This wasn't on the top of my list for things to do on the 72 but my son found a pair of 1999 C5 seats for a good price so I grabbed them. I'm not planning on spending a lot of time installing these so I should complete the updates pretty quickly.

I had to spend ~5 hours driving round trip to bring the seats home and we started fitting them into the 72 right away. So far it looks like a pretty easy install even with the power adjustments on both seats.

Here are a couple of pics of the seats. The passenger seat has the mounting brackets removed so you can see the difference in height. I'll post more pics this weekend as I fab mounting brackets for the seats. There are a couple of things on the power seat mechanism that need to be ground down also.

There have been some other threads on C5 seat installs but it seems like everyone was modifying the floorpans to make them fit. I don't believe in modifying anything that isn't absolutely necessary (my whole LS1/T56 install involved drilling maybe 6 holes and cutting the trans tunnel a bit) so I think I can do this with no mods to the floorpan at all.



Rick B.

 

 

The seats will look nice, but I think you will be sitting very high unless you modify the seat brackets or use C3 sliders. Mine are bolted direct to the floor in the factory holes, with no modification to the body / floor pan, no sliders, and non adjustable to get them as low as I could.

As a reference, here is how high my seats sits using the center brake console as a reference.




http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-t...n-your-c3.html

 

^That looks phenomenal..well done!

 

In my second pic the seat on the left has the brackets removed. The rails really aren't much thicker than the C3 rails. They do indeed sit higher than the stock seats but I'll be able to tilt them back with the power controls. My stock seats are so worn out that I was sitting too low so I'm thankful for the improved visibility. Fixed seating isn't an option with this car since 3 of us drive it and both of my sons have longer legs than mine.



Rick B.

 

The New England winter got in the way of this project so a few months passed without any work but I am getting close to completing the seat install. The passenger seat is installed and wired and I'm working on the driver seat now. The pics below show the types of mods that you have to make to install a C5 seat. I am not going to modify the floor pan but taller drivers may need to.



Rick B.

Bracket mod:



Other side bracket mod:


Type of bracket that needs to be fabricated:


Seats in car:

 

The seats look great, but I'm a little concerned about your brackets and only saying this as I'm not sure what you have is safe.

Do you think aluminum brackets with pop rivets is adequate? I used steel and grade 8 bolts. Also you should have put a radius on those inside corners, seems like a perfect place for a crack / failure.

 

The New England winter got in the way of this project so a few months passed without any work but I am getting close to completing the seat install. The passenger seat is installed and wired and I'm working on the driver seat now. The pics below show the types of mods that you have to make to install a C5 seat. I am not going to modify the floor pan but taller drivers may need to.



Rick B.

Bracket mod:



Other side bracket mod:


Type of bracket that needs to be fabricated:


Seats in car:

 

I am in the process of instlling sport seats in my 73 vert. I saw your modifications to the underneath pivots and made them to my seats. It definitely helped. Did you remove the carpet and padding under the motor for more clearance? I think they are low enough and will bolt them down for a test run with the top down. If I recline all the way back it should work. I really hate to give up the lumbar and bolster adjustments. They are just a world of difference from the worn out originals.

 

I am in the process of installing sport seats in my 73 vert. I saw your modifications to the underneath pivots and made them to my seats. It definitely helped. Did you remove the carpet and padding under the motor for more clearance? I think they are low enough and will bolt them down for a test run with the top down. If I recline all the way back it should work. I really hate to give up the lumbar and bolster adjustments. They are just a world of difference from the worn out originals.

 

I understand the concern. The brackets are 1/8" steel. The electric seat mechanism doesn't have a lot of clearance between the moving rails for a bolt, and I needed the lower rail to sit as flat as possible on the floor. There is another 1/8" steel plate on the other side of the rail for the rivet to grab.

I'm thinking that with the thin fiberglass floor in the 72 if one of us hits anything hard enough to rip the seat out of the floor those brackets probably will have made little difference to the outcome.



Rick B.

 

I cut the carpet out of the high spot where the cut-down pivots rest. It can't be seen with the seat in place. The motors are down in the lower portion of the seat area so there shouldn't be any clearance problems.

These power seats are definitely higher than the stock seats. There is a good range of adjustment so you should be able to find a comfortable driving position. I'm ~5'6" and when I adjust the seat forward enough I have to lean the seatback a fair amount for head clearance. Having a tilt/tele wheel from a 79 is a big help.



Rick B.

 

I drove to work today with the top down. It is a little more breezy at the new height. But what the heck it is a convertible and I love the seats with lumbar and bolsters. I think this is a permanet install and will put them in my other 73's. Thanks again for your pictures and comments.

 

Nice job! When I mounted C-5 seats in my 69 I kept adjustments mechanical, by modifying a set of Geo Metro tracks from the salvage yard. The seats set a tad lower than original and have full slide adjustment.
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Can anyone provide a picture of the seats titled forward (for access to the back)? I have been considering C5 seats as well, but the stock clam shell seats do fold down nicely to get the t-tops in and out...

Carl

 

 

Here are a couple pics of the seatbacks folded forward.



Rick B.

 

Hi Rick
Goin back some time since yo did your seat change......
I Don't have any knowledge at all on corvettes yet as after 30 years of wanting a corvette i'm finally getting one local LHD here in city of Adelaide, South Australia & will probably have to pay a restorer local near me to modify standard C3 seats to C5 or similar as i just don't like the look of the standard seats
You mentioned you are 5'6 tall....I am 5'10 tall & wondered if you can tell me if you think it would still work for me to get the seats changed with the extra height & head clearance?...my car is a 1975 Corvette Coupe-Auto

Kind Regards

Mike

 

Mike, I believe Rick will agree, there is no way your 5'10" stature will fit under the C-3 top, while sitting on C-5 seats with electric control. This leaves three options after removing the electric controls. One: modify the stock C-3 slider, Two, make solid mounts to the floor at four corners, Three, buy and modify aftermarket sliders, or junkyard salvage sliders.

I chose to modify sliders from the salvage yard and retain the forward/back motion adjustment. Choose carefully, as there are many different slider configurations. My Geo Metro sliders required quite a lot of fabrication to make a satisfactory mounting system. If I had to pay someone to do this, it would have been cost ineffective. Stock C-3 sliders will not work without modification, so this becomes problematic. Look through this thread for options used by others going this route.

Considering the cost of C-5-6 seats in good condition these days, you might consider aftermarket racing seats with matching sliders. The advantage is you can choose a color and will get the shoulder restraint cutouts already made; if you will consider a shark bar shoulder restraint in the future. Try www.jegs.com or www.summitracing.com for racing seats with sliders and compare prices. Be sure the seat on a slider is low enough to meet your need. It is easy to raise the seat, but not always easy to make a high seat low. Best wishes on your project!

 

I can't speak for all years, but I didn't have to modify my '76 tracks, I only had to make small modifications to the C5 seat frames. I did have to add a couple of spacers between the tracks and the seat frame to clear the mechanism.

I'm 5'11" and fit comfortably with the OE tops, and that is with brand new foam. Though I wouldn't recommend my setup for anyone taller.