mocked up new seats for blazer. need advice please.

[cstanley]

well, I got my recycled seats in today. they are out of an '04 trailblazer and will be reupholstered. plastic parts will be painted saddle and they will get factory-style houndstooth (with saddle walrus-grain vinyl, if i can find it.) i'll also remove the headrests.
They sit very nice and give tons more legroom. I'm not sure what it's like on the driver's side, because they are moved forward a little. i would power it up and move it back, but i don't know which wires are what and don't want to set off the airbag...

EDIT: i tried the pass. seat on driver's side, and there is going to be TONS of legroom! if i can figure out the mounting, these are gonna be heaven. i also compared the old and new side by side, and without the headrests, the backs are exactly the same height.

anyway, i'm not sure what to do about the mounting. the inside track of each is about 3" higher than the outside track. I was thinking of using rectangle tube steel to raise it up, but i'm not sure. also, the tracks are a touch long (the leg that mounts to the floor, anyway) so I may do something about that, too.

I'm vey excited, they sure feel great. anyone have a wiring diagram for these?

[cstanley]

few more

[special-K]

Can you handle my honesty...opinion?I`d have to stay factory on that Blazer with that rare graphic on there.Sorry.

[RustyParts]

Originally Posted by special-K

Can you handle my honesty...opinion?I`d have to stay factory on that Blazer with that rare graphic on there.Sorry.

[cstanley]

Originally Posted by special-K

Can you handle my honesty...opinion?I`d have to stay factory on that Blazer with that rare graphic on there.Sorry.

man, first my wife, then you guys! (actually she hasn't seen them yet. hoping to get them off to upholstery first. no vision.)

seriously though, that's cool. i can always welcome honesty. better feedback that way.
but, if it makes you feel better, nothing I do will preclude this from being returned to stock with little effort. that's the way I did with my pickup, and do not regret it. i had replaced the disintegrated factory seat with a different one, kept it in there for about 8 years, then went right back and rebuilt the original. i don't throw anything away. i also don't regret putting the late-model in there for that time period, either. i'm building a driver, not a show queen.

[VinceY]

I had my seats redone with the original houndstooth and cold weather vinyl, so you should also be able to find it also. I do wish that I had should belts and headrest like you are going to have. If you put the effort in to make these seats look as original as possible but yet have the added safety that those seats will deliver you may be further ahead. Keep the old seats to sell with the truck if you ever choose to.

[cstanley]

Originally Posted by VinceY

I had my seats redone with the original houndstooth and cold weather vinyl, so you should also be able to find it also. I do wish that I had should belts and headrest like you are going to have. If you put the effort in to make these seats look as original as possible but yet have the added safety that those seats will deliver you may be further ahead. Keep the old seats to sell with the truck if you ever choose to.

thanks,
i do plan on trying to make them as original-looking as possible, even down to possibly using the factory plastic seat-back covers, if they look right. i'm also going to detail the fabric pattern/layout, so that it looks exact.

i'm losing the headrests, though. i think that's what will help out the most. the seat backs (without headrest) are only about 1" higher than the factory ones, so it's almost exact. they are prolly 2" narrower, though.

if it doesn't work out, then someone here might get a killer deal on these seats...

btw, Vince: do you have any pics of how your reupholstered ones turned out? I'm having trouble convincing the wife that an upholstery shop can duplicate the look of factory. i keep telling her, "if a 12 year old in taiwan can do it, then a good trim shop can do it." (that's a joke, so please don't flame me... )

Also, for the wiring gurus: is there a way to have a memory setting wired on to the passenger seat if it doesn't come with one? I think it would be nice to have two settings: one for regular ride, and one that moves the seat all the way forward and leans all the way forward for automatic rear access.
any ideas? do i need some kind of module, or can one be custom-made?

[VinceY]

Originally Posted by cstanley

btw, Vince: do you have any pics of how your reupholstered ones turned out? I'm having trouble convincing the wife that an upholstery shop can duplicate the look of factory. i keep telling her, "if a 12 year old in taiwan can do it, then a good trim shop can do it." (that's a joke, so please don't flame me... )
[B]

My blazer and I are in different cities for a couple of weeks. I will send you a couple of pics when I get to sit in it again. The upholstry guy matched the original job perfectly without the cigarette burn and age cracks.

[Zoomad75]

CStanley- The difference on the hieght of the tracks is because the Trailblazer floor has more of a hump to the middle than trucks do. I think your on the right track as far as fabricating a bracket to make up the difference, just make sure you also reinforce the floor while you are there.

Silverado seats have even tracks so you woudn't have that issue but they are a tad wider that the trailblazer seats. I know because I have 02 Silverado seats in my 75 K5 and own a 04 trailblazer.

On the memory function, I doubt your going to be able to find anything to make the pass side move under two different functions. The memory seating function for the trailblazers only remembers the seat location for the driver. All functions for the memory are controled by the Truck Body Control Module (TBCM). Adapting the TBCM in for just that function for the dirver's seat would be a major undertaking, but for the pass seat it still wasn't set up for it. Since the Trailblazer was only built as a 4dr, no easy entry feature was built into it to slide it forward for rear seat access (like a extended cab truck). I'm thinking you'll be left with having to power it forward and back to let people in back.

My silverado seats are manual, but slide easy forward for rear seat access. Even more room when you tilt the seat back forward. The first year of the new body in 1999 for the silverados were 3 door extended cabs that had an actual separate lever for rear seat access. One lever tilted the seat back forward and slid the seat forward. Push back on it and it went back to the same position it was in before. It's a one year only deal so they are hard to come by.

[NTR72GMC]

Before you mess with the wiring on the seats I would remove the air bags. That would be the best way to avoid them going off.

Also I think they will look great with the graphics.

[tiggerstoy]

well...i think they look great ......but thats just me.

[cstanley]

Originally Posted by NTR72GMC

Before you mess with the wiring on the seats I would remove the air bags. That would be the best way to avoid them going off.

Also I think they will look great with the graphics.

YEAH, I THINK I'LL HAVE THE UPHOLSTERY GUYS DO THAT, BUT THEY ARE DEFINITELY COMING OUT.

also, this brings me to my next rehash of an old question: paint for the plastic bits. i'll need 'em to be the saddle color like the rest of the interior, so what sticks best? the stuff eastwood has? or just the regular plastikote stuff?

i noticed the seats have some sort of "black box" where all the wiring goes, but i'm not sure how to wire it up. I would have thought I only really needed one main power wire to each seat, but don't know for sure...

[cstanley]

well, as far as the auto-seat movement goes, what do you think about being able to patch a 3 position rocker switch, where forward activates both the forward motion for the seat and the back at the same time. then the "back" function of the rocker switch moves the seat and back to their original position. more manual, but still functional. of course, the rocker switch would be hidden but within the driver's reach.

I guess i would just need to patch into those wires coming from the seat's built-in switch. could it work?

[Zoomad75]

That idea sounds easier than trying to work with the TBCM. You would just need to figure out which wire does what.