Hi Folks, just digging in to the interior of my 47. Sent the seat to the upholsterer. Getting a good look at the frame. Seems like there has to be something missing here. I have the sheet metal outside thing for the drivers side, but it's beyond repair. Besides the lever assembly for adjustment that's not here, what else is gone? There has to be some kind of structural assembly that holds this thing up and together. I'm not quite as concerned about being adjustable as I am concerned about being structurally sound.
I suppose my questions are, What should this look like? What do I do about it?
I'm not doing a complete restoration, so I'm not opposed to making something functional to hold it all in place.
You're missing the entire seat riser that's supposed to be welded to the floor. That supports the two rails that allow you to adjust the seat. Then the seat frame bolts to the rails. If you just want to put it in a fixed position, you could fabricate a riser with spots to bolt the seat frame on to. You can see one of the holes that were used to fasten the seat frame to the adjustment rail in your first picture.
Kevin 1951 Chevy 3100 work truck Follow this saga in Project Journal Photos 1929 Ford pickup restored from the ground up. | 1929 Ford Special Coupe (First car) Busting rust since the mid-60's If you're smart enough to take it apart, you darn well better be smart enough to put it back together.
That's kinda what I was thinking. It sort of has a David Copperfield feel to it now. Just floating in thin air. Pretty sure GM had more to it than that. If anyone has a decent pic of the welded to the floor area, I'd like to see it. Thanks, Mark
You can sorta see the seat riser in this pic Mine's mostly there, but needing a little patching. Since you have nothing in the way of adjusting mechanisms you could use the later style with the connecting rod between as opposed to the cable affair. Here's a pic of that style seat adjusters.
The seat riser matches the top of the piece crossing behind the seat, and rises up toward the front at about the same angle as the skirt you still have in place on the right side of your seat frame.
Last edited by klhansen; 03/26/20198:32 PM. Reason: found another pic
Kevin 1951 Chevy 3100 work truck Follow this saga in Project Journal Photos 1929 Ford pickup restored from the ground up. | 1929 Ford Special Coupe (First car) Busting rust since the mid-60's If you're smart enough to take it apart, you darn well better be smart enough to put it back together.
Thanks for those! Yeah, I'm missing a lot of parts. Not sure how available they are. I'm currently thinking of fabricating a fixed base using those screw holes.
I know you can buy a whole floor assembly with the seat riser, but they want an arm and a leg for that, and you don't need the floor, just the riser. I have not seen just the seat riser by itself for sale.
A sheet metal shop could fab up something for you fairly easily.
If you'd like I could take some critical measurements for you.
Kevin 1951 Chevy 3100 work truck Follow this saga in Project Journal Photos 1929 Ford pickup restored from the ground up. | 1929 Ford Special Coupe (First car) Busting rust since the mid-60's If you're smart enough to take it apart, you darn well better be smart enough to put it back together.
Some here have removed them to put in modern seats. Maybe a Parts Wanted ad?
Dennis
I'm guessing most who did that weren't that careful in removing it. May not even be in the spare parts pile anymore. But a want ad might turn something up.
Kevin 1951 Chevy 3100 work truck Follow this saga in Project Journal Photos 1929 Ford pickup restored from the ground up. | 1929 Ford Special Coupe (First car) Busting rust since the mid-60's If you're smart enough to take it apart, you darn well better be smart enough to put it back together.
Ahh, thanks guys. And, thanks for the pics! The arm and leg assembly would probably be out for the moment. Spending way to much on this truck and more to come. I do like the parts wanted ad idea.
My current thinking goes like this. I'm gonna treat this like a couch that gets bolted to the floor. I'll make up 4 steel "legs" and bolt them down, then look for mechanism to properly rebuild the assembly to install at some point in the future.
Klhansen. Thanks for the measurement offer. I may take you up on that. The passenger side of my seat has the sheet metal cover intact, so I'm planning on taking the measurements from that side.
So this took most of the friggin day. I had some 1018CRS laying around from a past project. I did some fancy measuring/guessing and made up these steel leg doodads. The seat is gonna be brown so I spray bombed some brown paint on everything and bolted it all together. It's not adjustable, but it'll hold my butt up for now. I'll be looking for the correct parts as soon as possible.
Mark, Start looking at scrapyards, old farmer fields, etc. I bet you could find a truck being scrapped/parted out close to home and you could cut out a seat riser in about 20 minutes with a spot welder cutter and a drill. Then plug weld it into your truck. No fabrication required, it will fit perfectly, and this will restore it to stock if that’s what you’re after. You might get one for free.
Heck, I’ve been given whole trucks doing this when I ask if I can buy/grab a part from trucks sitting in fields. I got a fairly complete 51 GMC 1/2 ton for a 26 oz bottle of whiskey. I took what I needed and parted the rest out for $600. I got 51 1 ton for a flat of beer. I haven’t sold anything off it yet. A 1951 Chevrolet 1/2 ton for nothing. His response, “Take it. The crusher is coming next week to clean up this mess.”
Ask around, you’d be surprised what some people will be willing to give you a bargain on. Others might try to take you to the cleaners but it’s part of the hunt! Good luck!
1970 Chevrolet C10 Grandpa's -- My first truck -- In progress to shiny Follow the build in the Project Journal 1950 Chevrolet 1-Ton Dually "Ole Red Girl" In the Stovebolt Gallery More pictures here 1951 GMC 9430 1 ton dually--Shiny! | 1972 Chevrolet C20- Rusty- the puzzle box lid for the C10 | 1962 AMC Rambler American- my wife's Parts trucks- 1951 GMC 9300 | 1951-GMC 9430 | 1951- Chevrolet 1300
