Center console jump seat found

[austinado16]

http://www.classicparts.com/1947-87-Seat-Belt-Gray/productinfo/28-069/

Thanks for the link. Just ordered a seatbelt from them.

Update: That seatbelt is 74" long. I don't know who that fits, other than maybe Jawba-The-Hut. I'll be sending it back.

In the meantime, I contacted Steve who owns www.seatbeltplanet.com. His company makes fantastic looking OEM belts and even does rebelting of modern belts. He's a GM gear head so he knows what the belts in the old American Iron are supposed to look like. Great guy to talk with, and great customer service.

Anyway, the conversation progressed from a simple lap belt made to my specs, up to his Y shaped shoulder harness/lap belt combo. He helped me get the measurements right, and get set up with the correct color and GM style metal buckle. With a 2 day turn around time, I'll see it in a week.

 

[89Suburban]

Installed....

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Not too shabby man!

I see you got some kind of overhead console thing there, can you elaborate on that with some pics?


I also see some headliner sag, lol. You going to fix that? I did mine myself and I love it.

 

[austinado16]

The roof console is factory. I think all 'burbs got them.....at least in the later years. It's got 2 sliding doors.....I guess to put your sun glasses in? They're retarded, as is the storage up in them. I never use them. Then, there are 4 overhead swiveling map lights, like the overhead lights in a jet liner. Those are actually really cool. Use those all the time. 2 are up front, for the captain's chairs, and the rear-most 2 are for the middle seat area. Then there's the double overhead interior light.

Haven't wanted to deal with the headliner sag. On hot days it tightens up and looks great, which is kinda funny. What's the home brew fix? How good does it turn out? I'd rather have it as-is then screw with it and have it look really bad.

 

[austinado16]

Here's the seatbelt that I had custom made at Seatbeltplanet.com Great company and owner Steve is on the ball.

The belt isn't as light and shiny as the camera flash makes it look. It's actually the color of the gray plastic inserts on each shoulder belt.

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[HotRodPC]

Nobody is going anywhere in that belt !!!

 

[austinado16]

Finally got to use the jump seat on an 8 day camping trip. Worked well, but the seat cushion foam is so hard, it's uncomfortable to be in for long periods. I'll be taking the cushion apart and remaking the foam out of softer foam. Other than that, it was a great add, and fun to have our daughter up front with us.

 

[HotRodPC]

Finally got to use the jump seat on an 8 day camping trip. Worked well, but the seat cushion foam is so hard, it's uncomfortable to be in for long periods. I'll be taking the cushion apart and remaking the foam out of softer foam. Other than that, it was a great add, and fun to have our daughter up front with us.

That's cool. I bet she thought she was pretty big **** sitting up front with mom and dad.

Not sure how thick that foam is, and maybe that's the problem if it's not thick enough. Might just want to split the foam in half like a layer and replace the top layer with a piece of convaluted egg crate foam. I don't think I'd use memory foam. That can get pretty uncomfy to sit on for long periods too. Feels like a dream at first, but once sitting in it for an hour or so it's got a hold your ass and you can't even adjust or move.

 

[austinado16]

It's the "door" to the lower storage compartment, so it's only about 3" thick. There's an upholstery supply warehouse in town so I'll go down there next week and have her test sit on some foam. An electric (turkey/ham) carving knife does a great job sculpting foam, so I'm hoping I can unstaple the fabric, skulp a new piece of foam, cover it with that thin batting they use to protect and smooth the surface, and then just wrap and staple the cloth back in place.

She was digging being up front and we could still use the armrests, so we all road like kings. Pretty nice really. Wish I would have found it about 5 years ago.

BTW, thanks for the tip on the memory foam. I was actually thinking of using that, and I didn't think about what it might be like to sit on for long periods. Good call!

 

[austinado16]

Successfully rebuilt the bottom and it's much nicer to sit on. It was actually a pretty easy job and it looks like it's never been apart. Much nicer to sit on. Man was that original foam dense.

 

[HotRodPC]

So now you can't punish your daughter with it.

If you do that again, I'm gonna sit your butt in the jump seat for an hour !!! Won't work now.

 

[Stroked]

Cool! I don't know if I would have enough guts to tear apart a good seat and do that. Lol.

 

[HotRodPC]

Cool! I don't know if I would have enough guts to tear apart a good seat and do that. Lol.

Actually, That I think I could do. Tearing one apart and trying to reupholster it, NO I wouldn't. Removing he staples or metal ties on the bottom of seats isn't hard at all, then putting it back together. I've take a seat apart that the fabric had stretched and looked like . I pull the fabric to the rear of the seat so the front where the seat bottom met the front of the seat would stay in it's location and tightened it up, then used new metal upholstery rings and re attached it about an 1 1/2 inch shorter and the seat was cured and never stretched again.

 

[Stroked]

I have a seat that's worn out on the DS that I'm going to try my hand at fixing the foam and reupholstering, but I really have nothing to lose on that deal.

 

[austinado16]

This kind of work is pretty easy, and sorta fun. I've done this kind of stuff quite a few time.

Purchase a good quality foam rated pray glue from a real automotive upholstery supply. You also need an electric carving knife. If you don't have one, or your folks don't have 10 of them, they are a dime a dozen at all thrift stores. They're sharp as hell, so mind your fingeeeez. I think the blades are surgical stainless, and they clean up with laquer thinner if you get glue on them.

Anyway, you can draw on the foam with a sharpee, and cut your shapes with the electric knife. If you need to build bolsters, like I had to do on the sides of the jump seat, you just glue the bolster pieces on, and then sculpt them. When done, you typically cover the foam in a "blanket" of very thin jute type material, and that smooths out all the imperfections that you get when building stuff out of foam. Once the whole thing is covered in the jute.....actually, it's more like a thin felt that's made out of little chunks of fabrics, so it's multi-colored, sort of like the sponge that goes under residential carpet......it'll be the correct shape and smooth enough to stretch the fabric back over.

Word to the wise, glue quality is everything. If you don't want to hunt for, or spend up for, the real stuff, don't bother doing the job. Same goes with the foam. Good foam is expensive.....as is the glue.

 

[HotRodPC]

This kind of work is pretty easy, and sorta fun. I've done this kind of stuff quite a few time.

Purchase a good quality foam rated pray glue from a real automotive upholstery supply. You also need an electric carving knife. If you don't have one, or your folks don't have 10 of them, they are a dime a dozen at all thrift stores. They're sharp as hell, so mind your fingeeeez. I think the blades are surgical stainless, and they clean up with laquer thinner if you get glue on them.

Anyway, you can draw on the foam with a sharpee, and cut your shapes with the electric knife. If you need to build bolsters, like I had to do on the sides of the jump seat, you just glue the bolster pieces on, and then sculpt them. When done, you typically cover the foam in a "blanket" of very thin jute type material, and that smooths out all the imperfections that you get when building stuff out of foam. Once the whole thing is covered in the jute.....actually, it's more like a thin felt that's made out of little chunks of fabrics, so it's multi-colored, sort of like the sponge that goes under residential carpet......it'll be the correct shape and smooth enough to stretch the fabric back over.

Word to the wise, glue quality is everything. If you don't want to hunt for, or spend up for, the real stuff, don't bother doing the job. Same goes with the foam. Good foam is expensive.....as is the glue.

Same goes for a headliner and good quality materials. Even when you think it's all good, one day you're crusin down the freeway doing 75 and someone hits a window switch. Goodbye headliner !!!