Seat tilt

[jeffdgale]

My '74 Avanti II has the regular high back seat with no adjustment to lean the back further rearward. Somebody suggested that the from mounts might have two holes to allow for the seat to be permantely tilted back slightly. This would actually be a better solution as it also raises the support for under the thighs. In any case, I checked and unfortunately their is only one hole on the seat bracket for attaching to the floor board. this got me thinking that maybe there are other ways to accomplish the same effect. Any suggestion or advice are appreciated.

[Gunslinger]

I have a similar situation on my '70...the factory seats don't give good support at all. I imagine you can modify the seat brackets to give you more seat back angle and thigh support, but what I did was to buy a pair of Recaro's from a later Avanti. The upholstery shop I use is trying to get matching leather now.

You might look into the floor reinforcements sold by Classic Enterprises. They call it a seat anchor repair device and maybe you could drill mounting holes a bit higher to achieve the seat angle you want.

[WayneC]

You might look into the floor reinforcements sold by Classic Enterprises. They call it a seat anchor repair device and maybe you could drill mounting holes a bit higher to achieve the seat angle you want.

I really never noticed that the seat back was not adjustable, guess it just felt fine as-is.

In looking at that bracket on the Classic Enterprises website ( http://www.classicent.com/avanti.php ), it appears you could make a pair of small steel "h"-shaped brackets (as opposed to "H" shaped) to raise the front of the seat... just provide a hole in the bottom left of the "h" for the old mount hole, and a second hole above it for the the seat tab bolt

(or a long vertical slot and use serrated clamping washers for adjustment); you might also need a pair of tapered solid shims for the rear seat mounts.

I haven't had the seats out of my car, but if they use the old Stude mounting sliders, it may be possible to simply

place shims between the seat and the slider assembly in the front (you would have to remove the seat and take a look to see if that's possible, I don't even know if the sliders are bolted or welded to the seat bottom frame).

Yet another possibility, cheaper than replacing the seats though a lot more involved, would be to find a seat base for

a luxury car that has adjusting motors (like my Jaguar XJ40 sedan), figure a way to mount/adapt the seat to it,

and it to the floor, then wire it up and install the Jag seat switches in the side of the console for sliding, tilting, and raising the seat.

[Gunslinger]

One Avanti owner (I cannot remember who), adapted a set of power seats from a Ford Explorer to his car. He did post pics of it. I don't know if he posted them here on AOAI or the Yahoo group.

I don't know how much work it took to complete the installation, but he did get it done.

[theGman]

I put 2001 Firebird seats in my '81....took an afternoon of work, but this was "easy" work, with most the time spent on lining up the seats, marking new holes and then mounting the seats. The driver seat is power.

If you go to another seat, don't forget to check your current seat front to back position, as to "would I like it further back, closer, etc?".

Then, measure a number of places, like from the middle of the seat back to the bottom of steering wheel, or to the brake pedal, etc. etc.

This way you'll at least have a starting point. Do both sides, of course.

I ended up mounting the seats further back myself. Also, the new seats had a longer front/rear travel, so that helped also.

In an earlier Avant II I stayed with the original seats but used some pieces of flat metal to effectively tilt the fronts of the seat back some....all simple stuff.

Paul G.

[Kellerbear]

The buildsheet for my '78 says adjustable seatback for both front seats, but neither seat adjusts. I think these are original seats, so don't know what happened. The front seatback leans too far back for comfort. Tim

[theGman]

I had 2 Avantis with the standard buckets, and neither had adjustable backs. I knew they were the original standard issue from pictures, and also from visiting the factory and seeing them there.

Paul

Edited May 7, 2008 by theGman