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Fitting non-Ford front seats to 72 Torino

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Gazoo2 View Drop Down
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    Posted: 11-November-2010 at 6:16PM

Has anyone come across any "modern" bucket seats that fit into a 72 Torino with minimal trouble?  Or seats to which the Torino seattracks can be easily substituted?   I'm thinking auto wrecker material here, not aftermarket Recaro or Corbeau or anthing like that.

I'm hoping somebody has already travelled this road...
 
Thanks all,
Dave
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12-November-2010 at 12:32AM
nothing will bolt into existing seat bolt holes and you will have to do modifications.I had 77 Cheby Camaro buckets in my 73 Torino 17 yrs ago.my 72 GTS is getting 99 Ford Explorer high back buckets but have to modify the mounting points to fit the Torino floor
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psquare75 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12-November-2010 at 1:29AM
Fox Mustang seats (or the power version lincoln Mark VII LSC seats). I used em years ago. I lined em up, drilled 4 holes in the floor and used 2" diameter washers above and below the floor. They sat kinda low, but I'm 6'2" so I needed the head room. I was going to use em but the $ to get them recovered in an OEM looking material, and the fact my 'new' car came with buckets already made my mind up for me. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Eliteman76 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12-November-2010 at 5:37AM
I used fox body buckets in my '72. Very easy to install assuming you have original torino bucket seat tracks.
I have not detailed this well, but when I pull my 1987 Cougar XR7 {fox body} buckets out, I will detail pics for you.
Basically, unbolt the fox body seats off the tracks.
Get a piece of 3/16" or 1/4" plate. Make 4 pieces 3" long.
Center two holes, 1 inch on center apart from each other on the plate. {drill at 1" and 2" on the plate from one end}
I bolt had to drill out one hole a little on the seat frame, and run a nut on the back side.
Bolt the plates to the tracks, and bolt the tracks to the seats.
I have a pair of Mark7 blue leather buckets taking up space. Get a fox-body seat hinge assembly to make them a manual adjusted seat, and no need to worry about the electric motor for the seat back, unless you find a mark7 you can rob the seat controls from.
 
I am going to t-bird buckets I got from a really clean thunderbird, that are power seats. Not my first choice, but so nice and clean, and power, easy 2 wire hookup, I am going to run with these for a while until I recover the fox body seats.
 
Another option, look for explorer sport buckets, in a first or second gen.
Supposedly you can use some of the 4 door explorer buckets, but I have not personally verified this.
There was a thread on seats here that was pretty good.
Other suggestions, Pontiac G6, Saturn Ion coupe, a couple different sport buckets from Mitsubishi, etc.
Issue then is adapting the seats to the pan. I am going for the bolt in to factory location setup.
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psquare75 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12-November-2010 at 5:40AM
Bonus points Andy if you had a matching rear seat!
Paul
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Eliteman76 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12-November-2010 at 5:47AM
HugBravo, bravo.
Damn east coast people...Wink
I was WAITING for that.
How the hell else am I supposed to pack a cooler and all the other crap for powertour?
Plus, no back seat, so much eaiser to do laundry while on PowerTour 2011!


Edited by Eliteman76 - 12-November-2010 at 5:47AM
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Gazoo2 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12-November-2010 at 5:10PM
Thanks for the ideas, everybody.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Regul8r Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13-November-2010 at 3:19AM
I picked up a set of buckets and rear seat from a Pontiac Grand Prix 2 dr, haven't done the work yet but look pretty close. we'll see
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Rockatansky Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13-November-2010 at 8:37AM
i made a set of stands from angle. what you can't see in the pics is how the upper & lower angles attach and space out to the right width for the tracks that came on the seats. i welded some decent sized nuts to one angle and bolted through the other. with the thickness of the nuts & the offset of the angles it worked out perfect. unbelievable how solid the seats are. just today i found these mount stands for JAZ seats but they look a little 'light' for my liking
 
 
 
seats are from a Laser
 
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Gazoo2 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13-November-2010 at 5:06PM
Rockatansky - now thats what I was talking about!  Very clever, Thanks for the idea.
 
Gazoo
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Eliteman76 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13-November-2010 at 7:10PM
Originally posted by Gazoo2 Gazoo2 wrote:

Rockatansky - now thats what I was talking about!  Very clever, Thanks for the idea.
 
Gazoo

X2.
Thank you for the pictures. Helped me work though my fabrication to mount up early-mid 90's Tbird buckets.
Had to forgot power seats this time, but I think it'll suffice.
Will post a few pics in a bit.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Eliteman76 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13-November-2010 at 7:35PM
Nothing exotic here, but a little time, cutting grinding and a little welding. Because I like welding. Fire. Fire...FIIIRRREE Evil Smile
Starting off with the new set from a You-Pull-It yard:
Nothing fancy. Came with power seat tracks, but elected to run manual tracks for now, off the other T bird bucket set I got about a year ago.
Starting off by using the section of floor pan off a wrecked GTS I bought for parts sitting on a table, made fab work a lot easier.

I ended up running to a Menards tonight, and got a chunk of 2x2 1/8" angle iron. I ended up cutting it into 4 8" and 4 4" long pieces. I skipped pictures of me sectioning of the brackets from the Tbird seat track, and cutting up the angle iron. I bore you guys enough with all my posts.
I bolted the seat tracks onto the seat lower, and used some vice grips to clamp to the angle iron.

