When I built the last roadster I used Frank Wallics seats and since I build everything to fit me I hinged them with SS piano hinges mounted toward the front. Seats folded up enough to allow easy access behind the seat.
Go to the local truck stop and ask some of the truckers if you can look at the suspension under the seat. You'll find some great ideas.
The passenger seat of '70's Blazers have tracks like this.They slide fore/aft and the whole thing tilts forward, not just the back. Good luck, Dave
Do other people drive your hot rod? I just fixed my seat for my driving position, because I'm the only one that will drive it. Therefore, there is no need for a sliding seat. If your case is the same, you could just rig a hinge to the front of the seat & some clips or hooks in the back & you're in business.
I have already started the ball rolling on my plan for my seats, If you want I will send you pictures or put them up here once i get them made and set up..sent you a Pm
Okay I finally got them tilting 2 months after starting this thread. The adjusters came out of chevy cavaliers they were heavily modified to sit on a flat floor and the passenger one actually does tilt. Started out trying to get the whole adjuster to tilt off the floor but the front of the bucket was hitting the floor before it tilted up very far, and to remedy that I would have had to extend the front feet of the adjuster quite aways. So I made just the bucket tilt off the adjuster and this is what I came up with !! Still won't be real easy to get in the back but at least it will be possible to get in the back. The second picture show the Pin used to lock the seat in the down position.
Thanks I think it will work okay, the only problem is that the placement of where it bolts down to the floor is critical because as the seat tilts up it rises quite a bit and is really close to hitting one of my roof braces. If push comes to shove I might have to cut outthat one brace and leave it out or move it a little forward or backward. If the top was not chopped it wouldn't be an issue. Now I am moving on the next hurdle which is the steering column placement. The 4" recessed firewall I have recessess right where I think I need to place the hole for the column. I bought a Mullens column base plate for a 1 3/4" dia column but the base is probably 3" across and probably won't work because of the recessed firewall. Need to do some searching on here for pics of columns going through a firewall like mine. Never done anything like this before so it is all new, kind of like the rest of the build. I keep moving forward, almost blindly it seems like sometimes.
A little late to the party !! Yes T it looks like it needs to go through right next to the recessed bend If that makes sense? The base looks like it will hang off the edge of where the recess goes back to where the original fire wall is. Not sure what to use as a base if it has to be smaller than the Mullens base I already bought. I have seen other pics where a piece of pipe has been used for the base of the column to go through, which would work on an angle I guess. I need to spend some more money on a u-joint to go on the unisteer rack I have and get the column bought and see where I am. Hate to drill the hole in the wrong spot. Printed off an article from street rodder magazine on how to find a spot to put the hole through the firewall. Seems like it might be hard to find a piece of pipe that the steering column would be tight in so it wouldn't flop around any at the bottom. Need to do some searching then put up some pics of what I got. I know my explanation probably makes no sense.
Looking good Don! The car is coming together and looking like a HOT ROD! Can't wait see it on the road, I need to come by and listen to the Vroom of the pipes soon!
The hole is easy then. Weld a piece of exhaust tube long on both sides. trim the engine side to matcht he funky curves. Us a setscrew on the inside and sell your firewall mount
How wide are those seats? I may take a different direction on mine, a Fellow HAMBer has some seats that are a bit more narrow than the ones im currently using. I dig your idea, and it works fine for your application,, getting in and out of the back for kids or stuffing things back there wont be too big of an issue. My larger seats folded over and rotated up like yours, if found it wasnt a tight enough fold up on mine to roll tucked up..so im going to try a different set of seats just for feel.
Your very welcome. I plan on putting pads in the bottom and maybe on the back where the rectangular piece is. Going to drive up to my Dads on veterans day to work on some pads, he has an old commercial sewing machine. Don't happen to have any pics of your steering column going through that recessed firewall you have do you?
Sorry been meaning to get back with you on that..I got your e-mail.. Its kinda a sore subject with me at the moment,,Im currently working on that part myself and havent gotten it down to where i like it just yet.. I mis calculated the first time i set up to put the hole thru the firewall, and i fucked up , its too close where it comes out in realtion to my engine block for me to be happy, I sill need to address this the next time the body comes off..I didnt have the time or energy for that this weekend. if you make it past this curve before i do gimme a heads up if you will
I helped restore a 57 jeep coe. it had seats that tilted forward like your talking about they didn't latch at the back they just had rubber bumpers. the front just had a pivot on a bracket that bolted to the floor. They were not adjustable seats though.
Sorry for hitting a nerve, that is exactly what I am afraid of doing. Will keep you informed as I move along probably slowly as I am running out of funds again. If I was to use the Mullens base I have it would be to close to the engine also. Tman had a good simple suggestion so I got online and bought a piece of tubing from McMaster and Carr that has an inside diameter of 1 7/8" which should be a pretty tight fit for the column to go through. It looks like the hole needs to be right where the firewall goes from original to the recessed section so a piece of pipe might just work.
I thought about just making a base for the passenger seat that didn't adjust and just tilted. Glad I went ahead and got another adjuster because that might save me from removing a brace on the roof where the seat just barely hits. I am hoping when I get it bolted to the floor I can move the seat just enough to clear but we will see. The pin I put in the back between the 2 pieces of angle to pin it down is fairly easy to get to. Shouldn't need to tilt it to often except to put chairs and a beer cooler back there. Maybe later I will put a back seat in it but I have no little ones left at home.
Yes this is the case with mine too..its a beotch..too..way more compound than just going thru a verticle plane with a round tube..you have the step in the firewall to deal with also.. its not going to be fun for either of us..so anything you come up with will be gladly recieved. and to dress up this area isnt going to be a walk in the park.. I have an idea for that..if your interested lemme know.
Just a little heads up for you guys doing an adjustable tilt seat, put some kind of a stop on the amount it can tilt. I nearly took out my windshield one day when the seat was adjusted farther forward then normal and it whopped the windshield pretty good when I was in a hurry to tilt it. Fortunately, mine was a regular seat with a soft top edge, had it been a bomber seat, I'm sure it would have cracked the glass. If your not sure of the exact location your column hole needs to be cut, try using a 1/2" round bar stock to locate it, you only drill a 1/2" hole where you think the center needs to go and will have room to "adjust" to the actual needed center without messing up the floorpan/firewall. If your really concerned you can probably get be using a 1/4" round bar....Gene
Hey, Donnie, Iwas thinking about it ans is there anyway to lower the pivot point? as even a little bit down and back will make amazing difference in height needed to clear the roof. And that stop sounds like a good idea as well, that would suck to pop a windsheild!
The Jalopy Journal
