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Three years later and I’m only now getting around to a solution.
Basically, I said screw it, cut out the floor pan and am replacing it with a standard floor pan. That way I can use whatever seats I want. I have no use for power seats so this will hopefully fix the problem for good.
With all the research I did, there’s next to no options, and the few that exist are expensive. I believe ZipCorvette will refurbish the track, but that’s like $300. The floor pan is $400 and manual tracks are $200 (I believe). Fabricating something to make the manual tracks work (without replacing the floor pan) costs money if you can’t fabricate yourself. And switches don’t really exist anymore.
That said, I now have a power switch I no longer need. I never got around to confirming if the switch works, but I can check if you’re interested in it.
Edit: And I should mention that Corbeau brackets don’t work without additional fabrication…or replacing the floor pan like I am.
Thanks for the update, it's good to know the Corbeau kit wasn't the solution.
If the old switch works, I'd definitely be interested in it.
Mine didn't work either, no parts needed to fix it , it was just take apart use rust buster spray on every joint working it back and forth. Works great 4 years later still no problems.
The passenger seat and the drivers seat bolt on differently, the drivers seat has nuts under the body and the passenger seat has nuts on top... and then there is the height difference between the passenger seat and the drivers seat.
hi there, I ran across your post. I am facing the exact same issue with my ’81. Do you mind telling me what you ended up doing?
Originally Posted by rabinaba
I have a 1981 that came with a power drivers seat from the factory. When I got the car, the seat didn't work - it moved in every direction except forwards or back, and as a short guy this is a problem. Originally, we thought it was just the switch that was defective, but upon searching for a replacement, I came to find out that they've been discontinued and literally cannot be found anywhere. So I decided to purchased a replacement manual track instead, thinking I could just swap it out entirely. However, after removing the entire seat, I realized the the floor pan is different depending on whether you have power or manual seats, and the manual track wasn't going to bolt in, so this wasn't going to work.
Upon putting the seat and track back in the car, I noticed one of the three wires had come out of its respective cylinder (I have no idea what these components are actually called, forgive me), and now the seat no longer works at all. At this point, I figured the track was definitely going to have to be replaced now, so I decided to try my luck at a rebuilt track. I ordered one off Top Flight (the idea being I'd get a rebuilt core sent to me and then I'd send my old core back to them), but I was emailed by them saying their supplier does not have rebuilt cores in stock at the moment and I would need to send my current core to them to rebuild for me. The car is getting a ton of work done at the moment, and is constantly being moved around and sent to shops. I don't have the time right now to pull my seat out and have the car sit for weeks while I wait for the core to be rebuilt, so this just isn't an option at the moment.
Does anyone have any ideas what I can do to get this thing fixed?! I've been pulling my hair out for weeks and I'm tired of using an outdoor seat cushion just to be able to reach the pedals!
Edit: Would a seat swap be an option? Would it be super expensive? What seat would I even swap in?!
hi there, I ran across your post. I am facing the exact same issue with my ’81. Do you mind telling me what you ended up doing?
Those seats were the bane of my existence! I ended up biting the bullet, cutting out the floor pan and replacing it with a standard one. That way, I could just use a manual track and be done with the power seat all together. That said, I ended up doing a body off frame restoration, so by the time I got around to it, it was no longer a big deal.
Last I had checked, I believe Top Flight (I believe) was offering a repair service for the tracks, but you had to send the track in, which means no seat for a while.
That floor pan caused so many issues for me. Because so few were made, most manufacturers of aftermarket products either don’t know it’s a thing, or ignore the different floor pan entirely. Seat tracks, carpeting, headers - none of them fit right because they don’t take into consideration the different depth of the floor pan. If you plan on doing a lot of work to the car, I’d recommend you consider just swapping the floor pan. It removes a ton of headaches.
