MGB Seats

[Mark Wilson]

Sorry, I know replacement seat questions crop up a bit too often, but has anyone fitted MGB seats in a 2 door or Traveller? I'm thinking of buying a tatty 70s pair with headrests and having them rebuilt/recovered in Moggy style, as the general shape seems more in keeping than the Newton or MGF patterns. Would the tilt/recline (possibly only GT versions) be suitable? I'm assuming I'll need to fabricate a base.

Mark

[kennatt]

[quote][I'm assuming I'll need to fabricate a base.

yes a very high one,the mgb seats sit on the floor of the car on runners,with no base,without one you will be lucky to see over the dash unless you are 7' tall Having had several mgb,one drawback,of many, are that the seats can be refered to as like sitting on a plank of wood.Very uncomfortable,I drove the last one I had down to south west france,to leave with my son,ended up sitting on a half blown up air bed over the seats for the final 500 miles

[Mark Wilson]

Thanks Kennatt, nothing like first hand experience - you've probably just stopped me wasting about £400! Thinking about it, I would imagine the large biscuit tin I would have to form below the runners would rather defeat the object of making it easier for passengers to access the rear. I've seen posts recommending MX5 seats, but presumably these are also of the bum on floor variety, too?

One of the attractions of the MGB seats was that they have head rests and I could buy decent quality ready made covers and foam kits like these for less than half the cost of Newton Commercial seats:

http://www.gabbatandbrown.co.uk/mgb.html

I was hoping that if this had worked out the biscuit colour option would have been compatible with Newton Commercial's door cards etc.

Any other candidates with ready made covers anyone is aware of?

Mark

[kennatt]

Allthough I've not looked closely at doing it,I belive MG metro seats are the best way to go,still needs a base(I think Tom Roys had second hand custom made base's in but was last year, may still have it,give Chris a ring) but has the head restraints and tilt.
£400 damm, I skipped a set of bgt front and rear's last year,got sick of falling over them.

[ASL642]

MG Metro seats are probably the easiest to fit (right width allows operation of the handbrake and seat belts) not that easy to find these days. I believe Saab (900) seats also fit well. All require a base made to fit the seat to the Morris floor pan though.

A few members have fitted Ford Ka seats as well.

[Mark Wilson]

£400 damm

Calm down - most of the £400 would have been for the leather covers and foam kits! I would have expected to pay about £50 - £75 for a pair of tatty cloth seats to pinch the frames from.

Thanks all.

Mark

[charlie_morris_minor]

I wrote an newsletter for the custom and modified register on alternate seats.. happy to send anyone a copy just PM me your email address

[crossword]

Mark ,
If using MGB seats , the biscuit tin ( I think ) will need to be higher next to the transmission tunnel to match the shape of the MGB floor . Tilt , slide & recline shhould work .
Not sure where you are but I will have available when the weather warms up , two MGB front seats in not bad condition in biscuit colour cloth . They do not have headrests but they are readily available on ebay or at MG suppliers .

Regards Andrew .

[lambrettalad]

Who am I to argue .................My beloved tells me that the MGB seats in my GT are the most comfortable she has ever sat in

[kennatt]

Try driving 900 miles non stop,see what she say then

[lambrettalad]

Jez thats some petrol tank ,you have

[benwall101]

A few members have fitted Ford Ka seats as well.

I can recommend the ka seats, there not to bad to fit they just need the feet drilling off and repositioning in a different order and the large one to be cut into two, also the rear ones fit good as well to match.

[lambrettalad]

^^^^^ times two

[kennatt]

so you don't need to fabricate a box base,if so may look at them myself,and the rear can be made to fit as well,which has always been my problem since I hate mismatched seating.

[kennatt]

Jez thats some petrol tank ,you have

yes but its downhill from up north freewheeling you know

[lambrettalad]

Ka rear seats fit very very well ,just need a board to support the seat bottom over the dip ,cut to the same shape as the bodywork

[horrace]

I put what I belived to be mg midget seats in my pick up, I had to fabricate bases which was pretty simple and newton does covers for these...