At this time, I will mention, I either drilled holes from the front mounts, or I cut and reused parts of the original Tbird seat mounts. I took the angled parts off the front, bolted them to the floor, and welded angle to them.

Shot from the front:

Here is a better shot of how I cut and tack welded up the angle iron:

Here was what the frame looked like before I started:

Once I got over the mental block of the power seat tracks and being determined to bolt in factory locations, I have 4-5 hours into this, moving at the speed of smell.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kenneth Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14-November-2010 at 8:05AM
Mmmmmmm
"the speed of smell" now there is something I can sorta relate to , like a sloth on acid with bad fluctuance   
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Rockatansky Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14-November-2010 at 8:16AM
sometimes the speed of stink is pretty amazing!  how bout Permeate & Linger for a motto?
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Gazoo2 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14-November-2010 at 4:49PM
Looking good guys.  Now that I've seen a few different ideas on how to approach the problem, I'm more confident in giving it a try.  First step will be to find some decent seats...
 
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 302ford Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14-November-2010 at 5:26PM
Another idea is what I did. I cut the mounts off the new seats so they had a flat base. Then used the stock front mounts and welded in a piece of square-stock with studs to mount the rear. Was fairly simple.
 
The Mount circled. 
 
 
 
 
And the finished product
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Gazoo2 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15-November-2010 at 2:16PM
That looks good.  What are those seats from?  And that console?  Older Mustang?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 302ford Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15-November-2010 at 4:36PM
Seats are from 05 and up mustang, and the console is the original one from the car.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Eliteman76 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16-November-2010 at 6:01AM
Those look pretty killer. Those would be the buckets I had been trying to find but gave up due to cost and not finding good buckets.
 
Stupid question of the moment 302, did you remove the air bags in the bolsters?
One thing that has been a debate for me is the fact all the late model seats are getting side impact air bags. All it takes is like a 9 volt battery to set the things off.
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote occupant Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16-November-2010 at 8:07AM
Those buckets look gorgeous. I'll absolutely make a mental note of that and when/if I end up with a Ranchero to play with, that would be my choice of seat to put in and then use a Taurus console or something to fill in the space.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Regul8r Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16-November-2010 at 1:47PM
I have a full seat set from an 89 Pontiac GrandPrix.
BUT I saw some of the trucks around have buckets with the shoulder belt IN THE SEAT.
Might go looking for a set of those!
 
Keep the side window of the car wide open.
Anyone have a truck or other car that has shoulder belts in the seat back?
Trying to get ideas what to look for.
 
98 Full Size Dodge extended cab has them.
Ford Rangers have them too.
 
What else?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 302ford Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16-November-2010 at 5:21PM
Originally posted by Eliteman76 Eliteman76 wrote:

Those look pretty killer. Those would be the buckets I had been trying to find but gave up due to cost and not finding good buckets.
 
Stupid question of the moment 302, did you remove the air bags in the bolsters?
One thing that has been a debate for me is the fact all the late model seats are getting side impact air bags. All it takes is like a 9 volt battery to set the things off.
 
Eliteman,  
 Keep looking. I picked these two up for $300 cash..... Not too bad for the overpriced wreckers around here.
 
As for the airbag issue. I dont worry too much. I figure the chance of them going off on their own is much less than if was even in the original car. Plus.....I figure the rest of the car has a better chance of hurting me anyways Shocked
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 302ford Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16-November-2010 at 5:24PM
Carl.
The ony thing I would worry about getting belts in the seat is the structual integrety of them. I would hate to see the seats simply rip from the floor if they were not anchored properly.
Just something to keep in mind
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Eliteman76 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16-November-2010 at 5:42PM
Man, $300? I couldn't touch that setup around here for less than $600. Geek
Nice score.
I ended up finishing up the welding tonight on the seat bases. Both seat bases are solid and working smooth.
Going to bring the GTS home this weekend, so I can start working on the rear seat set finally.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 302ford Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16-November-2010 at 5:51PM
I actually wasnt even looking for new buckets when I saw these on a shelf. Quickly asked and realized what a steal it was. I had them sitting around for at least a year before putting them in.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Regul8r Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17-November-2010 at 2:01AM
Well Andy, keep going on the front seat tracks!
IF you end up finding a set of bucket that you REALLY want... I'll take those T-bird seats off you WITH the tracks! lol
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote lynchster Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17-November-2010 at 2:03PM
Just a thought, I look at newer cars all day long. I've have noticed that GM has incorporated shoulder harnesses into the seats for some of their vehicles. Not that I am a big fan of the bowtie. However if you were building a modified vehicle you could update your seats and seatbelts in one shot.
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Regul8r Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17-November-2010 at 2:06PM
Originally posted by lynchster lynchster wrote:

Just a thought, I look at newer cars all day long. I've have noticed that GM has incorporated shoulder harnesses into the seats for some of their vehicles. Not that I am a big fan of the bowtie. However if you were building a modified vehicle you could update your seats and seatbelts in one shot.
 
Chuck 
That's what I am looking at doing.
I would prefer to stay Blue Oval.
 
Thats why I asked if anyone knows what vehicles have this set up and especially FORD.
Anyone?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kversch Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17-November-2010 at 2:10PM
The previous owner of our car had some aftermarket seats in the car.  They are mounted to the stock spots in the front and had brackets fabricated up for the back of the seat.     wasnt realy a nice clean install if they go back in the car we will figure something better out.






Edited by kversch - 17-November-2010 at 2:15PM
-kevin-
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