Well, I finally got around to loading my interior pics. I had to convert my truck to bucket seats because where my motor got placed put the transmission shifter so far back that I had to widen the hole for the transfer case shifter for the transmission shifter to come through. That still would have worked with a bench seat, but the transfer case shifter was going to end up even farther back than that thus preventing the use of a bench seat.
So I started searching around and I found a full-factory-pimped '94 GMC Safari SLE van in a U-Steal-It yard down by work. This is no small task as I am guessing the price of the full-pimp factory unit was probably fairly close to the conversion van price because this was the only loaded factory-stock one that I found in a sea of conversion vans. This particular van had a power driver's bucket seat, manual passenger bucket, manual bucket seats for the second row (both have adjustment levers for fore/aft seat position, recline, and integral armrests), and a bench seat for the thrid row (this also has an adjustment lever for fore/aft seat position, the left and right side of the seat have integral armrests and recline with the center of the seat folding down to become a cup holder/armrest type apparatus).
Now, I did not want power seats. I do not move the seat around enough to ever want to deal with a non-functioning power seat ever again, and the front seats were pretty worn/sun faded. I got to looking at the second row seats (buckets) and really liked what I saw. They were very dirty and had typical kid type bio-hazards going on, but I thought they would clean up enough to use. I grabbed the two second row seats to use as my front seats. I got them home and started checking them out and started liking them even more. Did I mention it was half off day and I got them for less than $35.00 for the pair?? Yeah it was a sweet deal that day. Anyways I got to thinking that my second row seat was just as bad as my front seat and I should have grabbed the third row seat out of the Safari van to use as my second row seat. I waited a week and went back and it was still there and nobody had used it as a rag to clean their hands on. I got it and the integral seatbelts for under forty bones. I wanted to use the quick release mechanism for my second row seat, but it was not going to work with the frame rail spacing of the Sub. Oh well, I sawed the "hooks" off of the bottom and welded some flat plate to the brackets and converted it to a bolt-in seat.
Here are some pics:
I have a manual trans column to go in it now.
For the front seat belts I used assemblies out of a '97 Chevy regular cab truck. I wanted to use assembliles out of a Tahoe or Suburban, but all of the ones I found were crap.
Now, the only difference between regular cab and Tahoe/Suburban seatbelt assemblies is the black tab has a plastic covering with the Tahoe/Suburban units. These belts I got were like brand new. They were in pristine condition and definitely were not being worn when the truck they came from got crashed.
Now, I have seatbelts with shoulder harnesses for every position in the truck and Generous Motors was kind enough to give provisions to bolt up the shoulder straps, but the hole they gave was not typical compared to late-model vehicles. Instead of being 1/2-13(ish) or metric, they are 7/16-20. Swell. The shoulder belts all attached with a shouldered bolt in their original application, but they are all larger than 7/16". Hmm, what to do. I measured the hole in the rear shoulder belt mountings and found it to be about .625". Ok, for a mock-up I need a bushing with a 7/16" bore and a 5/8" od. I must have something that will work around here...I did. The caliper mounting bolt sleeve from 1/2-3/4T trucks (and a bazillion GM passenger cars also) just happens to have the needed specs. Sweet, I get them mocked up and decide I want something a bit stouter than the caliper guide pin sleeve. I call Russ's 24hr Machine Svc and describe this "top-hat" looking thing with x diameter for the brim and y diameter for the cylinder above the brim and a 7/16 hole through it (I love it when something can be accurately described over the phone). He whips up several of them and they work out perfectly. My theory was the sleeve could use some stability by adding a shoulder to it:
Ok, so I have some stout bushings to mount the shoulder harnesses to the body, now I just need some bolts. Hmm, 7/16-20 about an inch long with as thin of a head as possible.....exactly my thought as well--flywheel bolts for a Mark IV big block/first gen SBC!! They worked out perfect!! Thin head that the covers fit nicely over and long enough to engage all of the provided threads in the body.
The flooring I used was the Auto Custom Carpet heavy duty molded vinyl kit. I followed their instructions about laying it out before working with it. I put it in the truck and it looked good until I started trying to fit it to the truck. It went to hell in a handbasket real quick. What looked good to start with ended up looking horrid once I got it "fitted" if it can be described like that. Now, I have installed several factory GM rubber floor coverings and I thought those fit bad---nooo, those fit like gloves compared to this clump of crap. I was thouroughly dissappointed. I was working with this stuff in summer when the ambient temp is just a fuzz under the surface temp of the sun and I still couldn't get this thing to lay out right. I ended up trying to fit it with a heat gun and glue, but it undid everything I did in a matter of 24hrs. I finally said screw it (literally) and made a couple strategic relief cuts, then glued and screwed the pieces together. It looks sorta ok at best, but I would not use one again, that is for sure.
Anyways, this is just my opinion and I am sure someone somewhere had good luck with their product, just not me.
That is all for today. There is more to come, so stay tuned.
