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Swap bench for buckets


sredmyer

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Can anyone provide a list of everything that I will need to change a 1970 from bench to buckets.  I am seriously looking at buying a 1970 SS but it currently has a bench seat and I really want the buckets with the console.  I need to know all that will need to be swapped out so I can see how much that adds to the cost of the car.

 

Thanks

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You will need the console,the shifter,the bucket seats and Stratos are high dollar even in bad condition. The steering column and add the bucket seat brackets to the floor and the wire harness for the console. I would say minimum of 2k. I have not done the conversion but others I believe have. I seen a set of stratos

On eBay but needed to be refurbished for $500 I believe.

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You will need the console,the shifter,the bucket seats and Stratos are high dollar even in bad condition. The steering column and add the bucket seat brackets to the floor and the wire harness for the console. I would say minimum of 2k. I have not done the conversion but others I believe have. I seen a set of stratos

On eBay but needed to be refurbished for $500 I believe.

Does the cluster also need replaced?

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You will also need a rear console mounting bracket that gets welded to the trans hump, a shift cable for the shifter, the brackets needed for the shift cable, a neutral safety switch. Those seats on Facebook are for a 71/72.  For 1970 models they used different seat foams and seat covers.

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Get a good price on the grey SS? Looks like a good car.

I am still working on it...whether or not I pull the trigger depends on how much this seat swap will cost me.

 

Starting to look like the swap is going to cost around $3k assuming I can find all the parts and if I do the work...more if I have it done.

That might make striking a deal with this guy kind a hard as I don't think he will come far enough off the $25k to allow me to buy the car and do the seats within my budget.

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You will need carpet to as the bench seat don't cover enough of the trans hump I know I had to. I left the original cluster in mine I even hooked up the gear selector.

 

Leo

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I got a pair of buckets from a 72 about 24 years ago but never did the swap from my bench seat after seeing how much work it is.

Someday...........

No wonder my mom always said to me, when I was a teen, (in German) Morgen, morgen ist das, was die Faulen sagen!

Bruce

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Steve, as I observe your journey in search of a Monte like you had in High School, it seems like you passed up the closest one you found early on largely because a guy gave you a lower appraisal than you wanted/expected.  Now you seem to be considering other lesser matching models and colors that actually may require more cash to buy and/or modify than that original cortez silver/black vinyl/bucket seat/console/402 beauty at full asking price ... or did I miss something?  Unless you really want the challenge of doing a factory-correct bench to bucket/console conversion I don't see how any bench seat car that costs more than a better fitting bucket seat car makes any sense for you.  JMO, of course.

 

I checked just now and that original cortez sliver '70 seems to still be available in St. Louis for $21,755.  Why not forget the crappy appraisal and compare it to all the other more expensive (but lesser fitting) stuff you have been looking at?  If you really think he won't sell it to you even if you accepted his asking price (although legally he has to), then go in a bit higher, like $21,800 so he knows you are serious ($45 bucks is peanuts in a deal of this magnitude but it's the psychological edge you're after).  I know, I know ... it's easy for me to spend your money, but I'd hate to see you buy something that was not as close to your original objective and pay even more in total cost.

 

If you still think he might/should take less, you could call him up and ask him, "What would it take to buy the car today?"  He either has to say it is no longer for sale or come back with his asking price (assuming he won't take less).  Technically, if he is publicly advertising the car at a specific price (especially one that he also verbally confirms) he is making a valid offer to sell and is bound by business law to sell it to whoever brings that much cash to the table.

 

Did you decide to give up on your original objective or am I missing something?

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Dennis -

 

You did not miss anything :) the original car is very nearly exactly what I am looking for and it is less expensive than this one.  And to be honest I have been struggling mightily to not just buy it. 

 

The fact of the matter is, my wife is concerned that whatever I buy have some practical (investment) value and not be just a toy for me.  While she certainly would never try to stop me doing what I want her point is reasonable.  For this reason, the cost or actual dollars spent is less of an issue than value...the cortez silver car is well within my range as far as cost goes but because it is priced at (in my view) 2 - 3k above its actual value, I am just having a really tough time pulling the trigger on it. 

 

The car I am currently looking at is an extremely nice, numbers matching, well optioned SS and has a value in the high 20k to low 30k range.  I can buy it for significantly less than that but after I put 3k in the seat swap, it may actually be out of my range. 

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You buy the car drive it for a couple of years then do the swap for the buckets. I drove my 72 for over two years before I started doing anything to it to make sure there was nothing major I had to do to it. I really enjoyed that time getting to know my car and meeting other gear heads to bounce ideas off of.

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Just my opinion.....you don't need to do it all at once. I personally would go for the SS. You could accumulate the parts over time and make it what you want. You hold the key to what makes you happy. I know if I was putting out a chunk of money it would have to be something that puts a smile on my face.

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Steve, it seems to me that the 2-3K that the price of that silver '70 is "above its actual value" is about what you decided it would cost to convert that black SS from bench to buckets.  However, all the time you would have invested in finding the parts and doing the conversion work could be spent on other projects or just driving your silver Monte from day one.  BTW, unless you are satisfied to own/drive/show an SS with a partial load level system, you will need to sink another $1K into compressor, brackets, filter, vacuum lines, air shocks, etc to get that system up to par (ask me how I know).

 

If bucket seats and a console are really that important to you (not saying they shouldn't be), then you'll probably be paying for them one way or another.

 

Okay, I'll shut up now ....  :)

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Yeah, I actually posted about that one previously here.  Problem with that one is he want too much for it and the interior is jade green.

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