what seat adapter for bench to buckets on a 71?

[bsmith123]

I am planning on buying these seats for my 71 FJ which currently has a 3 piece bench seat.

Other than fabbing myself does anyone know of a mount I can buy to go from bench to bucket seats?

these are procar rally seats from summit or several other sources

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

Are these your ebay's or did you get beat?

 

[bsmith123]

Beat like a mongrel

I got beat--should've been more decisive they went for 220 or so and I kept eeking my bid up little by little up and lost out in the last minute!


These are 279 each cheapest I found but I do like them and I wouldn't be happy with any of the real cheap seats cause I is gettin old

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

Those do look nice and comfortable along with they will hold you in well. Are you doing a roll cage? I just wondered because i have seen several do their seat mounts by tieing across using the cage. ?? I didnt think you were though........

 

[bsmith123]

Roll Cage

Yeah looks like a nice easy way to mount the seats to be sure but I am not going with the cage at least not now

I am hoping to get some adapters that make them bolt in as I have a lot to do on it anyway and don't want to spend a lot of time on seats

but I need to go from bench to bucket

 

[DSRTRDR]

if you have the split bench (as I do) and keep it, you are limited as far as the width of the driver bucket seat of you still want to be able to open the door from the inside

I found I sure did not want anything wider than 22 inches (most car seats are 24l)

fabbing a mounting bracket is really not that difficult - we used two strips across the bottom of the new seat at 90 degrees to the OEM rails - total of 4 holes to drill on each strip: 2 holes each to affix the new seat to each strip, and 2 holes each to affix the stips to the OEM rails; uses the OEM sliders and rails (I found that the handle on the sliders supplied with my adjustable-back-20inch-wide racing seat would have stuck too far out forward into the footspace anyway )

measure, measure, measure...... BDTD

 

[DSRTRDR]

I did not change the passenger side or removed the bench for two reasons:

1) I wanted to keep the fuel vapor return system (plumbing in the back of the middle seat ;p)

2) the same bucket seat as driver side mounted on the passenger side would have been like 2 inches higher due to height of the gas tank, by which time the whole advantage of getting adjustable seats would have been defeated since the height would have interfered with flapping the seatback forward, and entry onto the rear of the cruiser on the passenger side would have bene near impossible (I should mention I have a rollcage that limits seatback forward movement)

 

[bsmith123]

width

These are 22 inches wide. Any way round the can of worms on the height? I've seen other FJs with buckets that seem to work.

I don't feel to bad bout losing access from front to rear from the front as that looks like a PITA anyway ---I'll just open the back

I can live with giving up opening the storage box for reclining seats

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz factor is important sometimes!

Don't really want to fab them easy or not,---unless they cost a lot. I'd like to buy some mounts and bolt em in, that's what I am really looking to do

 

[DSRTRDR]

the tool box is not the problem

if you want to replace both driver and passenger seat (the entire bench - BTW, what are you going to do with the plumbing system ?), then a custom frame would be the way to go; that would fix the same height for both sides

there are advantages to keeping the plumbing system...... the wise old people here may chime in or be consulted.....;p

the later cruiser models have the tank underneath and thus avoid the different height problem


I have a swing-out spare tire carrier in the rear - it is not "easy-to-get-to" back there since I also have a Confer rear bench to be able to get to anything stored in front of the bench from the rear, I would have to open the tire carrier and fling myself over the bench much easier flipping a seat forward and grabbing stuff from the back or just shoving it there ;p

 

[DSRTRDR]

I have forgotten where you live, but I sure do not hope it is anywhere the sun shines - black (fake) leather

IMHO fabric is the way to go the cruiser itself is hot enough as is

 

[bsmith123]

feeling hot hot hot!

Ha ha Florida! I know I know --have to cover em maybe

they just look completely right for me and I will be moving in a year to the UK

cloth worries me If I go out top down and is usually more$$$


if the originals could be had with new covers I wouldn't mind but they are a fortune too by the time you recover them not to mention buying them in the first place


The whole middle seat plumbing thing was never there with my FJ---am not sure that is the stock set up for a 71


I think I'll just go plank and bucket (Ala first ride in a year post!)

Considering I wanted a "bolt in" install maybe I should re-think new covers for the bench--that would certaintly simplify everything but the new seats sure look comfy.....hmmmmm what to do, what to do?

In the FAQ post there was some nice solutions but mostly involved fabbing up mounts, this wouldn't be too bad affixing to the bench mount I suppose--- if I added a center console to hide the middle I could also have a CB to mount and was considering a console for that. Not sure how well that would work

 

[bsmith123]

seat mounts

Any mudders fab and sell the solution to my problem?

 

[DSRTRDR]

I'll take pics of my mounting strips at the end of the month if you want.....

BTW: the cheapest I found on Ebay for a pair (that's 2) of cloth racing seats is $99 plus shipping ($170 ) - if you search around there may be companies that ship cheaper or may be near you for pick up (you may have to talk to a person, though ;p)

I recall one of the major importers being in FL......

 

[bsmith123]

Yes I'd like to see the pics, in the meantime I think I'll sleep on it once again

 

[Coolerman]

Another option is to remove the tool box entirely. (it's spot welded in) Then get a set of later model FJ40 seats or maybe just the seat mounting brakcets and fab from there...

 

[BELMONT148]

Another option is to remove the tool box entirely. (it's spot welded in) Then get a set of later model FJ40 seats or maybe just the seat mounting brakcets and fab from there...

That's what I did. Remove the tool box, get a set of FJ40 bucket seat mounts and install with new seats. You can either get a set of Bestop seats from Iron Pig Offroad that offer bolt in mounts to be used with the stock brackets, or you can get a set of Volvo seats and modify them a little to make them work. I went the Volvo route as they were only a $100 for the set, and they had heaters.

Jeremy

 

[brooklyn]

BTB Products

BTB Products has a solution...not cheep.

BTB Products - Product Catalog

 

[kkmckeever]

Procar seats

Procar makes adapter brackets for all kinds of vehicles inclidung cruisers. They have a website and I think it is procarbyseats.com and you can look up the make and model of vehicle that your are looking for.

 

[Downey]

A zillion years ago we use to manufacture a "Bucket Seat Bridge" that was 1,000 percent what you need. Like many other fine Landcruiser products, the seat bridge died from a lack of popularity (i.e. we cant program and set-up machinery for just two customers). The problem with the seat bridge, however, was that it layed above the interior gas tank, consequently both driver and passenger had to sit too high (big problem for us 6 ft. plus guys).
On a subsequent rig, I removed the interior tank (ran rear tank only) then built my own custom seat bridge that put both buckets 2" lower. Then I didn't have to look out the windshield
at wiper blade level.

 

[bsmith123]

Shame about the bridge maybe the reason was it need that little bit more development to get the height right. Mind you there are a lot of folks who can fab pretty well on here I just want to get on with the rest of my FJ chores and wanted a bolt in solution for the seats