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JohnIL · 10-03-2022, 09:57 PM

Bench Seat, Shifter, Etc.
Oh, that bench seat. I'm inclined to hold a grudge against the previous owner over this stupid seat. The previous owner replaced the factory seat with a clapped out blue vinyl bench seat from a mid-70's square body Chevy. I'm sure the original seat was thrashed, but the replacement isn't much better. The padding is shot, the springs sag, and the vinyl is split. So, the previous owner covered it up with the obligatory cheap saddle blanket covers. The seats were impossible to slide in and out of, so I immediately threw the covers in the trash. The seat is still the wrong color and the vinyl is cracked, but at least you can get in and out of the truck. The seat itself isn't even the worst part. The worst part was the position of the seat. They were WAY too low. The floor in a mid-70's square body is 4"-5" lower than the floor in a mid-60's C10. This put the seat 4"-5" too low in the C10 cab. The previous owner had the seats mounted atop 2x4 wooden blocks and bolted down with common grade 3/8" bolts. Ugh. You just can't make this stuff up. The seat was so low that I had well over a foot of head room. It was just silly. And, the wood blocks and cheap hardware made the seats completely unsafe. To accommodate the low seat position and the location of the Saginaw shifter location (almost tucked back under the seat), the previous owner installed a Hurst Competition Plus shifter with a muscle car style shift lever.

https://www.holley.com/products/driv.../parts/3913780

It's a very nice shifter, but the shape of the shift lever only works in a low seated muscle car. Raising the seat to a more normal truck position would put 2nd gear and 4th gear directly into the seat padding. Drastic measures were in needed...

Someday, I plan to replace the bench seat with a pair of fancy TMI low back buckets. But, I'm not ready to spend a few thousand dollars on the interior just yet, so some sort of compromise had to be made. I addressed both the seat height and the seat safety issues by fabricating a pair of steel seat risers 4 1/2" tall. That's a full 3" higher than the 2x4 wood blocks. I bolted the new risers to the floor and the seats to the new risers with fresh grade 8 hardware. Now that the seat was at a more natural height, the shifter was basically unusable. So, I unbolted the shift lever, clamped it in my bench vice, and used a long cheater pipe to bend it ( just above the center bend) forward until the 2nd gear and 4th gear positions are almost directly straight up. This provided the necessary clearance to the front of the seat. On the other hand, it also put the 1st gear and 3rd gear positions directly into the front of the triple gauge cluster mounted under the center of the dashboard. That was easy to fix. I cut out a piece of aluminum plate the same width as the gauge cluster and 3" deep. I mounted the plate to the bottom of the dash and the gauge cluster to the plate. This effectively moved the gauge cluster 3" forward, underneath the dashboard. They are still readily visible and well out of the way of the new shifter position.

New Shifter Knob
I know this seems like a petty detail, but the shifter knob was all wrong. First, it was white. Again, this is a mid-60's pickup, not a 70's muscle car. Second, the shift pattern engraved in the knob was for a different transmission. It was the Muncie pattern with reverse up and to the left instead of the Saginaw pattern with reverse back and to the left. Third, the knob was cracked and loose because someone bottomed it out on the shift lever instead of using a jamb nut to tighten it in the correct orientation. That was at least two strikes too many for me, so I ordered a new black knob with the correct shift pattern and a proper jamb nut. Much better now.

Shifter Boot
Another petty detail, but whoever installed the 4 speed just hacked a hole in the floor and stuck the shifter handle up into the interior. A cheap black vinyl shifter boot covered up the jagged metal edges and helps keep the outside on the outside.

10-03-2022, 09:57 PM	#6
JohnIL Registered User Join Date: Aug 2022 Location: Central Illinois Posts: 112	Bench Seat, Floor Shifter, and Triple Guage Cluster Bench Seat, Shifter, Etc. Oh, that bench seat. I'm inclined to hold a grudge against the previous owner over this stupid seat. The previous owner replaced the factory seat with a clapped out blue vinyl bench seat from a mid-70's square body Chevy. I'm sure the original seat was thrashed, but the replacement isn't much better. The padding is shot, the springs sag, and the vinyl is split. So, the previous owner covered it up with the obligatory cheap saddle blanket covers. The seats were impossible to slide in and out of, so I immediately threw the covers in the trash. The seat is still the wrong color and the vinyl is cracked, but at least you can get in and out of the truck. The seat itself isn't even the worst part. The worst part was the position of the seat. They were WAY too low. The floor in a mid-70's square body is 4"-5" lower than the floor in a mid-60's C10. This put the seat 4"-5" too low in the C10 cab. The previous owner had the seats mounted atop 2x4 wooden blocks and bolted down with common grade 3/8" bolts. Ugh. You just can't make this stuff up. The seat was so low that I had well over a foot of head room. It was just silly. And, the wood blocks and cheap hardware made the seats completely unsafe. To accommodate the low seat position and the location of the Saginaw shifter location (almost tucked back under the seat), the previous owner installed a Hurst Competition Plus shifter with a muscle car style shift lever. https://www.holley.com/products/driv.../parts/3913780 It's a very nice shifter, but the shape of the shift lever only works in a low seated muscle car. Raising the seat to a more normal truck position would put 2nd gear and 4th gear directly into the seat padding. Drastic measures were in needed... Someday, I plan to replace the bench seat with a pair of fancy TMI low back buckets. But, I'm not ready to spend a few thousand dollars on the interior just yet, so some sort of compromise had to be made. I addressed both the seat height and the seat safety issues by fabricating a pair of steel seat risers 4 1/2" tall. That's a full 3" higher than the 2x4 wood blocks. I bolted the new risers to the floor and the seats to the new risers with fresh grade 8 hardware. Now that the seat was at a more natural height, the shifter was basically unusable. So, I unbolted the shift lever, clamped it in my bench vice, and used a long cheater pipe to bend it ( just above the center bend) forward until the 2nd gear and 4th gear positions are almost directly straight up. This provided the necessary clearance to the front of the seat. On the other hand, it also put the 1st gear and 3rd gear positions directly into the front of the triple gauge cluster mounted under the center of the dashboard. That was easy to fix. I cut out a piece of aluminum plate the same width as the gauge cluster and 3" deep. I mounted the plate to the bottom of the dash and the gauge cluster to the plate. This effectively moved the gauge cluster 3" forward, underneath the dashboard. They are still readily visible and well out of the way of the new shifter position. New Shifter Knob I know this seems like a petty detail, but the shifter knob was all wrong. First, it was white. Again, this is a mid-60's pickup, not a 70's muscle car. Second, the shift pattern engraved in the knob was for a different transmission. It was the Muncie pattern with reverse up and to the left instead of the Saginaw pattern with reverse back and to the left. Third, the knob was cracked and loose because someone bottomed it out on the shift lever instead of using a jamb nut to tighten it in the correct orientation. That was at least two strikes too many for me, so I ordered a new black knob with the correct shift pattern and a proper jamb nut. Much better now. Shifter Boot Another petty detail, but whoever installed the 4 speed just hacked a hole in the floor and stuck the shifter handle up into the interior. A cheap black vinyl shifter boot covered up the jagged metal edges and helps keep the outside on the outside.