Bucket Seat Applications

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Oldscarnut

Greasemonkey
May 10, 2017
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NW Washington State
Okay. I give up on finding someone who actually follows through with what they say they are going to do. Apparently G Body parts are worth gold because they are G Body parts? With all the GM divisions over the G Body run, millions of cars were made of which only a tiny fraction are concours! Most are of wrecked and crushed. The ones in between are projects. The majority of cars were floor shift with buckets and so they are plentiful and some should still be workable even if the car is long gone. They were not great seats but adequate for the 1980's. Why some think they can get gold for a broken down rusty frame with torn vinyl and no padding is beyond me. Since I am not restoring the car I have, but making it, you know streetable and comfortable, not a show car, I give up any claim to G Body Bucket seats and will leave them for the restorers.

What I need to know now is what Other seats have others installed in a G Body and what was required for buckets where a bench seat exists. MONEY IS AN OBJECT WITH ME! I want to drive the car not spend myself into oblivion so that the only day I enjoy it is when I sell it! I've been told S-10 and S-15 seats work. Can anyone clue me in on that? I am not a welder or fabricator, so I need an easy swap. Since G Body seats are absolutely impossible for me to get, I would love to hear any stories of bucket seats, especially in El Camino or Caballeros. Thanks to the few of you who are so mercenary it is hard to even imagine how greedy you are, and you know very well who you are! To the rest I would love to hear from you, especially those who really have seats and wish to sell them!
 
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AZRegal

Greasemonkey
Aug 20, 2017
178
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Mesa AZ
If you look in the for sale section I have some gray reclining 85 442 bucket seats you can have for free. Not rusted, foams are great, but they will need new covers. These are not tore just faded. No tracks. Problem is they are in Mesa az and shipping will be expensive. Plus I really don't want to go through the hassle of shipping seats. If you have a friend or family down here send them over and they can take these for free. I do have the manual tracks specific for the gbody buckets I could be talked out of but I spent 160 for those. I am not going to give those away.
 
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clean8485

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Dec 18, 2005
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If you have a car that has a 1 piece bench seat, you will need the inner floor mounts, which will allow you to use bucket seat tracks. As for seat selection, most GM bucket seats that were produced from the late '70s to the early 2000s will bolt directly to the correct G body bucket seat tracks. When I upgraded the interior in my '84 Monte SS, I tried Buick GN seats-direct bolt in. I tried late '80s Firebird seats-direct bolt in. I tried early 2000s Cavalier/Sunfire seats-direct bolt in. I finally ended up using seats from a '96-'98 Pontiac Grand Am GT, and they were also a direct bolt in. I've seen plenty of aftermarket seats in these cars, but they usually require an adapter bracket that will allow you to bolt the aftermarket seat to the G body seat track. You can fabricate a similiar type bracket, which will allow you to use seats from other vehicles. I had a local welding shop fab up a pair of adapter brackets, so that I could mount a pair of 1988 Toyota Celica GTS bucket seats in my 1980 Malibu. There are lots of different ways that you can go.
 
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Ribbedroof

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Jan 4, 2009
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The majority of cars were floor shift with buckets and so they are plentiful and some should still be workable even if the car is long gone.

Far from correct. Millions of bench seat cars. Buckets were not the norm, even on MCSS.

You have to persist. I bought mine (78-81 highbacks) on Craigslist for the advertised $50 for the pair, and they were complete with all trim and tracks. Did they need to be recovered?...sure they did, but most do at this point. I also contended with sellers that thought totally shredded MCSS "euro" seats were worth $450. I almost made a deal on a pair of Olds seats for $200, but the "chrome" hinge covers were broken/missing.

Like everything else, if you want it NOW, you pay more than if you can wait for the right deal to come along. And no, I didn't jump on them the minute they posted, it actually took me about 5 days to initiate contact with the seller
 
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Ribbedroof

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Wellston, OK
An afterthought...in my experience, the reclining seats seem to be in worse structural condition than the highback style. I've seen a lot of the reclining style, and nearly all of them have "lean" issues. My MCSS donor car even had broken tracks on the driver side, which had been VERY poorly "repaired".

