has anyone put 03 silverado seats in a 73-87 chevy?

[Hulk Will Smash]

They used flat stock across the floor. The front outside and rear inside bolts go through the seat bracket and the floor, the the opposites go through the bar stock. The bar stock is bolted through the floor in several places as well. Fortunately I sold my apple cart years ago...

And it's a crew cab so the tanks didn't need to come out for the fronts, but that's a fight I'm going to have when I finish mounting the back seat.

[Maxxd07]

I know its my first post but have been lurking a while. I am just finishing up mounting a set of what I was told 03 seats in my 80. Kind of a pain because they sit so tall and I am 6'4" so I have mounted them as low as I can. I will get some pics up this weekend of how I did it. Kind of a hassel with this bodystyle compared to my 68 but its well worth the comfort.

[87chevy.com]

I'm 6'6" and I am super comfy in mine.. wish i had the recline feature, but its been about 2 years w/o ... think I'll manage... partly why im so comfy in my cab is I mod'd the steering column about 1 1/2 closer to the dash.. one of the best upgrades need a welder though.
clint

[bucannon]

Originally Posted by 87chevy.com

I'm 6'6" and I am super comfy in mine.. wish i had the recline feature, but its been about 2 years w/o ... think I'll manage... partly why im so comfy in my cab is I mod'd the steering column about 1 1/2 closer to the dash.. one of the best upgrades need a welder though.
clint

how did you mod the steering column?

i want to do that

[turner16]

SO I just got my 03 silverado seats and I am just finishing up the floor body work then I'll mount them. Any picks of this job? Also the seats recline so I was thinking of relcining them straight up slide the sliders all the way to the rear and install them touching the back of the cab? Does this make sense? Any input.

[Mr79C10]

No pics yet. But Im going to toss in a set of buckets from a mid 90's S10 in the 79 here soon....

[87chevy.com]

here are some photos fresh off the d50. 99+ style seats w/07+ sytle center console













I pulled the covers off of the side of the console so I can see how I will modify the console lid portion. In one of the photos, the seat back doesnt match the other seat back... I think I know how I will fix that, but for now console fliped down FTW

Ive gained a 3rd seat, 3 cup holders, a 12v outlet and a secret like spot in the rear. Well the last photo shows the secret spot. Its a cup holder for the rear seats if it were a factory truck, but with the console pushed as far back as it will go, luckily it matches the seats installed position very well. The rear cup holder tray wont open fully, but it opens enough so if I make a tray, kinda like a cigarette tray and modify the cup holder to hold this tray, got a spot to hide for something ?.. dont think its big enough to hide a gun though.

clint

[joe231]

so...how did you mount them?

[87chevy.com]

I used either 1.5 or 2" square tubing and laid it over the factory sliders and maybe 3 inches or so past that. Notched the tubing so it would sit closer to the floor. Welded the bar to the slider. Measured everything out and cut out the factory seat back mount. fitted that to the square tubing and welded it. For the seat bottom, I think I used 1"wide x 1/8 thick flat stock and made tabs so I could bolt the seat bottom to the seat frame.
clint

[Maxxd07]

2x1/4 inch flat iron with a stud in each rear corner for clearance and bolts in the rest. I used flat iron to keep things as low as possible and just bolted the seat rails to the flat iron so i can remove any seat or the center console independently. The flat iron is bolted to the original seat mounts so as not to cut up the floor and I trimmed the seat sliders in the rear to keep things as far back as possible. I have braces in the middle of the rear bracket just screwed to the floor and the front one runs right on the "ridge" of the center console. (4wd). I redid the mounting brackets on the center console to match the height of the seats. I have 5/8 inch spacers on the rear of the seats for clearance as well and the front is right on the slider rail.

[87chevy.com]

man that still looks high no? I will do a cad drawing showing how I did mine so its easy to see.... but the bottom of the seat fabric (like right above the plastic trim...) thats sitting almost on the floor steering wheel not in crotch FTW

[turner16]

please send me the CAD drawing too

[87chevy.com]

the drawing isnt to 100% scale. i would have to tear down the seats to get the measurements. I kinda need to pull the seats out to mount the center console securly. When I do, I will get the measurements of the Seat back, wich is really the important one, it lets the seat back pivot... To get the back seat tabs, I didnt have any plate metal laying around or i woulda made my own like in the picture, but I just choped up the original seat brackets. the other tabs on the 2x2 tubing is just 1"x1/8 strap metal with a hole so the seat bottom can bolt to. This way, the seat bottoms must be installed prior to installing into the truck. No biggie I suppose. The notch in the 2x2 tubing lays ontop of the factory seat track and gets welded to it. I think i had to lay a piece or 2 of the 1x1/8 strap metal under it to space it correctly.. if it were notched just like that, i think it didnt sit flush on the seat slider. If you can figure out how to connect the cable together and have some sort of pull mechinism from the front, you will have 0 problems with the slider... I dont use it so I didnt think to hard on how to incorporate it. Maybe you can incorporate the factory sliders.... Wish I hadnt thrown them away... but oh well...
Anyway, heres the quick and dirty drawing of what I did.


