Thought I'd share my progress with making new brackets for my Mazda MX6 seats that I bought years ago for my 62. The brackets I had made before made the seats sit way too high (to the point where my head brushed the headliner when I'd be driving), so I wanted to make something to not only lose a couple inches in height, but as practice fabricating.
First, here are the original brackets. I had a fab shop in Lynnwood, WA make them. Outstanding workmanship, but I got tired of sitting so damn high.
Early bracket installed. That old ghetto amp is long gone.
The driver's seat on one of the early brackets.
Here's what I've got so far for my new brackets. These are going to be a two-piece setup with separate front and rear brackets. It's all 1/4" stock with some 2"x2" 1/8" wall tubing for the rears. I went more for strength and rigidity than looks (obviously), but overall I'm satisfied with how they're coming out so far. Here's the first stage of the front passenger seat bracket tacked together (with the inboard tongue already welded in place).
Same thing from the bottom, with the bead on the doubled-up tongue ground down and blended. Good and solid so far. At this point I installed it in the truck and installed the seat to it (with the back propped up by a few scrap pieces). Felt solid as a rock, but it just looked like it might not hold up in a collision or (God forbid) a rollover.
The strongest geometric shape is a triangle, so that's basically what I formed with extra pieces welded between the crossmember and tongues. I'm pretty happy with how my beads are starting to look now that I'm getting some more practice in. The top bead is sloppy because I was standing in an awkward position to hold the gun, but it's solid and has good penetration, so again, I'm happy. I ran out of wire almost halfway through the bottom bead (damnit) so I had to install another spool and keep going. Other than that, I'm pretty happy with how my welding skills are improving.
Front bracket finished with corners ground down (so clothes and hands don't snag sharp edges in the truck) and the extra gussets welded into place. For s***s and giggles, I blended the welds on the larger gusset, but decided not to for the smaller one (and won't for the driver's side), since it's not like I'm gaining anything by grinding down beads that no one can see when the seats are installed.
Test fit of the complete assembly, and so far it's looking good. My only concern now is the measurements being thrown off slightly when I have carpet in again, but I don't see it being a big issue since I won't have that thick-ass Lytherm padding underneath anymore. I also had to "massage" the sheet metal on that channel at the inboard end of the bracket (no way around that due to the width of the seat rails). Wish I had an air hammer so that I could do a little better job there.
I'll post more as I make more progress.
First, here are the original brackets. I had a fab shop in Lynnwood, WA make them. Outstanding workmanship, but I got tired of sitting so damn high.
Early bracket installed. That old ghetto amp is long gone.
The driver's seat on one of the early brackets.
Here's what I've got so far for my new brackets. These are going to be a two-piece setup with separate front and rear brackets. It's all 1/4" stock with some 2"x2" 1/8" wall tubing for the rears. I went more for strength and rigidity than looks (obviously), but overall I'm satisfied with how they're coming out so far. Here's the first stage of the front passenger seat bracket tacked together (with the inboard tongue already welded in place).
Same thing from the bottom, with the bead on the doubled-up tongue ground down and blended. Good and solid so far. At this point I installed it in the truck and installed the seat to it (with the back propped up by a few scrap pieces). Felt solid as a rock, but it just looked like it might not hold up in a collision or (God forbid) a rollover.
The strongest geometric shape is a triangle, so that's basically what I formed with extra pieces welded between the crossmember and tongues. I'm pretty happy with how my beads are starting to look now that I'm getting some more practice in. The top bead is sloppy because I was standing in an awkward position to hold the gun, but it's solid and has good penetration, so again, I'm happy. I ran out of wire almost halfway through the bottom bead (damnit) so I had to install another spool and keep going. Other than that, I'm pretty happy with how my welding skills are improving.
Front bracket finished with corners ground down (so clothes and hands don't snag sharp edges in the truck) and the extra gussets welded into place. For s***s and giggles, I blended the welds on the larger gusset, but decided not to for the smaller one (and won't for the driver's side), since it's not like I'm gaining anything by grinding down beads that no one can see when the seats are installed.
Test fit of the complete assembly, and so far it's looking good. My only concern now is the measurements being thrown off slightly when I have carpet in again, but I don't see it being a big issue since I won't have that thick-ass Lytherm padding underneath anymore. I also had to "massage" the sheet metal on that channel at the inboard end of the bracket (no way around that due to the width of the seat rails). Wish I had an air hammer so that I could do a little better job there.
I'll post more as I make more progress.
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