Increasing front legroom in a '64

[Guest Scotsbass]

Just a quick one - does anyone have any idea of the easiest way to reposition the driver and passengers seats in a 64 Riviera to increase the meager legroom available.

I was told that some cars had another set of mounting points around 3-4 inches back, but mine doesn't seem to be one of them.

Any suggestions gratefully received!

Yours (in some pain)

Keith (6'3")

PS - Other than that I am LOVING driving my first Riviera and pictures will follow once I have finished compounding the paint, which last saw wax in 1976! (really)

[RivNut]

Keith,

Jim Cannon is about your height and has made alterations to his '63. I'm sure that if you search the archives, you can find his post that addresses this issue.

Nice thing about old lacquer, it can always be brought back to a shine.

Ed

[toomuchvinyl]

Hi Keith,

Yes, this subject was covered a year or so ago. I asked the same question. I've yet to try any of the suggestions but there were several.

[steelman]

Not sure this was the right way or not, but here is what I did. I made an offset spacer to between the seat and the power seat mounting frame. Power seat frame bolts to the floor as normal. New plates bolt where the seat was factory mounted. New holes were drilled about 3" back and the seat mounted to the new holes. Not hard. Make sure to use at least 1/4" plate as these will cantilever off the back of the seat frame. I am 6'-4 and about 350, so I used 3/8" plate. Not sure if I can get a picture of what I did or not, but I can try. Hope this helps.

[Jim Cannon]

Here is what I did:

You have 2 options. The first gives you an extra 1/2 inch and the second can give you as much as you want.

1. Remove seat from car (remove 1 bolt from the rear of each track, disconnect wires if electric seat). Unbolt the 2 front brackets and reverse them to point to rear instead of to the front. Install seat again and see where rear bolt holes now line up (about 1/2 inch back). Drill new holes here to bolt tracks down again.

2. Remove seat from car (disconnect wires if electric seat). Unbolt the 2 front brackets. Make up 7 "spacers" out of some good, sturdy flat steel stock (1/4 inch thick) and drill a pair of holes in each. Make spacing between holes on each spacer the same. My spacers are 1 inch wide, 3 inches long, with holes 2 inches apart. Countersink the holes to allow the spacers to sit flat on floor when attached with flat head screws (important). Attach 4 spacers to brackets with screws/nuts. Bolt those 4 spacers to the floor with bolts that originally held down the brackets. Bolt 3 spacers to floor in back, do not tighten yet. Install seat and attach rear of the seat track with screws/nuts. Then tighten bolts. Remember, these spacers need to be strong enough to hold the seat securely in the event of a crash, so use strong metal and screws.