clint

[turner16]

Sweet, Can you PM me the drawing. I'll print it that way. I can send you the measurements of my 03 seats if you need them.
Not sure what the up right taps are for or where they connect? On the back brackets only

[87chevy.com]

right, the upright tabs on the back rail are for the seat to bolt to. Becuase I'm tall i dont have a lot of headroom if i kept the stock sliders and recline function. Right now the seats rest perfectly on the rear window rubber seal. Maybe when I pull the seats to mount the console, I can make some sort of stop... Heck maybe not... its been this way for 2 years ....
edit:
Just got an idea how I can make the back seat rest act like the factory bench... make a tab just like the center arm rest have..

i just noticed Maxxd is possibly using the NNBS seat belts... might not be a super good idea... the way the seats are bolted down might not be too much good if you get into an accident. In my case, i just used the factory 87 seat belts. I plan to make some sleeve to make the female strap stiff so its not flimsy... havent got that far though..

i will send you the autocad drawing but its not to scale, accurate or anything besides a drawing depicting what I did. If you still want it, pm me your email.

[gchemist]

Attached is a seat bracket mount for any seat available.

[turner16]

so now you have now sliders or reline features right and by removing the hardware that gave you how much more headroom?

[qu1cks1lver56]

Originally Posted by gchemist

Attached is a seat bracket mount for any seat available.

cool deal, this is similar to what i had planned to do, so i wouldnt have to drill any new holes in the floor.

[87chevy.com]

hey gchemist, is the seat frame out of angle iron? just wondering... think i will draw it out in autocad later on... real slick design. dang, should have kept the sliders oh well.
clint

[classicchev]

I put some in mine, dropped them over 3 inches into the floor, front and rear. They sit way too high when you do not modify the floor, braced the crap out of them. I will download the pics and get a set up on here. If I did it again, I would drop them even further.

[turner16]

what about the gas tank on the right side? Did you relocate it? You can't lower that side with a stock tank.

Originally Posted by classicchev

I put some in mine, dropped them over 3 inches into the floor, front and rear. They sit way too high when you do not modify the floor, braced the crap out of them. I will download the pics and get a set up on here. If I did it again, I would drop them even further.

[gchemist]

Originally Posted by 87chevy.com

hey gchemist, is the seat frame out of angle iron? just wondering... think i will draw it out in autocad later on... real slick design. dang, should have kept the sliders oh well.
clint

On the box frame part, you can use square tubing or angle iron. I would base it on the tools available for you to use. How good are you at welding, cutting or just make a box and bolt it together.

[classicchev]

Originally Posted by turner16

what about the gas tank on the right side? Did you relocate it? You can't lower that side with a stock tank.

This is in a Crew Cab, so I also have a couple extra feet in length to work with.
32 gallon tank in the rear, filler through the bed.

Basically flattened out the floor for the seat mounts to the centre of the floor. Rears were notched so the new crew cab seats would sit flat to the lowest point of the original floor. Carpet even fit decent.

[classicchev]

I also modified the seat mount also so I could gain some space there too.

[Maxxd07]

Originally Posted by 87chevy.com

man that still looks high no? I will do a cad drawing showing how I did mine so its easy to see.... but the bottom of the seat fabric (like right above the plastic trim...) thats sitting almost on the floor steering wheel not in crotch FTW

Its just right for me. Im 6'4" give or take an inch or two depending on the gas station im leaving... I have room enough to wear a hat and not bump my head when bombing through the pasture. (Yea im a bit redneck as you can tell by how I do things) I also have tilt wheel and with the wheel i have it is comfortable for me. As for the seatbelts I will try my chances with the ones on the new seats as this is more of my beat-around pickup for a while yet. I like your bracket but I wasnt looking to get too detailed yet since im not sure im going to leave the seats in this pickup yet or put them into my new 70 4wd. I also was trying to do it so I didnt have to do any modification to the floor of the pickup since I have a rust free cab i will use when the restoration begins. Great thread, love the ideas.