1978 Malibu Bucket seat options

[Packfan]

I recently purchased a 1978 malibu Classic and I am starting to put my signature on the car. Interior has many new items but the previous owner had the original bench seat recovered. I am wondering what my options are for buckets? I am not against a sport racing seat. I am having the car mini tubbed at the end of the month. Has anyone ever put f body buckets in a G body? Also, would lets say buckets from a 1979 camaro and the console fit in a 78 Malibu? Reason I ask that is a friend wrecked his car and the interior is like new and matches the color of my car. Thanks for any help or suggestions.

 

[Poncho61]

I've read other places of people using F body seats with little or no trouble installing them. Even 3rd/4th gen as well. I'm currently working on trying to install the seats from an early 20?? GP into my 80 GP. I removed tracks and all, power seats, from the newer GP. Unfortuneatly, the newer tracks are no where near a bolt in deal. The problem with changing seats on the G body is the fact the space between the transmission hump and the rocker panel is narrow and lots of newer seats are too wide unless you use a really tall seat track or fab up some solid spacers. I removed the power tracks from the newer seats, and surprisingly enough, the seat tracks from the split bench that came in my GP have the same front to back bolt spacing. The side to side is extremely close and the tracks line up with the floor mounts pretty well. The original split bench used 1/4, maybe 3/8 spacers between the seat frame and the seat tracks. I needed to use something a little thicker because of the contour of the late model seats. I also used a graded bolt at this location. Don't need my fat *ss breaking off fasteners if something jumps in front of my car or from normal entry exit. Anyway, the seats pretty much bolt in easily, the newest obstacle is the hard plastic seat skirt and the floor mount seat belts. The late model uses a belt system that has half the belts attached to the seat. The older G body has belts floor mounted for both halves. I'm 6' 3" so the seat has to be kicked back so I'm not resting my chin on my knees. The current plastic skirt hits the outside floor mount seat belt. I'm going to do a bit of neat trimming so the skirt passes over the belt mount as it slides forwards/backwards. Honestly, I'll be the only one behind the wheel, so I don't see that seat moving forward backwards alot. I also captured the complete rear seat from the late model. Thats gonna take a bit more work to fit in the G body neatly. The late model seat bottom sits on a raised floor section where as the G body has spring wire that supports the seat bottom. I will have to construct a riser to support the new seat. The seat back on the new seat is also a tad taller, so it will extend slightly above the package shelf I think. The seat bottom is also slightly deeper front to back. I may have to remove the cover, alter the foam core and wire structure, then re sew some of the bottom cover to make it fit right and look good. Easier said than done since I'm not known as a seamstress. LOL I wanted the same pattern on the front seats as the rear, so thats the reasoning behind modifying the late model seat to fit.