Front Seat Choices

I would like to buy a complete seat such as those offered through Jegs or Summit. Any success storys. The stock seat is a bit stiff to say the least.
Thanks
RIchard

RichardP wrote:I would  like to buy a complete seat such as those offered through Jegs or Summit. Any success storys.  The stock seat is a bit stiff to say the least.
Thanks
RIchard

Ford Aerostar seats work and fit great plus they look good and can be picked up very reasonably at wrecking yards.

As a follow up on this topic, I'm looking at some 06-13 Miata seats (with tracks) from a yard. Ive read here that this should be a good fit. How about mounting? Any suggestions on drilling, modifications, using my existing tracks, etc.

Thanks from a new member.

John
'65 E Window Van

austinzac wrote:As a follow up on this topic, I'm looking at some 06-13 Miata seats (with tracks) from a yard.  Ive read here that this should be a good fit. How about mounting? Any suggestions on drilling, modifications, using my existing tracks, etc.

Thanks from a new member.

John
'65 E Window Van

Done this more than a few times … seat mounting holes and track mounting holes are seldom ever the same on a seat swap.  Easiest way to handle the problem that I’ve found is to cut a 16 gauge steel panel to fit the new seat bottom and drill to fit the seat attachment holes.  Place the seat with the panel installed on the stock Econoline tracks and drill a second set of holes to attach to them and you’re done.

I bought the Scat Procar series 1400 lowback seats for my Econoline. I made my own mounts and the seats recline and move forward and back. I paid $400 but did see them at Long Beach car swap meet for $300 a pair. Just my opinion but I don't like highback seats in old cars or trucks. And you know what they say about opinions lol.

Look in the G-van discussion about the Suburban Seats a lot of guys are buying, new 30" wide sport buckets. Look at these and free shipping anywhere USA...That's a Chevy van pictured but should work just as well in a Ford or Dodge... http://www.suburbanseats.com/c-UNIVERSAL-SEATS.aspx?catid=235

Our vans require narrow seats that sit low, that's why seats like those found in a Miata work well. If you are lucky, you might find some nice leather seats out of a wrecked Miata or similar.

Appreciate the helpful responses..

Nice to have all this corporate knowledge for small brains like mine.

I ordered the suburban seats today, which look perfect. The guys and gals at Suburban were great, & btw, input 'sub 20' in the discount code at checkout for an additional $20 off the seats!

I'll be picking your corporate brains in the future, guaranteed.

Thanks again.

You will love the Suburban seats, at least a dozen G van owners bought them here and at VCVC, they fit great, are low profile and nice and firm ans new and clean! and great quality for the price!

Very cool..

Any E owners out there use these seats?

I used seats out of a Porsche 911. Leather, heated and electric tilt. And they are really comfy...

I would think the seats from a neon would work great too. They are very comfortable and not very expensive. A lot of people use them in the suzuki samurais. I have a pair of high backs in my van. They came with it so I have no idea what they are out of. They are comfortable and the tracks work. So some one did them right.

I built my own seats, from existing second row seat frames out of a 2010 Caravan.  I tore them down and cut them all apart, the Passenger's seat is 1-1/4" narrower than the driver's seat because the Doghouse is not on center on the earlies.  I chose the seats because I wanted the seat bottoms absolutely as low as possible on top of the front wheel tubs.  

I had a buddy of mine upholster the seats in the same "Speedline" style as the rest of the interior and Doghouse.  My total cost was just over 300, but I did the fab and welding work myself.  Pretty challenging but I got the seats to still collapse forward and lock flat and also retract back to almost lying down.  

A nice feature were the arm rests which twist up and retract into the seatbacks, giving more room for the Doghouse to open without hitting the seats.  I canceled the outboard armrests in the seats and plan to rely on the stock handle mounted in the door panels.

Headrests come out, or retract down real low on the seat back.

I spent a lot of time designing and building a "stealth" 3-point seat belt system but that is enough for a whole new thread.

Along with cutting and narrowing the Right Seat, I spent a lot of time building the seat brackets.  Note that the brackets are unique as you will not be mounting to a single flat surface, but the floor on your inboard side and the wheel housing on the outboard side.

I KNOW YOU PROBABLY DON'T WANT TO BUILD SEATS, but there are some things to see and to consider, mostly the Doghouse being offset to the Passenger's side, most guys just force it to work but with some planning and lots of measuring you should meet success with your new seats.  Good luck!

Very nice job on the brackets!