1980 Passenger Seat Question

[raybee]

Hello all, newbie here....I have my eye on an '80 w/ a fac 4 Speed. I never owned a Vette before, so heres my issue. I'm 5'4' and when I pulled the seat all the way up to get a feel for the clutch, brakes, etc and I was not at all comfortable due to the seat having an incredible recline that did not appear adjustable. I know that if the seat was not on such an incline I would be ok. Is it possible to put the seat in a fixed position so that it is not reclining all the way back? Can it be adjusted w/ tools? Please let me know. Thanks, Ray

 

[minifridge1138]

I have a 1982 and I know of no way to adjust the seat.
I suppose it would be possible to rig the seat so that it doesn't go back all the way. You might be able to place some sort of a wedge in the hinge so that it only goes back so far, but can still fold forward.
I have to admit that I found it odd that the incline could not be adjusted.
You may just have go get creative.

Depending on how much you want the car, you could always replace the stock seats with newer ones. Then you could have whatever seat you wanted.

 

[IrishJoker]

Luckly the 81 has a 6 way power seat. But what I have heard others do with the older C3's that have your same problem is they do wedge the back of the seat with a board, you'll just have to experiment with different ones until you get a comfortable angle.

 

[Yoda]

I have the manual seats in my 1981 so what I did was add about 1/2" thickness of 1" washers under the seat frame on the 2 back bolts/bolt holes on the inside. That brought the seat up some, then I made a spacer to fit between the top of the seat and bottom ... on the back side of the seat which made the back of the seat more upright. Between the two corrections, it is a whole lot more upright and comfortable

Bud

 

[IrishJoker]

I have the manual seats in my 1981 so what I did was add about 1/2" thickness of 1" washers under the seat frame on the 2 back bolts/bolt holes on the inside. That brought the seat up some, then I made a spacer to fit between the top of the seat and bottom ... on the back side of the seat which made the back of the seat more upright. Between the two corrections, it is a whole lot more upright and comfortable

Bud

Bud, what did you make the spacer between the seat back and seat bottom of?

 

[Yoda]

Charlie

I used teak wood, then painted them Silver to match the seats and used JB Weld to attach them to the lower portion of the seat plastic between then sat the back down on them.

That was about 6 years ago or so

I had a body shop look at building the bottom area and they suggested using resin or apoxy and build up the bottom area, I decided to try a quick fix for a road trip from Modesto to Bowling Green then build it up when I got back... never got around to it and my temporary fix (budda) worked

You can get the teak from any good hobby shop I made the spacers about 3/8" thick and three of them 2 1/2" long one on by each side and one in the middle ...

Bud

 

[Vette79]

raybee, is the seat bottom cracked at all on either side? When I first got my Vette the drivers seat had this incredible recline and I tried to adjust and couldn't figure it out until I noticed that the seat bottom was cracked on the right side of the drivers (hard to see)seat which explained why when I sat in it it felt like I was trying to take a nap and drive at the same time...LOL. I had to get a new seat bottom and what a difference that made.

 

[try2pas]

Corbeau seats

We too had trouble with the angle of the 1980 seats. Tried wedging and finally laid pillows on the back and they wedged us up enough and really wasn't too bad but a hassle. We bought the Corbeau seats from Speeddirect and absolutely love them. We got the A4s. They are back adjustable, keep you in place in corners and fit ours bodies better. Lot better neck/head protection too. Love em. Will go to chest harnesses soon.

 

[raybee]

Thanks for everyone suggestions

Thanks for all who took the time to reply

Hello all, newbie here....I have my eye on an '80 w/ a fac 4 Speed. I never owned a Vette before, so heres my issue. I'm 5'4' and when I pulled the seat all the way up to get a feel for the clutch, brakes, etc and I was not at all comfortable due to the seat having an incredible recline that did not appear adjustable. I know that if the seat was not on such an incline I would be ok. Is it possible to put the seat in a fixed position so that it is not reclining all the way back? Can it be adjusted w/ tools? Please let me know. Thanks, Ray

 

[Rmodeler]

I've got the same problem on the passenger side with my 82. My W is only 5'1", and she feels like she is laying down. For quick fix, I have a towel that I put between the seat bottom and back-fully adjustable- I put in enough towel till she says it feels right. Works every time. I just remove the towel and put it away when I'm out by myself.

 

[Shaggyvette]

Here's the quick fix that I used on the 82. Take 2 legnths of radiator hose, slit them leghth ways and fit them over the ends of the seats where they meet. Fit them where it makes like a clam shell. Just look at your seats and you'll see where I mean. It moves the seat to an up-right position and the process takes all of 10 min.

Good Luck

Dave