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Good Friends--
When I mentioned that upon reinstallation of the interior this week, I installed the seats on some modified shims to tilt and elevate the seats, some of you asked for the details, so here's the "rest of the story".
The car only had one original wood shim. Pretty flakey DPO/"restorer" I would say. So using that as an approximate template for the foot print, made four new ones measuring 1 5/8" x 14 1/4".
Instead of the 1/8" thickness, I cut them as wedges, 1 1/2" thick at the front and 1" thick at the back. After installation, I figured adding another 1/4" to the front height would still be a good idea. But what I made seems to work fine.
One thing seemingly odd about the original (assuming it to be so) shim I worked from, the holes were not centered on the piece for and aft. I think the bracked is supposed to hang over the front of the shim, leaving some wood extending under the back of the upper portion of the bracket as it slides back. This distributes the driver's weight better when leaning back in the seat. According the the pattern I used, the fixed portion of the seat bracket overhangs the shim about 5/8" in the front. The shims could easily be lengthened in the back another inch or so with no problem if you think it important. Remember, when you lean back in the seat, you ar pulling up on the front of the bracket, and pressing down on the back end. A little extra wood length over the metal floor wouldn't hurt.
Also, the shims are to rest directly on the floor metal, not the carpet or pad. So you might have to do a bit of cutting of the soft goods to install these. Don't look too carefully under your carpet, or a simple job might take on a life of its own turn into a major interior/floor refurbishment project! But then again, that too may not be a bad idea. When all was said and done, I patch a few holes, installed a new muffler heat shield, cleaned/treated/painted entire floor/inner sills with POR-15. NOW I feel good!
Here's a couple of tricks on mounting the brackets. You might be asking that if the brackets are shimmed up, how to you hold them down, since the studs are too short? So, at the proper locations drill 1/2" holes in the shims for the existing studs. (Some of the studs were missing on my brackets, so I welded 1/4" fine thread bolts to the brackets at the proper locations.) Using some thread locker, run coupling nuts (those long nuts) onto the studs, leaving enough thread space in the nut for a bolt to screw into from the bottom. It's these coupling nuts that necessitate the 1/2' holes in the shims. Make sure these nuts don't protrude below the shim material, or they will interfere with the floor. Any bent studs can easily be adjusted by putting the mounted nut in a bench vice and tweaking the bracket. Had to do this to several to get them to fit into the bracket holes correctly.
Then mount the brackets on the the floor, securing them from underneath with bolts and fender washers. A few extra small washers may be needed to adjust the bolt length to the available thread depth in the coupling nut. Have plenty of various length bolts on hand for this project. They are originally 1/4" fine thread.
This is all best accomplished with the car lifted high. The rear wheels were on ramps, the front sat on jackstands.
During the process, I fabricated a simple muffler heat shield from some 18 gauge scrap and located two holes to match the front two holes from the far left bracket. Washers were used above and below the shield to offset and secure the shield. to do this, the exhaust system was lowered by unbolting it from the hangers, leaving it secured at the manifold. The tail pipe was propped up about 8" off the ground. This gave me adequate clearance to do the work. While I was at it, I fixed all the hangers and then resecured the exhause system properly.
The heat shield also needs a front bolt to secure and offset it ahead of the seat bracket. This was simply a matter of dropping a 1/4" bold through the floor just aft of the front muffler hanger.
I'm sure there are other ways to do all this, but that't my story. FWIW
Regards.
[ 02-29-2004: Message edited by: Brian N. ]
[ 02-29-2004: Message edited by: Brian N. ]</p>
When I mentioned that upon reinstallation of the interior this week, I installed the seats on some modified shims to tilt and elevate the seats, some of you asked for the details, so here's the "rest of the story".
The car only had one original wood shim. Pretty flakey DPO/"restorer" I would say. So using that as an approximate template for the foot print, made four new ones measuring 1 5/8" x 14 1/4".
Instead of the 1/8" thickness, I cut them as wedges, 1 1/2" thick at the front and 1" thick at the back. After installation, I figured adding another 1/4" to the front height would still be a good idea. But what I made seems to work fine.
One thing seemingly odd about the original (assuming it to be so) shim I worked from, the holes were not centered on the piece for and aft. I think the bracked is supposed to hang over the front of the shim, leaving some wood extending under the back of the upper portion of the bracket as it slides back. This distributes the driver's weight better when leaning back in the seat. According the the pattern I used, the fixed portion of the seat bracket overhangs the shim about 5/8" in the front. The shims could easily be lengthened in the back another inch or so with no problem if you think it important. Remember, when you lean back in the seat, you ar pulling up on the front of the bracket, and pressing down on the back end. A little extra wood length over the metal floor wouldn't hurt.
Also, the shims are to rest directly on the floor metal, not the carpet or pad. So you might have to do a bit of cutting of the soft goods to install these. Don't look too carefully under your carpet, or a simple job might take on a life of its own turn into a major interior/floor refurbishment project! But then again, that too may not be a bad idea. When all was said and done, I patch a few holes, installed a new muffler heat shield, cleaned/treated/painted entire floor/inner sills with POR-15. NOW I feel good!
Here's a couple of tricks on mounting the brackets. You might be asking that if the brackets are shimmed up, how to you hold them down, since the studs are too short? So, at the proper locations drill 1/2" holes in the shims for the existing studs. (Some of the studs were missing on my brackets, so I welded 1/4" fine thread bolts to the brackets at the proper locations.) Using some thread locker, run coupling nuts (those long nuts) onto the studs, leaving enough thread space in the nut for a bolt to screw into from the bottom. It's these coupling nuts that necessitate the 1/2' holes in the shims. Make sure these nuts don't protrude below the shim material, or they will interfere with the floor. Any bent studs can easily be adjusted by putting the mounted nut in a bench vice and tweaking the bracket. Had to do this to several to get them to fit into the bracket holes correctly.
Then mount the brackets on the the floor, securing them from underneath with bolts and fender washers. A few extra small washers may be needed to adjust the bolt length to the available thread depth in the coupling nut. Have plenty of various length bolts on hand for this project. They are originally 1/4" fine thread.
This is all best accomplished with the car lifted high. The rear wheels were on ramps, the front sat on jackstands.
During the process, I fabricated a simple muffler heat shield from some 18 gauge scrap and located two holes to match the front two holes from the far left bracket. Washers were used above and below the shield to offset and secure the shield. to do this, the exhaust system was lowered by unbolting it from the hangers, leaving it secured at the manifold. The tail pipe was propped up about 8" off the ground. This gave me adequate clearance to do the work. While I was at it, I fixed all the hangers and then resecured the exhause system properly.
The heat shield also needs a front bolt to secure and offset it ahead of the seat bracket. This was simply a matter of dropping a 1/4" bold through the floor just aft of the front muffler hanger.
I'm sure there are other ways to do all this, but that't my story. FWIW
Regards.
[ 02-29-2004: Message edited by: Brian N. ]
[ 02-29-2004: Message edited by: Brian N. ]</p>