high springs in original seats

[bluething]

Hi Peep's!
I have 2 front seat's that kinda pass for bucket seat's (pic's soon)
i also have 2 original front seats that i am about to have restored, i noticed that they have high spring's for comfort of riding in the Thing (suspension ) the question is do i get some better bucket seat's with more cushion/comfort or do i stick with the original's?

also the driving position with the original seat's is higher?

blue sky's

[markie61]

I am not sure if my response answers the question you are asking...

Speaking as someone who is tall (6-foot-2), the stock seat's bottom cushion sits high enough to make a tight fit between the steering wheel and the seat. The lack of thigh room requires a special, less-than-graceful twist-slide-fall movement to get into the vehicle. Even with the stock seat height, I feel like I am sitting in a deep bucket (Kubel) and cannot rest my arm comfortably on the door edge while cruising.

I am replacing the stock seating with Honda CR-V seats with neoprene covers, which are more comfortable (bolsters, shape, padding) and adjustable (tilt back, headrest, seatbottom height). I am going to ultimately go to a smaller diameter steering wheel - but not TOO small so as not to lose turning leverage since the Thing does not have power steering.

Mark
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Whut is that-there Thang!?
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Chicks dig my Thing - so what if it's little and yellow...!?

[radioman]

Mark, Tell more about the CR-V seats. I had my stock low backs redone 3 years ago but I still don't like them. Would the Honda seats clear the TS rollbar? My current seat are tight against the bar. How are you to install them?
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It's a Southern Thing, 73, stock.
Bill

[markie61]

The '98 seats cost about $140 to the door from an ebay auction.

I knew they would probably be OK since I was able to measure my wife's CRV's seats first. I have yet to intall them, but have done the "set in, sit in, and take rough measurements" tests. The CRV front seats look as if they could be bolted to the floorpans if I bend their mounts flat and removed the old seat track, plus added big flat washers or flat metal reinforcement. However, I want the installation to be a little cleaner, so I will probably fab something to span the pan-half and bolt to that. Since I am replacing the floor pans next year anyway, I am not afraid to mess us the existing pans with extraneous holes in order to get the installation right.

The rear seats will cause the loss of about 1-2 inches of legroom, but will fold almost flat (bottom tips forward, back tips forward to be almost flat) without loss of much cargo carrying capacity. Again, looks like minimal fabrication to make them work. I purchased neoprene yellow/black covers from Costco.com that will freshen the interior appearance, match the paint, and provide good protection from the elements

I don't know about the roll bar yet - I don't have one. I have a design in mind that will intrude minimally on the passenger shoulder room - kind of like the style of the VW Cabriolet bar. As I sit here and type, I may integrate the seat mounts with the roll bar installation so that it all fits

Either way, I will post pics when I am done.

Mark
_________________
Whut is that-there Thang!?
------------------------------
Chicks dig my Thing - so what if it's little and yellow...!?

[bluething]