of tilt, but not too much. It comes close to duplicating the factory tilt. Was the fold forward feature on your seat workable right up front or did you have to do something? I understand some of the two p*** seats fold, but those might be later ones. There would be some nice advantages if the seat in my roadster folded, but that looks like it will take some re-engineering or a swap to a cut-down three p*** seat like you have. Gotta admit, I'm tempted. A pic attached so you can see the size of the seats bottom cushion in my roadster as well as get an idea of how much tilt. I'm 6' tall with a 32" inseam and the seat placement sets me up to where I'm looking through the center of the 2" chopped 32 windshield horizontally speaking. (Not a true 32 windshield, but 32 posts on the A stanchions . . . an easy swap and a home-made 32 style windshield which still isn't finished.) I have two inches more rearward adjustment available from what you see in the pic although right now it seems about right. (The adjusting setup is manual, requires R&R of four bolts.)
Thanks. I just realized the pics in my roadster show the seat tilted back a a little further than it ended up after the base was built. It was mocked up with wooden blocks when I shot the pics. You'll probably like your seat a lot better when you do tilt it back. I need to measure, but I think the present tilt is about 2".
The armrests have been removed. A simple job, unzip the upholstery, remove a bolt and you're pretty much done. I wuz gonna do armrests in the 32, but never did. The 31 may get some and if it does they'll have to be part on the side panel and part on the door toward the rear. So far they've not been missed on the 32. Arm on the door top or hanging onto the steering wheel does it pretty well. That is the true middle seat. A lot of folks get confused cuz the van owners many times remove the middle 2-p*** seat and store it away then they move the rear 3-p*** seat up to the middle (there are receptacles in the middle position for either seat) so as to gain lots of luggage room and still be able to haul 5-6 p***engers -- depending on the front seat configuration. Gotta watch out for those sneaky Soccer Moms. Every once in a while a van middle seat shows up at a garage sale in perfect condition. Saw a 2 and 3 p*** seat at a garage sale a couple months back. Gray and black and perfect for the 31's upcoming paint colors. I inquired about them and the guy told me he was saving them for his son-in-law. Darned hot rodders. One thing I really like about the ChryCo van seats is that they are very comfortable and the seat back cushion is not overly thick. No probs in p***ing the Vroom-Vroom test....
While I'm thinking about it, here's a little hint for some more footroom. When I was building the 32 and trying it on for size, I was pleased to see there was plenty of footroom for the left foot. After upholstery, the footroom to the side vanished. I didn't realize I'd been resting my foot on the inside of the outer cowl side panel. What I plan to do with the 31 is to make a sunken front side/kick panel so your foot can go toward the body skin/sheetmetal. The extra inch or inch and a half is worth the trouble. Doubly so if you're running one of them clutch thingies....
Nice job on seat...I noticed in your pics that you have a shifter on your trans...what shifter is it and where did you buy....thanks. cliffordbryan@charter.net
Winters Q/C with full floating Gun Drilled axles, Vintage JFZ callipers, ***anium lugnuts, 7 ge****ts (14 gear changes), two rear covers, with only 2 hours running time on a fresh "New Locker" setup all for $750...! It's probably the heaviest component besides the 455 Olds Engine...! It's a cheap Mr Gasket universal automatic shifter I picked up on the "bay" for $18...! The bracket was designed and built by my friends 16 year old son "Kyle"...! It's a simple angle design that bolts to the tailshaft housing and has cut out reliefs so the tranys aluminum fins would clear. Kyle drilled and tapped the holes so that the shifter simply bolts to the bracket without the use of nuts...!
In my A coupe, I used a 2 p***enger seat out of a late 90's chrysler mini van, but mine was the fixed backrest version, and I did away with the fold up armrests. About the only thing I did to mine was to narrow the seat frame about a half inch on each side to "taper" the frame to fit the inward taper of the doors and body so the seat, after it is upholstered, has clearance to the doors and its trim panel while in its range of movement front to back. I used the sliders from the front seat of the same car to mount it to the floor brackets. So far it is a nice setup, and it is a very comfy seat. I made it with a slight tilt built into the mockup and it is comfy for my wife as well and my 6'3" son too.
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