Bugeye seat bottoms

[David_Doan]

I started my seat project. My seat bottoms were actually stapled to wood instead of the normal clips. After I took one apart, I know why. I guess who ever recovered them last (before my FIL got the car in 1986) decided to use a wood bottom since the seat pans were so badly rusted. I don't really want to spend the money for new pans. I think these could be saved but probably not worth the work.

I'm thinking about rebuilding them the same way with wood on the bottom OR making new seat pans out of wood with the same/similar dimensions as the metal ones. Anyone else tried this? Any downsides that I am missing? I think wood will be easier to cover since you can use staples.

 

[nomad]

If you have the time to wait they do come up on flea-bay every now and then. They fit from bug eye thru 65 sprite's and midgets. I've welded in rusted out bits but not as bad as those.

Kurt.

 

[BillW103]

Mine were worse than that and I used fiberglass.

 

[Millrat]

I just had mine done and the guy that did them used plywood in the same manner. They came out looking really good and should work no problem. His comment was only you and I will know .

 

[RyanBez]

Mine were worse than that and I used fiberglass.

I was going to suggest this or do what I did and find full seats for $50 on craigslist.

Unless you are an avid woodworker, you wont get the strength needed unless you 'carve' the pan out of one piece of wood. Even then the strength wont be that of metal or something else.

Also, humidity/rain/moisture will have the same affect on wood as the rust did to metal.

I think that sandblasting what you have will prove to be not that bad.

So basically I think you should do this:
1) Blast what you have and see how bad it really is
2) Get originals of ebay/craigslist
3) Fiberglass/carbon fiber (surprisingly not that much more if you do it yourself)
4) Wood

 

[RickB]

For bottoms I used wood, cut to fit in original frames with original seat backs.
Being here in the Northwest of course I used western red cedar...

 

[David_Doan]

For bottoms I used wood, cut to fit in original frames with original seat backs.
Being here in the Northwest of course I used western red cedar...

Wood under the old pans or just wood? If the latter, any pics?

 

[RickB]

Just wood seat bottoms.
Nothing special, I had new foam bottoms, I cut off the angled bottom part that faces down toward the car floor and glued them to the wood bottoms.
Then I used the seat bottom upholstery, the wood is about an inch thick and made to the outline of the seat lower frame.
They look good, feel good and I think sit just a bit lower than stock.

 

[BillW103]

The design of the pans was to maybe let them dry out or give the water some where to go when you set on a wet seat. If you use wood I would drill some holes in them and seal it so it doesn’t soak up the water. Or you could just not let them get wet. Being lower would be good. With the stock pans and new padding I have very little room at the bottom of the steering wheal.

 

[RickB]

Part of my goal was to get lower and as far back as possible.
Also, I do not let them get wet, but if I did they come out so easy it's just silly.

 

[BillW103]

I was going for as far back as possible also so I redrilled the pivot holes in the backs to angle them back some. It is best to reinforce them when doing this.

 

[RickB]

I hadn't thought of re-drilling the pivot holes, that's a nice tip.
So that should allow a bit more comfortable angle to the back of the seat.
I will check into that, it might make my setup a little better.