To those who made your own bench seats, care to show me what they look like and perhaps some dimensions? I found a real nice rear bench out of a mid '80s Bronco that I'd like to put into the '33 Ford pickup. Obviously since the cab narrows toward the front I need to chop it down. I'm trying to see what would be the best approach, to make it follow the stock t****zoid shape seat mount in the truck or to somehow make it evenly rectangular. I believe the stock seat mount measures 46 1/2" and then narrows to about 41 or 40". Most of the interiors I've seen look as though they are evenly rectangular but I'm not sure how I could do that without making it look goofy. I could possibly cut out the stock t****zoid in the cab and make my own seat brackets but I don't really wanna go that route. Thanks.
Well it just so happens that's what I do for a living. These are the Model A frames I build. I build custom frames for extreme chops shifter clearance issues and other unique modifications. I found out a long time ago that for me it was easier to start from scratch and know it was safe than to try to re arrange a OEM frame. Its one of those things that you are just going to have to dive in and change. Keep in mind that the foam and upholstery can work wonders as far as a fit. Just do it, it will work out fine.
The only problem I'm having is how to develop the shape of the seat. I don't know if I should just evenly chop the seat down so that it fits or if I should follow the t****zoid shape. Personally I think the seat would look better as an even rectangle but I'm afraid the t****zoid seat mount will be sticking out in the back and make it look goofy.
I think an International Scout 80/800 (62-71) front bench would fit without mods they are narrow and simple.
I might turn this into a write-up or tech thread if anyone is interested, to show what I had to do. I just talked to MetalTwister on the phone and he gave me some helpful pointers, thanks.
I need to do the same thing. I'm local too. I have some idea's but... a thread showing me how someone else did it would be real cool.
Ok, well I'm starting this as a tech thread. I don't know if I should modify the ***le or not, but here goes. First comes the seat. This is a rear bench seat out of a mid-80s full-size Bronco. I was going to use a first-gen Ranger bench but found this in way better shape and was a lot more heavy duty. This bench weighs a ton. Here is the bottom part of the frame, stock. The back of the seat frame is C-channel with a smaller piece of C-channel welded in, and another thick bracket appears to be welded into that for the seat belts. That piece alone weighs a bunch and is pretty thick gauge. The top frame of the seat. Now I have chopped the bottom part first because I figured this would be the most difficult part of the whole thing. I got the measurements a little bit off so I decided to cut it longer than needed, in case I'd need to chop it more. The reason why I decided to cut it into three pieces instead of cutting it straight through was because the cuts I would have made would have went into the seat belt bracket. I wanted to hopefully retain the seat belts if I could. I'll probably get rid of the middle belt and just have the two belts go into where the middle belt would have, so that way there is more belt room, if you can understand that. This is a cutaway view of the back of the bottom frame. Here is a mock-up of how the seat will look in my truck. I have about just over an inch of room between the frame and the doors fully closed. I'm wondering if I should chop a little more out of the frame. What do you think? Under the Glide Engineering seat they have for my truck, the dimensions are 40 1/2" wide. This one is a bit bigger at 42". I'm afraid with the upholstery on it will hit the seat, perhaps I should chop out 3/4" per side.
I think a little more, dont forget door panel thickness with foam and upholstery along with the seat upholstery thickness.
Yeah. I cut it down some more, now I believe it is at 40 1/4" I think, good enough for me. It fits real nice. I've started cutting the tube frame on the seat back, just need to notch the sides and weld it back up.
Technically yes, it does have springs on the bottom. The top back does not have springs. They are a bunch of smaller springs that attach to a wire frame kinda. I'll post pics up when I get to that point.
Here is the seat frame and back partially ***embled and in the vehicle. A few parts aren't exactly spot-on but it is good enough, it lines up well. I'm probably going to redo some of the welds, maybe tweak it a little more I'm not sure. I need to figure out how to mount it as well, I'll probably cut the tabs off the front and weld in some kind of mounting structure to the seat riser or perhaps make my own tubular seat mount. I don't think this seat needs to slide, there isn't much room as it is for it to go anywhere with the stock dimensions and it already can fold down.
Yes it does flip up for access under the seat. This feature helps greatly for easy storage of small things as well as access to electrical components if mounted under the seat. In an already tight interior this often times comes in very handy.
I found the need to make a couple of seats for my cars. If you have a bender and don't mind making a couple of mistakes you can do it. I built mine because I wanted a outlet to plug in a phone or gps what ever.
Well, this is what I did. I took two rear bench seat backs from a early 2000s ford F-150 and cut them down to fit the cab of my 33. Then cut the foam. One of the backs I made to fit the floor, making it the bottom. With some creative bracing it is a nice firm seat. The other back is a back, I cut it down to fit the cab and made sure it matched the bottom piece. It has the correct ergonomics, it feels great. I think I did good. Its not been s***ched yet, but I think its a perfect seat. Cost me 20 bucks.
This is the one I made for my '33 Plymouth coupe, had a friend give me a couple of 67-72 Suburban rear seats. I simply made a few measurements, cut it down, and welded it all back together. Same deal with the foam, cut a few inches out if the middle with a hacksaw blade and glued it back together with contact cement. I'll add another layer of 1/2 foam before I cover it. Cheap and easy, and WAY better than the late-model bucket seats it had in it when I got it. The seats as I got them: Bare frame: Cut down and welded, had to make some relief cuts to bend the back to the desired angle: Cutting the foam, you can see it was narrowed about 4-5 inches: Perfect fit!
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