Re: Restoring Rusty
 

and here's what the original bench seat brackets look like underneath

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

so what's the goal here, why are we doing this? why not just get a seat cover?

well a seat cover is roughly $200 bucks these seats were $30

plus not only is the foam shot in my bench seat but the driver seat slants down to the driver door so bad I feel like I am getting scoliosis, I think the springs are completely shot

additionally I want to use the existing bolt holes and not masterdize the cab or the old seat brackets in case I ever wan to go back to a bench seat

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so at first I tried to go for the easy win and bolt the front bracket directly into the front bench seat hole, that was close, but the seat ended up being about 2" off center towards the middle of the vehicle, no go on that

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it was then that I realized it was time to make some metal shavings

it was time to drill out the rear factory brackets / mounts which was rivitted with these big headed nut rivet thingies, PIA to drill out, many a drill bits was broken in the process, yes cutting oil was used whilst drillin'

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

so in order to use the existing bench seat bracket holes and utilize the seat belt ones, I had to get creative and fab up a adapter bracket, don't laugh, here we go

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so here's the driver side seat bracket, apologies the pics are a bit blurry it was late at night

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so after at first running out of welding wire in order to finish the driver seat, I than ran out of Argon gas to finish the passenger seat, it ain't easy folks

well here's the driver seat all mounted in, I drove it to work like this today and here's the report

these seats are narrow

the seat is tough, ie hard as a rock

I like how it slides forwards and back with the manual controls

I can't recline it all the way back cause the headrest hits the window, cause these came out of an extended cab so they can tilt further back, but I don't mind that cause I don't need it to go that far back

seat height is good, maybe a bit too tall since I used the 2x2 square tubing and maybe a 2x1 would make it an inch lower instead

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Looking forward to the outcome of this seat install.

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I like it.

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Just finished looking through your ENTIRE thread over the last three days haha, I love how you are going about your restoration. Its been really fun to see the progress, keep up the good work!

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

well got the second seat in and learned a lot in the process, let me tell you this was a lot harder than I thought

the front brackets were driving me crazy as the inside mounting points are an inch further out than the outside ones do to the contours of the seat pans and not my mismesuring

turns out the gap between the two seats is 20" and twice as wide as the center console, dope

overall I would not consider this an Epic Fail, but it won't be making my Highlight Real, ha ha

I learned a lot, became quite intimate with the whole seat setup and removed and reinstalled the seats a dozen times

as my buddy Mopar Seth said "at least now you"ll be able to take your time and restore the bench seat"

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

We learn things both from our failures and our success. Thanks for sharing your results. :)

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and a look from the other side

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just a pic of me picking up a refill of the Special Sauce ($35) for my Lincoln C140 MIG welding machine which I can't say enough good things about

the crew at Matheson welding supply in West Sacramento is Top Notch, thank you so much

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

so decided to take a little break from the seat project and go after some of the cab noises on my '74, like I'm sure some of your trucks may have, more specifically I have this annoying whistle coming from my passenger side door but only at highway speeds, I have replaced the door molding / weather strip and the window molding / weather strip, my truck did not have the optional upper door seals, so it may be time to get them, any thoughts? suggestions?

so here we go, this journey may seem a bit unconventional so allow me to explain, obviously in order to adjust the door its best to take the passenger fender off, but I also did it to fix the carnage created last summer by the tire that separated whilst we were going camping, remember that

so we start with the fender, and I was a tad bit peeved fixing this again, since this is already my new(er) replacement fender that replaced the original rusted OEM one

it was worse on the back side than on the front side, but I was too upset to take pics of that side I just layed it out on my lawn and pounded it back to submission, hard to do with double walled sections like this, good thing I have another replacement fender standing by, ha ha but for now this one will do

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

looks like my inner fender took most of the pounding as the separated tire spun and flapped around under the truck when it blew

again a bit upset, this also was the new(er) replacement inner fender that I painted to replace the coroded OEM one, again I have yet another one to replace it with but for now it will do, until I can open up my outdoor paint booth come hotter months, hee hee

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Inner Fender Twistology Repair With Minimal Tools And Knowhow

Fun Level = 0

Result = Good Enuff?

it did git a coat of grayish primer before re assembly (just for the record)

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so with the fender off it was time to fix the door gaps on the passenger side door in the hopes of a better fitted / aligned door might get rid of the whistle and the rubbing against the front fender ever since the tire blow out nudged the front fender about an 1/8th of an inch just enough to make it rub, grrrr

which (spoiler alert) it did not make the whistle go away

here are some before and after shots in pairs, first top of the B pillar

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and the A pillar gap of the passenger side door, before and after, before I could run my fingers in that gap it was about 1/2 inch (ok I have lady fingers ok, don't judge me, jk)

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passenger door gap top

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passenger door B pillar gap bottom, so nothing rubs, the door is easier to shut now, and I think it looks a little bit better up close, and great from 50 feet away, ha ha

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Looks much better now.

