82-02 Camaro front seats in an Avanti - How to

[sbca96]

Edit per new picture location : 12/1/08

NOTE : Firebird seats could also be used - Tom

Thread used to be "Dabnabbit Avanti front seat mounts!!!"

OK .. I just took out my front seat, to finally figure out WHY its a
"rocking" chair. I found it only had ONE bolt located in a factory
captured nut, and the other three mounts where all broken and poorly
repaired. I am faced with a decision, do I spend the time to fab new
mounting brackets to put the factory seats back in (that I hate), or
do I just go ahead and mount the '97 Camaro seats I bought already?

Yah .. I am definately leaning toward the second option. I have a bad
back, and so just short drives create hours of pain on arrival when I
drive the Avanti. The Camaro seats seem to fit OK, the rails are the
same distance apart as the Avanti seats, but I will have to remove the
front built up fiberglass hump that the front mount was in. Someone
already cut a bunch of holes in it, weakening it a lot. I'm surprised
that Studebaker just rivoted metal to the fiberglass & called it good.
The rear outer mount has a steel plate, but the other three (the ones
that broke) did not. Oh, and in the process of trial fitting, I tore
my freshly dyed carpet .. thats 4 dollars worth of dye wasted!

Tom

[CHAMP]

I the stock seats are causing you back pain I would change them. One of the few things I never liked on the Avanti is the front seats. I think the Camero seats are a much better looking seat. Go for it![8D]

GARY H 2DR.SEDAN 48 STUDEBAKER CHAMPION NORTHEAST MD.

[sbca96]

Well .. the only reply I got on this post was agreeing with me, so I
started the ground work for the swap. After thinking about it more, I
realized that there was no real reason to use the power seat part of
the Camaro seat, other then its "neato-ness". It also made the seat
sit TOO high up in the car. Looked stupid. I checked the distance
between the mounting holes on the stock seat, and it looked like they
would fit directly onto the Camaro seats. It was very close, but not
exact. I figured that considering how flimsy the stock setup was, I
could get away with notching the outside of the rails, and then bolt
the rail to the mount "capturing" the rail between the bolts. If it
was met with enough force to pull the rail out from between the bolts,
they it would break out the fiberglass holding the rail to the floor :

Front of seats :



Back of seats :



Distance between Camaro seat tracks :



Distance between Avanti seat tracks :



Notched rail end :



In process rail notching by Dremel :



Bolted up rail :



Seat in the car :







Tom

[N8N]

Tom,

I've already posted my opinion of Avanti seats here:

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.autos.studebaker/browse_frm/thread/e43325eb5706aec5/5a51bed4706c9fe2#5a51bed4706c9fe2

it's hard to argue with someone who wants to switch.

nate

--
55 Commander Starlight

http://home.comcast.net/~njnagel

[CHAMP]

Having never sat in an Avanti I didn't realise they were uncomfortable , I do know I didn't care for their looks. Those Camero seats are going to look good in your Avanti Tom.

GARY H 2DR.SEDAN 48 STUDEBAKER CHAMPION NORTHEAST MD.

[Guest]

Tom, As a 6'5" guy whose head rubs the roof of my '74 Avanti 'cause the seat back won't adjust, I envy you!

Western Washington, USA

[Karl]

You are going love those seats. Put a set in the wife Vette. was like night and day.Color looks close too.I tried to use the stock bracket in the Twin. On my new seats. But that made the seat to close to the steering wheel. Mounted them just behind the bump in the floor.You may have to reposition your mirror. Just under the light switches.

[CHAMP]

If you're going to try to match the colors of the front and rear seats with vinyl spray do the rear ones as they don't get as much wear. They look pretty close the way they are in the pics.

GARY H 2DR.SEDAN 48 STUDEBAKER CHAMPION NORTHEAST MD.

[sbca96]

Yah .. the color is VERY close, actually its almost DEAD on, with the
NON-sun bleached vinyl thats wrapped under the factory Avanti seats.
I know that I will like the seats, my 93 Camaro has the same ones, and
I have clocked almost 200,000 miles in those seats - darn nice!!

I am making up repair brackets at work RIGHT now, gotta get out there
and finish tapping some holes. Pictures later!

Tom

[studegary]

Your back will thank you.

Gary L.
Wappinger, NY
1954 Commander Starliner (restomod)
1959 DeLuxe pickup (restomod)

[Laemmle]

To each his own, but in the 42 years of Avanti ownership I have never found the seats to be a problem.......they are classic ...Studebaker had good sense to follow the style of classic Alfa's with their own seats.....classic, simple, and to me never an aching back![^][)]

[bams50]

My opinion: Seats are one of those things that can always be switched back if a future owner wants to; and most older sporty car's seats are horrendous[xx(]

Switch 'em and put the originals with the stock wheels, brakes, and anything else you've upgraded!

Piercings can be removed and healed over, but tatoos are forever! (Not that I have ever had either)! [)]

Robert K. Andrews Owner- IoMT (Island of Misfit Toys!)
Parish, central NY 13131

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2358680/1

[bams50]

YIKES- just saw the pic and it looks great in there- WAY better than the buckboard that it came with.........

Robert K. Andrews Owner- IoMT (Island of Misfit Toys!)
Parish, central NY 13131

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2358680/1

[sbca96]

Some people are gifted with backs that are not bothered, to those I am
most definately envious. My back, however, can not stand these seats
for the 55 mile commute to work. As pictured, I am using the factory
seat rails, with a minimal mod to them. One which would not effect it
being switched back. Unfortunately one of the front bolts that hold
the rail to the fiberglass seat broke off in the seat, that spells a
disaster to me. Since I wont be switching them back, I will probably
just put them up in the attic and forget about them.

I got the drivers seat mounts repaired last night, and the seat is now
bolted securely to the floor, for the first time in the over 10 years
I have had this car, the seat DOESNT rock back and forth. Nice!
I took a bunch of pictures of the mounting that I made up to share on
the forum for others faced with this setup. The outer rear front seat
mount has a steel reinforcement that appears to go to the frame, the
inner rear front seat mount is a "captured nut" steel cage, rivoted to
a steel plate, and bonded to a fiberglass square, THEN bonded to the
bottom of the body!! Needless to say, 40 years of rust is stronger
then the bond to the body, and it broke off. Grabbing the cage from
underneath with vice grips helped get it off. I made another aluminum
mount to replace it. Hopefully things will go smoothly, & I will post
the pictures on this thread tonight.

Tom

[sbca96]

To those waiting for further details on this swap, here is the latest
update. The drivers side front mounts were toasted, so I made up two
aluminum mounts. Here is a few pictures of the carnage :









Here is the 6061-T6 aluminum block I made up to anchor the seat. I had
to move out further then the factory rivots since the fiberglass was
so broken up around the hole.



Here is the block attached. I didnt bother with two mounting holes, I
split the difference. If I need to raise the seat, I can add washers
in between the seat track and seat bottom. Stainless screws, with a
zinc plated bolt.





This is the replacement inner rear seat mount, this is the one that
was completely GONE - nothing there but a through bolt with a big
washer on the underside of the car.



Drivers seat installed :



Here is the drivers and pass seats waiting to go up in the attic. You
can see how bleached the interior is from the sun. The underside
color is almost a match to the Camaro seats.



Tom