Bucket seats question

Same here, I've been looking for a pair of buckets like my Chrysler 300 has for over a year now.

 

It's probably just a common part used between Mustang II's and Pintos. Jamie Miles posted a picture on Facebook yesterday, of a Pinto with yellow interior, it had the same style seats.

 

The Ford decoder I have list the body line for Pintos as F. The Z in your parts number represents the Mustang line. If that is the case the seats are from a Mustang. I also did some checking around on Ebay just to be sure, and the NOS Pinto parts up for auction also have F as their bodyline letter.

 

I am thinking that 79 and 80 Mustangs may have had similar seats, too, and that may account for the seat tracks being unrecognizable to me. Likely they would have a 1978 part number because that would be the year that part was used first, and carries through until there is a revision.

It is very possible still that these are Pinto as well. I think in the early Grabber/GT seats, the plastic parts also had Mustang part numbers.

BTW ... I looked up some measurements I took. If the distance of the seat-to-track bolts is 13 inches front-to-back and 14 inches in width, those will bolt right up to Mav seat tracks.

 

Another Update and more questions!

I went junkyarding over the weekend and I found two Mavericks that still had the buckets seats intact...surprising. Both were 4 door cars...one was a 71 and the other a 74 but they were not high back seats...they were low backs with a head rest. The interesting thing about them is they did not have the seat tracks, or should I say the spacers with studs, that I am used to seeing on this forum. Like in the attached pic courtesy of cactusgrabber. Instead there was a small metal stand at each end of the tracks. Would this setup work just as well? I'm confused and did not get them. Is one setup better than the other?

 

Hi Gene, I should point out that in the picture of my high back bucket seats, I did not picture my spacers when shooting those photos.

Here is a pre-restoration photo, of my complete 71-72 Maverick/Comet high back bucket seat tracks, with spacers:



The seat track setup that will work the best, depends on which exact type of seats you decide to go with. So first...we have to start there. There are a few different variables and combinations.

Did you decide to go with the Mustang II/Pinto type buckets you had? or are you thinking about going with the actual Factory Maverick highback buckets...or something else?

Once you are for sure what type of seat you are putting in your 71' Grabber, I know we can help you figure out the seat tracks for sure

(You have an awesome looking 71' Grabber...personally, I think the Factory high backs would look the best in your car...but it's YOUR decision)

* And...if you end up restoring a set of the Factory Maverick 71-72 High Back Bucket seats like mine, be careful if you have to replace the foam. Make sure to check with some of us that have restored these, before you spend the money.

I ended up having good original OEM foam on mine, that I kept in the seats, but I have noticed that some of the companies out there that are selling the 71-73 Mustang foam, have the incorrect combinations of upper and lower foam together. I think the companies that do not have the foam listed correctly have confused the 69-70 Mustang upper and lower foam, with different variations on the Mustang Grande/Mach I/Torino foams, depending on standard or "sport" bolstering versions of the upper and lower foams.

 

Gene,

That sounds like you ran across two Luxury Decor Option cars, especially being 4 door cars with buckets. Their seat tracks mount directly to the seat because the seat cushion is cushion-i-er, uh ... taller, lol.

The highback buckets use that riser under each track to get them up off the floor.

LDO tracks can be used with highbacks, and that is the combo that I have in my car. I am 6' tall and have always needed legroom. This is how my combo worked out...



In both of my Comets, I switched to a 13 inch Grant wheel to get some legroom back. My first one was a stick, and when using the clutch, I was always banging my knee on the wheel until I changed it out. I have a 15 inch Sport Wheel that will be going in soon. I have a PS box but removed the assist, so leverage at slow speeds will help.

The metal bell and blocks that you saw are used with BOTH styles of seat tracks. The floor dips close to the tunnel, and you need those to even out the seats. These small pieces are frequently overlooked or lost.

BTW, those four door seats can be used in a two door via an easy conversion. There is a tech article. You need to remove a bolt, I believe, to allow them to flip forward.

Even if you don't want to use those tracks, go get them... both sets. If in nice shape, they ought to sell for an easy $150/set. Mav guys are clamoring for them.... not an easy find. I bought rough ones for over $100 and worked hard to clean them up.

 

Unless a set of factory Maverick high back buckets fall into my lap I will most likely be going with the Mustang II/Pinto seats I already have purchased.

 

Sounds good Gene. So the LDO seat tracks should mount to your Mustang II seats.

Even though they will bolt to the Mustang II seat bottoms, I would take measurements anyway, to be sure that the tracks do not place the seat too far back, and also too see if there is interference where the bolts go through the floorpan.

Like Jeff said, the spacers are so the different seat tracks are level in the various floorpan styles, and if these seats are more narrow than Maverick seats, you might have to drill holes in the floopan to accomodate that.

 

I have had the "right" seat frames for sale for a while. Want to make some room in my garage. Let's talk.

 

Sent you a pm.

 

I guess I should have taken some measurements before I picked up these seat tracks from the salvage yard. The bolts holes where they were attached to the seats only measure 11 3/4 on center. My "pinto seats" follow the same measurements as Maverick buckets...13 inch on center and 14 inch on center across...that is correct for Mav buckets right? So I'm wondering what kind of tracks I have and if they were even original?? If this was really an LDO car were those bucket seats different? I have attached a pic of the tracks I got from the salvage yard.

 

Those tracks don't look familiar to me. They look "Pinto-ish" but short, maybe early Capri? I really don't know. You are correct on the standard Ford pattern... 13x14. That carries through to many Ford seats through the years, with a few odd exceptions.

There was another set of tracks at that JY ... Maybe those will be actual LDO. If LDO seats are on them, it is a good bet. Maybe you can exchange these. The proper LDO (or Grabber) tracks will have the spacer blocks and bells, too.

 

Can someone tell me what the center to center measurement is on Maverick seat tracks where they bolt thru the floorpan?

 

LDO seat track-to-floorpan studs are the same measurement as the holes in the floor for the bench seat. I suspect Grabber tracks are the same too.

There is a tech article that details some measurements under Interior Tech, but it is a bit confusing. Seems to indicate 12" if I am reading it right. Visualizing mine, I am saying that is possible.

One thing you need to be cautious of ... LDO tracks used in the existing bench seat holes will position the seats a bit inboard. I think we figured out that this was about an inch. Slotting the existing holes a 1/2 inch outboard and then drilling inboard holes where the tracks dictate ought to fix that. Measure everything twice to make sure that theory plays out in reality well, ok?

Grabber seat tracks have a jog in them that moves the seat outboard and centers it behind the steering wheel. No mods on the existing holes should be needed.