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thanks, and the door don't rub any more, win!

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so swunged by the junk yard on Sunday to see what I can find, and came away with this 2004 Dodge Dakota rear fold up jump seat from a 60/40 rear seat setup that will just work perfectly as my center seat, these 97-04 Dakotas be really nice trucks, I like their simplicity, manual seats, and their cabs came in standard, extended, and four door, this came out of the four door

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here's how it attached to the back, so I took the brackets as well

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I was so excited and happy with it I shoved it in the middle in the parking lot of the junk yard, the color and fabric matched perfectly, not bad for $30 bucks, I like how its a low back too

I yet have to properly mount it, once it's mounted I wonder how I will like it folded up, maybe I will build a little storage compartment under it

whacha all think?

total cost $60 bucks plus some metal brackets and hardware

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Thumbsup! Looks like a winner.

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oh hey thank you for the positive feedback I appreciate that, helps me keep motivated

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thanks RD

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Awesome. I like it.

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looks good

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you had some of that good luck with them seats. look s good. great job on fittin' 'em also.

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thanks, yeah I call it my blind squirrel finding a nut sometimes moment, I learned a lot doing this I knew this was going to be my Seat Swap 1.0 and I did not expect perfection, if this was not my daily driver I would go for just two nicer wider buckets like maybe out of a van ie the middle row but since I have to take my son and daughter at times I need to be able to seat three sometimes

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Confessions of a Daily Driver

As you may recall last month in March my '74 became my daily driver, but since my wife had foot surgery and was off of work for most of the month, I must admit I cheated and drove her 2010 Honda Pilot instead, mea culpa

but I took that time to make a few changes to make the truck more driveable

1. I put the power steering back on, on a 4,000 pound truck it just makes sense

2. I put the Magnaflow mufflers back on since my 12 year old daughter complained the Thrush Rattlers were just too loud

3. I finished the carburetor conversion from a 4160 to a 4150 (duel fuel inlets instead of a single, and center hung float bowls instead of side hung) and I was able to tune it so it runs the best it ever had

4. and you most recently seen me replace the bench seat with buckets plus a middle jump seat

all these things make the truck more suited for daily driving, and this month (April) I drive it daily

I've been watching my MPGs and they went from 12.6 MPG to 13.8 so with a 16 gallon tank I can get 220 miles out of a tank, but I have a system where I fill it up every 200 miles and use the odometer as a guide, so at 4,200 then at 4,400, then at 4,600

one more thing, I am about to hit 5,000 miles on the newly rebuilt motor and brand new speedometer, happy days

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Good work on the seats and drive-ability changes.

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Congratulations on all recent mods. It sounds like you've got it dialed in really well. I wish I could get mileage like that (13.8) out of mine. I consistently get about 12.3 out of my stock '79 with a 305, two barrel, automatic.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

just a quick update Rusty and I completed our first Road Trip today, a 250 mile round trip run from Sacramento California to San Jose and back.

Happen to turn over 5,000 miles on the newly rebuilt motor, brand new speedo, and new(ish) 833 GM overdrive 4 speed transmission. Truck ran strong but the tranny may be headed for a rebuild, shifts good but makes noises like the bearings are going out.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Congrats on the first of many roadtrips .

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Congrats on the truck. Bummer on the tranny. Maybe you'll show us some magic on the rebuild.

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sometimes the easiest of jobs turn difficult...

so the headlight knob came off the puller rod thingie about 2 years ago, right about when I got the truck

about a year ago I found a replacement knob / rod thingie at the junkyard and spent two hours pulling it, yes I know there is a tiny button you push under the aperatus to simply pull it out (IN THEORY THAT IS) but try that on a junked 40 year old car in 102* F heat and well you get the idea

I tried to replace it but I could never get my rod out of my unit, no matter how hard I tried

well a year later I got re motivated and today I yanked the old rod out, had to take the whole headlight switch unit out of the dash, and sit in my thinking chair and fandangle with it for about an hour but finally it somehow slid out

so I install the switch back in the truck, oh had to remove the gauge bezel first to get to that silly screw on nut, anyway get the gauge bezel back on get the switch pluged back in, go to slide the new rod in and what the hewk? the new rod is too short, are you kidding me

so, well, I didn't become a Certified JB Welder for nothin' so I decided to JB weld my old headlight knob back on, but figured I would share this little escapade