Anyone build their own seats?

I know guys have built bomber seats and stuff but anyone built split back bench seats or anything like that? Im really thinking of building my own since im missing the back seat in the murray and the front frame and springs are shot. Ive got mustang buckets now but they have the wrong shape and they dont look right in the car. I was thinking 3/4" ply back and bottom with foam to keep it comfy with an older look. Anyone have any tips or tricks that could help me along? Construction methods? Any help would be great.

John

 

john

I am contemplating the same..

my woodie seat has been reduced to merely the framework.. and I havent ever thought much of the "ride quality" of steel seat springs.

My thoughts are identical to yours. 3/4 ply base, followed by foam etc..

I have been looking at how TEAS does there stuff.. should be similar in construction..

 

If you wanted something comfortable, you could build it much like you would a sofa or chair for your living room. Make a perimeter frame, use some "no-sag" springs, a layer of thick foam, cotton batting, and then make a cover out of your favorite leather, vinyl, or fabric.

Build the back in the same manner, make some "L" shaped brackets, cover them in the same material as the seat and back, and use them to attach the back and bottom. Attach some universal sliders and there you have it.

 

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=171371
Check out the pics in this threat.

Norton

 

I made mine and used auto foam from an auto upholstery place. New cars dont use springs and just use foam. Its 4" thick and you cut it with a bandsaw the conture you want. Then glue all the 4 in peices together. I used firm for the bottom and medium for the back and carved in some lumbar support. I drive this from Ventura to Lincoln NB and to Logan UT every year and more comfortable than my wifes new car. I used 3/4" plywood for the base and back and 1/2" for the sides. One hint is to have the top of the back a gentle curve instead of straight across, it just looks right in a coupe. I have mine right on the floor so even with a 4" chop a 6' 5" person can sit in it fine.

 

Just my $0.02, but a foam seat is never as comfy as a spring and wading seat. And a foam seat with no spring is just plain awful.

 

The foam and plywood is how Sid Chavers builds every seat he makes, even buckets.

 

Cool.. thanks. I was thinking along the same lines of the webbing with foam over it. Well.. i guess ive got more work to do. Haha!

 

keep up the great work

 

I Design/Engineer OEM car seats for a living...if you value your life, please do not build car seats out of wood...Wood and wood screw assembly simply cannot withstand the forces produced in a simple 35 mph crash. The forces are much greater than you might believe...if I could invite y'all to our crash-test building to see a few sled-tests in person, I doubt if any of you would walk away considering using wood for seats in a moving vehicle in today's dangerous driving environment...as far as I know, no one is using wooden frames in OEM applications...Around the world, I've seen seat frames made out of steel, aluminum, magnesium and carbon fiber...no one uses wood and for good reasons.

I understand the desire to do it yourself and the frustration with trying to fit current OEM seats into a HAMB-style vehicle, but I ask you to please consider using OEM seats produced in the last decade or two...if you have to cut and weld the frame to fit it your vehicle, that's fine so long as you trust your fabrication skills, but I implore you to please reconsider using wood. Salvage yards and such sell late model OEM seats very reasonably and if you choose this route, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how cheaply they can be attained. If you are looking for a split-back bench style seat, see if you can find a 2nd or 3rd row seat out of a minivan or a SUV...they may be just the size you're looking for and may have seatbelts integral to their frames, what we call 'All Belts To Seat' or ABTS...most salvage yards will sell these for cheaper than they would a 1st row seat.

There are aftermarket manufacturers of seats such as Tea's or Glide and they're certainly worth considering. While I don't know about any sled-test results from them, by looking at their construction and their use of OEM-level materials and methods, I would imagine they build a safe seat and they seem to be very willing to customize their design to fit your needs.

They're called accidents for a reason, no one expects to have them happen to them, it's always the other guy, right? But if one day you find you and/or your loved ones as 'the other guy' wouldn't it just be a tragedy to be in an accident you SHOULD HAVE walked away from, but you and your family or friends dies because you choose not to use a steel-frame, OEM or a safe aftermarket seat?

Would you make your own brakes? No, you'd use a trusted manufacturer or OEM parts... Would you sew your own parachute to jump out of a plane with? No, you would again trust a respected manufacturer...Would you sew your own seatbelts? I certainly hope not... Would you cut your own picture-frame glass for the windows in your car? No, of course you'd use safety glass designed for car applications...So why would you put you, your family and friend's lives at risk by building your own seats out of wood? Many of you may not agree with me and that's fine, but as someone who does this for a living, and lives it everyday, I beg of you to consider the many options besides building your own wooden seats....It's your life, do as you wish, but I hope you will not be using wood seats in your car.

 

I'm with ya. there are things that you need to do to be safe. The older ya get the more ya think about these things.

 

I hear ya but in a model A unless I put a full cage in it, Im screwed anyway. Im sitting practically on the floor and the lap belt goes to the floor of the A. I dont think any seat can really protect me in an A.

 

Cutting foam for what ever you use for a base (wood--steel) is very fast with an ordinary kitchen elec carving knife....no need for a bandsaw..

 

Ditto, on wood seats. At Teas we make our seats out of 14g steel tubing and any other steel we use is usually angle Iron or plated steel. If I were you and you wanted to do it yourself, I would find a small seat frame and build it up with foam. The secret is in the foam, doesn't matter if you are covering one of our frames or a folding chair. There are other options for seats as well, at Teas we sell Frame and Foam only seats, specified to your car that you can cover yourself to save money.

 

What's the opinion on a seat frame made of 3/4" square steel tubing with a 7 ply birch plywood deck for the foam? The rear seat I salvaged from a Geo 4 door had a base made of foam formed to set on the floorpan of the car. Other than the wire perimeter, it basically has only a foam structure. The seat back has hinges at the base to allow it to fold down, gained access to the trunk of the donor car.
I plan to attach the rear seatbelts to a tube going across the rear of the car.
29 Model A Tudor project. The frame isn't Z'd, the floors are homebuilt from steel.

