Seats - forget stock, get something cool?

[josh0237]

I'm not wild about the racing seat look--maybe for a hot rod someday, but not for my daily driver. But I need some seats--my front seats are literally being held together by five different seat covers.

So I've thought about replacing them with some stock seats, but then my wife starts getting on my case about safety and 3-point belts. Since I don't have a roll cage, and that's a lot further down on my list of projects, I got to thinking about seats with integrated shoulder belts.

And in particular, I got to thinking about my old Sebring convertible that had black leather seats with grey suede inserts.

They looked an awful lot like this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/96-0..._Accessories?hash=item414d23d033#ht_832wt_714

Seems to me they'd look flippin' sweet in a K5! The back seat was a small bench that might even fit as my rear seat--or maybe two rows of captain's chairs?

What other seats have people used with integrated shoulder belts? I can't be the only one thinking this but I haven't found much in a search.

~Josh

 

[AJs72K5]

A number of guys have done 99+ Silverado buckets and Tahoe benches for the rear. They've got ur integrated seat belts.

 

[bigbadchev84]

Check out chefbears seats, I know he has some in his Progress thread They are A#1 for comfort

 

[scottishdave]

I was looking at these...Only problem is that they dont have arm rests, and i love me and arm rest.

http://www.procarbyscat.com/Products_EliteLumbar.asp

 

[blazer7172]

check out my build. (Jeff's project) I used 2004 tahoe leather seats (powered and heated). They were not very difficult to install and look great. The only thing I will have to do eventually is build a release for the passenger seat to fold forward.

 

[bp71k5]

One point of caution on seats with integrated belts. The cars those were originally in came with heavily reinforced floors. In a k5, the floor is a single layer of sheetmetal with very little reinforement. In stock form, the k5 seats themselves don't need to be rigidly fastened because the seat belts do all of the work of holding a passenger in and the seatbelts are attached to very well reinforced areas.

Without floor reinforcement, an "integrated belt" seat could rip right out of the floor in a collision.

 

[ChefBear]

I like it

I like the PRP seats and I was able to get them sized for the kids. The seat bridge and harnesses are stout and not going anywhere, and the whole thing is pretty comfy. Suspension seats are the way to go.

 

[blazer7172]

my seats are reinforced from underneath. I feel pretty good about their strength.

 

[RICK212]

I modofied my '72 K5 with late model seats.

One major problem that I found with the Acadia seats that I installed was the front passenger seat. The seat does not tilt forward enough for a person to get in to the rear seat area. I mocked up a hinge to see if the seat would tilt like the OEM seat. No way!

So....I am going to remove my center OEM console in order for the kids to get in to the rear seats. The seats look great, but I did not think ahead about the front passengers seat.

Rick

 

[josh0237]

Thanks for the thoughts--good things to consider.

I'm wondering about front buckets from a Trailblazer? Seems like they're cheap and plentiful (at least on eBay and locally) and might be the ticket. Third row (from an EXT) ought to fit as a rear bench, too.

Has anyone come up with some sort of fabricated hinge/mounting bracket setup to allow the passenger seat to tilt forward like factory?

-Josh

 

[josh0237]

That's a sweet looking truck, Jeff. I like the four bucket seats idea. Do the rear seats sit noticeably higher than the front row, given the shape of the truck? I'm wondering about headroom with the top on.