Bench to bucket swap

[Ryan_310]

I have a pair of turner fx bucket seats that I am attempting to install in my bench seat original malibu. Before I do a bunch of welding and modification does anyone have any advice or used these same seats that can give me some advice on how they did theirs? Pictures are a plus

Thanks in advance.

 

[78_Elky]

I went from a bench to buckets in my 78. The bench had the split back but not the bottom, so I didn't have any mounting points near the tunnel. Originally I didn't have a welder so I stacked washers and spacers....not a good option avoid that if you can. What I ened up doing was to weld perches to floor by the tunnel that are like a box, with one side open so that I can get a bolt through them sticking up; for the seats to mounts to. Sorry no pics, but once you start doing the project you'll know if you need to make your own perches or not.

 

[Ryan_310]

I have the perches that I cut off a bucket seat car that im going to probably weld in. Did your seats sit lower in the back? Im thinking im going to have to put longer bolts and then put a spacer to make the back sit up higher......

 

[DOUG213XRJ]

Hey Ryan, I used two sets of bench seat tracks in My two Malibu`s. The bench seat has shims in between the seat bottom and the track, I used two shims with a longer bolt in the front and no shims in the back so the seat recline a little . Doug

 

[Ryan_310]

The only thing with using the bench seat tracks is that they bolts are to far apart. I will have to grind off one bolt and move it closer. Might just be easier for me to take the mounts off my seats I am installing and get them to the angles and distance I need and then weld it all up.

 

[78_Elky]

Mine sit pretty much level, they are from a 92 ford ranger. I welded the perches myself and I made sure they were level, so I guess I'm not sure how to help you. The ranger/explorer seats had a weird mounting pattern from the factory so I had to do a fair bit of modification to the tracks on them to make them work better with the way our floor pans are.
Jess

 

[dynodanmanda79]

My 79 Malibu has the split bench seat with both the bottom and back are split with the individual arm rests. I should be able to switch to bucket seats without welding new mounts right?