I have an opportunity to pick up a pair of bucket seats from a 2002 40th anniversary Pontiac Grand Prix. The seller has kindly allowed me to borrow one of them, to see if they will work on my 1980 Malibu. As I'm inspecting the Grand Prix seat, by my measurements, the bolt hole spacing on the bottom of the seat (where the seat track bolts on), is very close to being the same as the bolt hole spacing on the bottom of a G body compatible seat. The upper part of a G body seat track is curved upwards in the middle, and the Grand Prix seat frame is flat, so it looks to me that either you'd need some kind of spacers, to allow the G body seat track to bolt onto the Grand Prix seat frame, or you'd need to do some metal surgery on the Grand Prix seat frame, to allow the G body seat track to bolt directly onto the Grand Prix seat frame, without using spacers.
Also, It looks like these seats like came out of a 4 door car, since the seatbacks will not fold forward enough to allow regular access to the rear seat on the 2 door Malibu. Is there any way to get the seatbacks to fold further forward? Can the recliner mechanism be modified to allow more forward movement?
Has anyone here ever attempted this kind of seat swap? I am grateful for any information. Thanks in advance.
Also, It looks like these seats like came out of a 4 door car, since the seatbacks will not fold forward enough to allow regular access to the rear seat on the 2 door Malibu. Is there any way to get the seatbacks to fold further forward? Can the recliner mechanism be modified to allow more forward movement?
Has anyone here ever attempted this kind of seat swap? I am grateful for any information. Thanks in advance.