I should add that the Oklahoma City area is not a hotbed of G body cars/parts. Seldom is much advertised, either cars or parts. I have NEVER seen an 8.5" rear in a yard/advertised, and in 20 years have seen only 3 MCSS cars being parted. Never seen a MCSS, 442, '84+ Turbo Buick, or H/O in a salvage yard
 
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Doug Chahoy

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Nov 21, 2016
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The 96 Camaro manual seats look/fit good , if you have all 4 tracks. The power driver seat took some fabrication. Try buying a set of 66-72 GM Strato buckets. After you’ve given them an arm and a leg, they still want a fortune for even junk.
CC68558B-045B-4FCA-A257-DB31D83D105D.jpeg
CD991DC1-5D98-4B7A-8858-070201339F76.jpeg
 
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fleming442

Captain Tenneal
Dec 26, 2013
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Chuck, I wouldn't let a bench seat keep me from enjoying the car while you look for a set. You've got a bunch of time and effort in that thing, and the seat swap can be done in a weekend. Rock the bench until you find a pair of buckets, and go shred some rubber.

As stated, you will need the inner brackets, which should be welded in.
 
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Doug Chahoy

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Nov 21, 2016
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To show what I DON’T KNOW, since mine originally had a 60/40 seat, all 4 mounting points were already there. Are you saying that you have to install the floor bracket from another car that had buckets/60/40 ? If so, THAT SUCKS! Guess I dodged a bullet on that one.
 
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69hurstolds

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Jan 2, 2006
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Just a note on 3rd gen F-body seats....don't plan long trips. They suck for long rides. Cruisin' around town a bit is ok, but they're not designed with comfort in mind. The pockets of the G-body floors, your Camino included, are large enough to fit nearly any mid-size bucket seat. But again, if you want bolt-ins, you have to worry about the tracks. I cannot vouch for S-10 seats bolting in, but sometimes you have to do a little modding sometimes. It's the tracks that make the difference and I have a hard time believing an S-10 floorboard is the same as a G-body. But I don't know. You're certainly increasing your chances of success by opening up your field of candidates.

But let me get this straight. You're mad because people won't sell you G-body seats at the price you want to pay and they're somehow the villain? When you're buying stuff for your car, you always keep an eye out for a deal as Ribbedroof said. But unless someone was out to blatantly rip you off, qualifying an entire group people that actually have the parts you want as being greedy and mean and not practically giving them away when you want them to is a bit petty in my book. I understand your frustration, but if you don't like the price, dig up another rock and keep looking. I'm sure Panhandler Pete probably didn't find a gold nugget in his sifting pan the first day on the river. He kept going back until he did, though.

But the going rate is the going rate, and if you want to keep your bench, you certainly can. Nobody goes from buckets to bench, so if you were looking for bench seats, I'd bet you would find them cheap and plentiful. But bucket seats for a G-body will cost you because EVERYONE wants to go that route. Including you.

If I was close enough to AZRegal I'd be all over those seats he has for free.

As always, when it concerns car parts, it comes down to your budget. Keep looking. You don't ever finish a car anyway so you can always put in buckets later. A deal you like might fall into your lap. You never know.

 
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PBGBodyFan

G-Body Guru
Mar 3, 2009
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I enjoy it when people complain about prices due to what the market dictates. Sure there are some people who list things for way too much but “if you wanna play you gotta pay”. The whole supply/demand thing.

Patience and keeping your eye out will lead to deals. Junkyards still get g-bodies here and there even here in the rust belt, some with bucket seats. And yea, the majority definitley didn’t come with them. Many GM buckets from that era will bolt on to the g-body tracks, finding good tracks is getting almost harder than usable buckets it seems.
 
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