Bench seat & other stuff.

[Ed]

Hello ppl,

Was wondering how hard it would be to add a fold down arm rest to a bench seat?

I'm thinking an internal frame of sorts would need to be placed within the seat to allow placement for hinges etc.. the rest would be up to the upholsterer to foam up and cover?

Cheers

Ed

[customFC]

Hey Ed.
Try picking up the rear seat from a EJ/EH Premier (may be hard/$$ to find). It had the fold down armrest, and for a guy with your talent, you should be able to adapt this section to a FE/FC bench. There are probably modern equivelants, but the early stuff would have similar springing etc.
Regards
Alex

[Ed]

Hi Alex,

Im not talented.. just silly and patient.

Am hoping to adapt a later model item for various reasons, so off I go to the wreckers armed with tape measure and digital camera this weekend.

I thought the project was suppose to get easier once u start to reach the interior!!!

Cheers

Ed

[Sarge]

Ed
   I once fitted centre armrest to bench seat in a HR for a bloke. I used the fold down armrest from a VK commodore. Just removed the upolstery cut out the section I needed, Then tig welded this section into the HR front seat. Must have come up OK. When he got his car back from having the new look front seat retrimmed, we done the same mod to the back seat. This should be a walk in the park for you, I have seen the progress photos of your handywork.

Cheers
Sarge

[Ed]

Thanks for your help guys,

now armed with a headful of ideas i have some sort of idea on what's involved.


Cheers

Ed

[customFC]

Hey Ed.
I read that you want something a little newer, but FYI, Craig Wilson in the club has a HR Prem rear seat he wishes to part with.
Regards
Alex

[Ed]

Thanks for the tip Alex,

Im thinking of incorporating foams off a modern seat and perhaps a 60:40 split seat of luxury origins.. will go to the wrecker with tape measure and see if this is possible or just a crazy idea!

Cheers

Ed

[JB]

Hey Ed,

Don't forget that any seat can be made to lokk as "luxury" as you like... Once you have the frame of the seat the upholsterer can put any cover and any type of cusioning you like to give you the finished product you desire. It is really all in the framework.

Cheers
Jason.  

[fccool59]

hey ED let us know how you go, I am looking at doing the same, it would be good to start with a EH prem wagon rear seat, I was nearly going to make a console that continues from the dash to the rear floor behind the back seat, rear seats would be like two seperate buckets but the lot would still fold down flat when you need a bed in the back, it was going to house a TV Telephone and bar but it means getting rid of one of our kids, plans are now to have a TV and telephone in the console and maybe squeeze a bottle and two glasses into a compartment inside the armrest of the back seat.
I also was thinking commodore but the commodore ones are a bit small to fit a bar inside.
dont forget your passengers will need a armrest in the back for their other arms, I have cut down FC front door armrests on my back doors, The FE ones are easier and if you don't want to use FE ones you can you can probably use chev ones.
do you have any current photos of anything you have done since the garage crawl?

[Ed]

Sorry for the late reply Leon,

pics, I can have some on monday, basically I am putting the panels into 2K hifill at the moment, (this stuff builds and sands really well!!).

I picked up some nice armrests which have a  flip up lid, so u can store lots of stuff inside them.. neat I thought.

my wagon had FC door cards and rests when i picked it up, I may use these again like u suggested, or make custom ones.. seems easy enough from what i read.

once again from my reading.. (picked up a book called custom auto interiors thru graffiti publications). the contours in the seat are made "simply" by shaping the foam.  more like sculpting using tools like an electric knife and old sanding discs... sounds easy right?!

The bar idea sounds hot pimpin'   but if I were to go down that kind of route (which I'm not) , something like a mini TV in the back of the front bench would be useful to pacify the tribe and impress ur mates!

but for now, I really should extract the digit, paint and assemble it.

Cheers

Ed