 

Weaverville,

I'm with ya... saftey, comfort and style - and in that order if possible.

I always heard the best auto seats were German, Benz etc. because they did so well in rear crash tests - where many domestic auto seat backs collapse from the weight of the passengers being violently forced backwards, breaking the seat back mechs. How are US seats these days in that regard?

I've been doing a lot of web Kruzn for seats lately and I'm seriously considering air or mechanically suspended truck seats for my next ride. ANYTHING to soften up the ride and make life more bearable on long trips. The top of the line models are pricy - $2K or so, but there are some quality jobs at reasonable prices also. Imagine using the same compressor / tank used for your Shockwaves to also keep your seats puffed up!?! Even Recaro makes them! But they are very tall. Good for big cars or rods with dropped floors.

In the more affordable bracket, one model in particular I'm very interested in for my next build is the LTSS, light truck suspension seat. It is a mechanical / spring deal and is made for delivery trucks and other OEM trucks.

See http://www.ltss.us/products.html

I think something like this might be a good choice in your typical "bomber seat" application. Gary

 

I just started building my own something like yours. I used 1/2" marine grade plywood but I'll probably glue another layer to it when I finalise the shape. I've also added a steel frame to give it all more support (not shown in the pics)

 

I second the junkyard scrounge method for seating. You might luck out and find something with nice upholstery you can use as is. I used '06 mid size Buick front split bench seats in my '51 Pontiac wagon and they BOLTED in to the original mounts at the outers, and I simply drilled holes in the floor and made nutplates for the inner mounts. I could have used the upholster if I'd wanted to, it was perfect.

Lots of guys use van rear seats in coupes, and I was able to adapt Jeep Grand Cherokee rear seats into the wagon, with the folding backs, latches, and adapted them along with some 55 Ford Ranch wagon bases and homebuilt hingeplates for the base, using the Jeep foam base, cut down. Don't listen to those who tell you foam isn't comforable as sprung seats, ALL OEM seats are foam formed over a wire or tubing frame. Salvage yards normally throw them away, particulary the rear seats, or used the foam as shipping padding for big stuff, and the prices are giveaway. Start shopping

 

For what it's worth ,I needed a seat for my car but I have O interior skills. I robbed the complete interior out of a Chrsler Minivan for $80 and am useing it. I'll try to post a pic, the seat was installed with the seats from buckets and the back from the bench, we even made it to where it still folds forward for storage. Went on Power tour and it was very comfortable [img=http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/3835/buick078zi1.th.jpg]
[img=http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/3306/buick079pt5.th.jpg]
able.

 

FlynBrian... he's so fast he's gone plaid (name that movie). Gary

 

I'm sure you wouldn't approve of my wood car either, 31 Chevy. I'd say I agree with you 100% now how do I install seatbelts in a all wood floor?

 

Hmm, I'm building my car out of glass fibre, welded the chassis myself made the seats out of wood, looks like I'm in for a whole world of hurt if I crash. Maybe I best go and buy a brand new SUV just to make double sure there is NO safety risk when driving.

Isn't the Hamb all about guys who build their own cars, weld chassis up, make and modify steering etc etc. next thing you'll be telling us we all HAVE to have collapsible steering columns and air bags, because you've SEEN what happens on your test dummies.

There is no completely 'safe' car, just degrees of safety. By building your own car you assume responsibility for your own actions, something which seems to be sadly lacking in the current 'compensation culture' society.

 

No, but the seat can hurt you very badly in a minor collision if it breaks. And you can't predict how it'll break. Ask any old dirt track racer if they know of incidents with racers getting paralyzed in minor accidents because the seat broke, which in turn broke the racer's back at 20mph. If the guy you ask was around before metal seats were mandated, he'll tell a sad but true story.

Takes a lot less force to break a wood seat than it does to crush an A around ya.

Good luck either way.

 

HA spaceballs! metal frame, wood inserts sound like the way to go. you could also scrounge good seat sprig webbingat the junkyard, an cut it to the size and shape of whatever frame you make, and make a sprng/wadding seat... more work, but also more comfortable

 

It is far better to have your seat break out of it's mounts and stay intact, than to break against you. Even if the car is shattering around you, an intact seat is what you want. Early racers used metal bomber buckets for a reason, and it wasn't just cheapness or lightness. Safety is traditional on some level. Good luck either way.

 

EJ at Kowalski Customs in Reading, PA built me a bench back with split bottoms for my Fiat Topolino Sedan Delivery from old school bus frames. Was inexpensive, functional and worked just fine.

 

The movie is spaceballs love it. John

 

We're talking about flat bench seats here, not some wrap about racing bucket seat. If I have an accident, chances are it will be someone running into the back of me, or me running into something solid.

If they hit the back of me all my weight will be against the seat, and if I can snap 3/4" marine play supported for 2 x 4 cross beams, then I rather think it is all over for me anyway. And if I run into something solid all the weight will be on the seats belts, that are mounted to solid steel, not the seat.
A side impact will have my fat ass sliding sideways through the door hole.

 

I have made several seats by bending EMT conduit into the shapes I needed. Weld up all the joints and you have a nice seat frame made completely to your specs. Using contact cement, glue a good heavy grade canvas to the conduit. The canvas will make your seat bottom and back. Next, pad with the foam til you get your desired thickness. If you are particularly talented (I was not), whip up your upholstery and cover the seats. Otherwise, sub it out. This method provides a very comfortable seat and one that you can make for cheap (not to mention it FITS you and your car).

 

Great tips everone, I am having this delima as well, thanks for shedding some light.