Seat frames

[hrlyfxdl]

Just trying to decipher all the different posts about seats, looking at restoring my interior in my 68 Camaro. Are 68 and 69 front bucket seat frames the same? I have a friend who has 69 bucket seat frames with hear rests, and wants to get rid of them. They need recovered, and I'd buy them and recover them with 68 deluxe seat covers and new foam. But not sure if the seat frames for the 69 bucket seats could be recovered with 68 deluxe seat covers and foam. Thanks for any input.

[KevinW]

So I have not had a 68 seat to compare, but i do know there are two types of 69 backs, the early back with springs (same as 68) and the later back from around Dec and later, which have the springs embedded in the foam. The seam wires might be different from 68 to 69, but you might be able to swap those.  Did you see my post on team Camaro about recovering my 69 seats?

[hrlyfxdl]

I haven't seen your post, I'll go and check it out. I'll have to look a little closer at the seats and see what type they are. Thanks. Any other input would be greatly appreciated.

[KevinW]

Here it is: http://www.camaros.net/forums/23-interiors/391289-restoring-your-front-bucket-seats-69-standard-shown.html

So to finish my thought, if your friends 69 frames have separate metal springs (early 69s, which I have shown in the post), you have a good chance to put 68 foam and covers on. But you will need to transfer the wrapped wire from the 68s to the 69s, so the interior seams line up.  That is where the hog rings or tie wraps (in my post) tie on to.

If they are later 69 seats with the springs in the foam, you will have much more issues.  You can tell that by taking the back off the seat.  If you see metal springs, you are good!  If you see foam, then you have a problem.

If you see foam, you have to buy the 69 foam with springs inside.  But 69 foam versions have the interior seam in a different place than 68s.  I think you could cut a new seam and re-contour the seat with extra foam to match the 68 contour.  But it would be much more work.   

[HOT3O2]

Kevin, Do you have any idea as to when that change over was made in Dec.? I have a 12B build and was going to start ordering some pieces to do my seats but it sounds like I should hold off until I know what I have. By the way I went through your seat covering post over at T.C. and learned a lot. Thanks for taking the time to put that together.

Rick

[KevinW]

Rick, thanks. 

Just take the upper seat back off. An allen key takes off the latch knob, then 2 screws along the bottom.  Pull the bottom of the back out a little bit( to clear), then slightly up to release the upper hooks from the back.  Then look in.  if you see the metal springs and bars and see burlap, then you have the older style.  If you see the back of the foam, you have the newer style.

So my early 69 (Oct of 68) had the metal frames.  I also have two sets of deluxe seats (weeks 3 and 4 of Jan).  I checked the week 4 and it had the newer style.

There were a lot of changes in the Nov/Dec/Jan timeframe (kickpanels, seat foam, headrests, etc) and it is tough to pin down a specific build week as it depended on how much stock in hand and what the installer pulled.

[hrlyfxdl]

So, I'd have to have the seats shipped to me and he's not able to get to them to look just yet. But here's a pic of one seat split at the seam of the upper portion back rest. Looks like cotton to me. Thoughts? Could these be the older style then that I could recover with 68 seat covers? Thanks.

[ko-lek-tor]

Older cause the headrest is  straight, imo.

[KevinW]

A straight headrest is a good indicator of the older style, except there are a couple weeks in Nov/Dec where there could be a mix The cotton batting is original and was put on the bolsters for some extra padding.