Making a low buck bench seat for a 39 Ford

I have been looking and searching for a cheap bench seat for my 39 Ford Standard for a while now. Just high dollar bench aftermarket or bucket seats around.
So a look on Craigslist an $20 bucks later I have a late 80's S-10 folding bench. I will be narrowing and maybe pinching or straighting the lower seat area and making the single folding back into a split back.
The lower bottom is 45 & 48 inches wide, this will be changed.

Here are pics of the bare parts before cutting and fabing. I'll be posting pics as I go. Feel free to post any comments or helpful ideas.

 

I've narrowed a few modern seats, never an S-10 bench though. Looks like an easy one. As for the split back, might be easier to go pick up a beat up pair of S-10 bucket seats, or anything really, and use the backs/pivots/etc from them to make a clean looking and operating split back. Post up the progress.

 

Sounds like a good idea, Thanks

 

Lookig forward to this, I was thinking of cutting one of these up and splitting the back rest as well

 

Why split it just lay the whole thing forward if want want to access the rear area?

 

i can tell you trying to split a bench seat is a huge pain in the ***! just leave it full tilt and it will work great.

 

After cutting up the lower frame, I found that the cut down narrower lower frame is wider then the upper frame by to much. This would make the back support narrower by 3 inches or more. The aftermarket seats are just the opposite. So maybe square up the bottom by pie cutting the sides, straightening and shortening ?
You can see how the lower sides are wider than the back in the pictures.

 

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I'm shooting for 42 inches wide at the bottom, front.

 

I just bought a 3rd row seat from a ford excursion that is 41 inches wide , might take a look at those if you get a chance , it`s leather too.

 

Looks like S-10's are god's gift to Fords.

 

I'm using a s10 bench in my 40 ford with no modifications whatsoever
dont know why you need to narrow yours?

 

...I'm with you, sawzall. 48" might be a "little" snug, depending on how the seat is ultimately padded or how thick the door panels might be. I think 48" could be made to work easy enough....Don.

 

Cut it back to 42 inches. The stock width of 48 wouldn't fit for me. I will add and trim the seat foam to get it to 44 inches. Welding it back together this morning, pics to follow.

 

http://recycled40fordwoodie.blogspot.com/2009_01_01_archive.html

link to a photo of a s10 seat in the rear of my 40..
which I have now moved to the front.. on some risers I fabricated..

 

This is an S10 seat I had in my '40 Pickup, it fit but was tight so I reshaped the bottom to fit the 'wedge' shape of the cab a little better, but the width on the back was OK.

 

sawzall and gator.....Both look great. Any idea which year S-10 your seats came from?...Thanks, Don.

 

I'm with sawzall & gator on this also... I have a split back from a extended cab in my '46 coupe, it's also unmodified. As far as year, any of the '80s to early '90s should work.

 

For the older Ford p-ups of around 38-41 vintage, the 92-99 Chevy Suburban 3rd rear seat is perfect. Folds down for easy access underneath - get a nice clean one and match the material from your local fabric store and your interior is prettyn much made to order. Here's some pics of one I did a few years ago ...

 

Another "idea" which I'm sure someone else has done, and if you have the stock-like seat to work with, I've "rebuilt" my 40 coupe seat and actually reused the seat material ( I had to do something as the seat coils were so bouncy it made for an uncomfortable ride). I removed the springs, placed a 3/4" plywood board for a base, built it up with varying layers of foam from the fabric store and an old Dadge Caravan rear seat to get it back to the right height, used some canvas first and then replaced the upholstery - been that way for 5 years or so now. For the back, I used that same old Dadge Caravan seat back metal and foam and reupholstered it with the same material.

Here are some pics during the redo - sorry they are not complete but these are all I could find.

 

All good ideas and out comes. But I wanted it a bit narrower, which after welding looks very narrow. I'm going to do a quick fit and see if I over did it.

 

OK, the seat bottom is now 42 inches and welder together. You can see in the pictures that the back is way big, 46 3/4 inches big. I'm looking for 44 inches there and split. I see that a pocket with a center hinge is in order for the bottom. I'll be adding shim material to the stock hinge to move them outboard on each side.
Due to work, my project will have to be on hold for a few weeks.
See ya then