Project Legroom - Part 2

Modifying a '65/'66 Seat Pan to Fit Further Aft

I've just removed the spot weld and a couple of TIG welded areas; finally the pan came out. Because I didn't have terrific spot weld drill angles in some cases, I had to chisel the welds off.  Naturally, this left me with a couple of holes and tears.  More pulg welds coming! Note:  All welds to the tunnel are TIG welded, so I used the grinder to cut them off.

This is the underside of the seat pan.  The two stiffners spread seat loads through the pan more evenly. I marked the sides to lower the seat pan one inch, then added about 1/2" to allow for bending of tabs.  I used a vise to bend the tabs.  I followed up by squeezing the bumps flat along the tab in the vise.  It turned out nice.

In order to access the seat track bolts from underneath the car, I cut holes the same size as original, 3" aft from their original location. Kinda looks like swiss cheeze?!?

Fitting the seat pan back into the floor pan required a bit of hammering, both on the bench and in the car.   Not very scientific! However, you can clearly see the 3" offset of the modified seat pan in the aft direction and 1" lower.  This is what I needed - more legroom!

Here's a clean picture of the relielfs I cut into the seat pan, to allow insertion of rubber caps from underneath the car. However, Ultimately, I decided to fill the holes, so only four rubber caps are needed - just like stock.

These are the remnants of what used to be the seat pan.  This give you an idea of what was cut off. If you don't have a grinder, get one - they're the best!!  Be sure to wear ear plugs too.

In Project Legroom - Part 3, I'll show you how I welded the seat pan in.

Back to Homepage