REGAL Powered 60/40 To Buckets To Powered Buckets?

[MrSony]

Can I directly swap my power 60/40 track to my manual seat to have a power bucket?

Most things I've read say yes, but some say no. I know I'll have to mount the switch somewhere.

 

[565bbchevy]

I don't know about factory bucket seats but all 4 of the Cerullo buckets I installed in both my cars I modified to use driver's side 60/40 power bases, on those I had to make adapters for the base to mount to the seat and also make a plate for power switch and mount it.

 

[Bonnewagon]

Yes, I have found most GM seats interchange very nicely. My first set was some blue velour GP 60/40 seats. The driver seat was power. I later swapped my 1977 Firebird bucket seats onto the power base. In my Bonnewagon right now I have 1994 Firebird seats, on 1995 Buick LaSabre power bases. Bolted right up. My switch is hidden in the map pocket of the console. The GP seats did not come with the door switch. I had to fabricate them and mounted them on a bracket under the seat. The power seats use a motor and transmission, so you need to use double pole, double throw ON/OFF/ON momentary switches for each form of travel.

 

[Ribbedroof]

My understanding from previous postings on this was that the power bucket tracks are narrower where they attach to the seat than the split bench tracks. Floor pattern is the same, but the tracks are different.

 

[Bonnewagon]

I may be wrong, but I think they are the same. In my case the driver side seat attached to the power base no different than any other seat. But the part of the seat that hung over the driveshaft tunnel was , well, wide. It was kind of goofy actually, but it was flat, and it cleared the tunnel, fit right up close to the passenger side seat. My thinking is that the bean counters at GM demanded that all seats fit all seat tracks so they could offer all optional seats in all cars. Thus, the seats fit in all cars wether power or not. Of course the seat bases are series specific. Like F-body tracks are not a perfect fit to a G-body. I even once took the power bench seat base from a 1976 Pontiac GranVille, and swapped the non-power bench seat of a 1968 Buick LaSabre on to it, and bolted that all into the '68 Buick. B body to B body.

 

[Sweet_Johnny]

GM bucket seats up until about '04 all have the same bolt pattern to attach to the seat frame. All of them. Our power seat tracks will physically bolt to them, but the spacing between the split/full bench and the buckets is different by roughly 1/2" due to the bracket design. A die grinder (all 8 holes per seat) and some bending will make things fit but welding on new tabs would be better. A thick *ss washer cut accordingly works.

 

[MrSony]

GM bucket seats up until about '04 all have the same bolt pattern to attach to the seat frame. All of them. Our power seat tracks will physically bolt to them, but the spacing between the split/full bench and the buckets is different by roughly 1/2" due to the bracket design. A die grinder (all 8 holes per seat) and some bending will make things fit but welding on new tabs would be better. A thick *ss washer cut accordingly works.

You mean the bracket to the seat is different? The Buckets bolted to my floor with no issue.

 

[Sweet_Johnny]

You mean the bracket to the seat is different? The Buckets bolted to my floor with no issue.

Sorry, I'm not always very clear when I rattle things off like that. Please allow me to elaborate. The bench seats utilize 2 brackets: they mount to the floor using only the outboard floor mounts. The split bench uses those outside mounts as well as the inboard mounts for a total of 4. The bucket seat brackets use these same 4 floor mounts. The floor mounts are all the same.

The difference is absolutely in the bracket design- and the difference you're looking at is that a vertical piece makes a 90° bend, with bucket/bench brackets bending in opposite directions from what I recall (it's been a while). No amount of swapping positions will make things work. However, you can elongate the bolt holes in the brackets and then loosely mount things together. The bolts will go in but won't be happy, you tighten them and the brackets pull into place. Or you can weld on some new mounting tabs that are simply cut down washers purchased from a farm and implement store and things go in smoothly.

The mounting holes in the bottom of GM bucket seats are all the same from the '70s until '04 so you can swap almost any GM bucket seat to your G Body bucket brackets. By extension, you can mount nearly any GM bucket seat to G Body split bench brackets with a little modification.

I have not yet tried to swap power split bench bases to bucket seats but had assumed the split bench bases were all the same, the only difference being the power option. Bonnewagon states above that his manual bucket seats bolted directly to the power split bench bases, which confuses me. That would indicate that G body power split bench and manual/power buckets share a base design whereas the full bench and manual split bench are different.

 

[MrSony]

Sorry, I'm not always very clear when I rattle things off like that. Please allow me to elaborate. The bench seats utilize 2 brackets: they mount to the floor using only the outboard floor mounts. The split bench uses those outside mounts as well as the inboard mounts for a total of 4. The bucket seat brackets use these same 4 floor mounts. The floor mounts are all the same.

The difference is absolutely in the bracket design- and the difference you're looking at is that a vertical piece makes a 90° bend, with bucket/bench brackets bending in opposite directions from what I recall (it's been a while). No amount of swapping positions will make things work. However, you can elongate the bolt holes in the brackets and then loosely mount things together. The bolts will go in but won't be happy, you tighten them and the brackets pull into place. Or you can weld on some new mounting tabs that are simply cut down washers purchased from a farm and implement store and things go in smoothly.

The mounting holes in the bottom of GM bucket seats are all the same from the '70s until '04 so you can swap almost any GM bucket seat to your G Body bucket brackets. By extension, you can mount nearly any GM bucket seat to G Body split bench brackets with a little modification.

I have not yet tried to swap power split bench bases to bucket seats but had assumed the split bench bases were all the same, the only difference being the power option. Bonnewagon states above that his manual bucket seats bolted directly to the power split bench bases, which confuses me. That would indicate that G body power split bench and manual/power buckets share a base design whereas the full bench and manual split bench are different.

We will see this weekend when I attempt this swap. My power seat worked until I as a fun joke, crushed my friend in the back seat and broke the hourglass coupler.

 

[MrSony]

Well, turns out my motor is cracked.
Shame. I guess this experiment will be put on hold for the moment.
Any bracing I try in willing to bet under my fat *ss will just break it further.