Fiero seats to MG install

Bolting Fiero Seats into Another Car

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General information on swapping seats:

1. The seat tracks act as an intermediary between the floor of the car and the bottom of the seat.

2. It is very important that the bottom of the track is securely bolted to the floor of the car and the top of the track is securely bolted to the bottom of the seat. (Please do not use screws and pieces of wood)

3. Often the floor of the car is not flat and the original tracks have been made in such a way as to provide a flat plane for the seat to sit on, in which case it is better to use the car’s original tracks. They will have the proper mounts to bolt the tracks to the floor of the car; the floor of the car is reinforced where the seat tracks bolt on. As a rule it is more difficult to modify the floor of the car than the top of the tracks.

4. If the car’s floor is flat (like the Fiero) you can use the Fiero seat tracks. The Fiero seat tracks are driver & passenger side specific, they have rear ‘feet’ that flange to the outboard side of the car. These rear feet can be modified to align with the floor mounts. The front feet of the Fiero tracks are identical and have a simple centered bolt hole.

5. The Fiero seat is a sheet metal design; the holes for the track mounting points are backed with welded on copper ‘doughnuts’ to accept the track mounting bolts. This is to prevent the bolts from tearing through the sheet metal. As a rule it is more difficult to modify the bottom of the Fiero seat than the top of the tracks.

6. The Fiero seat ‘track mounting points’ are 13 3/8 inches side-to-side and 14 inches front-to-rear. Remove the original seats from the car / remove the original tracks from the seat / measure the original seat’s ‘track mounting points’. As a rule General Motors cars often use the same track mounting point dimensions, if so you are in luck. If the side-to-side dimension is correct you may be able to drill front-to-rear hole(s) in the top of the tracks to accept the Fiero seat. If not you will probably need to weld metal plates (maybe two, maybe four) to the top of the tracks and drill holes to accept the Fiero seat.

7. Lastly: The frame of a car seat typically sits higher in the front (under your knees) and lower in the rear, this angle is called ‘rake’. Be aware of this when modifying the tracks as you will find a flat & level car seat uncomfortable to sit in, and will cause you to ‘submarine’ under the lap seatbelt in the event of a crash.

Fitting Fiero seats into your MGB

by Martyn Harvey

Canadian MGBV8 Register

When I decided to fit Fiero seats to my ‘79 MGB I wanted to avoid drilling the floorpan.

This is how I accomplished the task:

· I switched the seats so that the Fiero driver’s seat became the MGB passenger seat and the Fiero passenger seat became the MGB driver’s seat. This placed the seat back recliner mechanism against the transmission tunnel which allows the seat back spring to do it’s job of raising the seat back to an upright position.

· I discarded the plastic shrouding since there is no room for it in this application.

· Next I removed the tracks from the bottom of the seats.

· Next I removed the two rear “feet” from the seat tracks and replaced them with a pair of front “feet” from a spare Fiero seat. [ see * note below ]

· Before fitting these “feet” to the tracks, I modified them (bent them) to the appropriate height (i.e. I bent them to match the profile of the original rear “feet”).

· I refitted these modified “feet” in the correct location on the tracks. This location can be easily found by using a wooden rail (found under the original MGB seat tracks) as a template. The “feet” can be fastened to the tracks using self-tapping automotive screws (hex-head).

· The holes in the “feet”were now aligned with the captive nuts on the floor pan in a front to rear direction. However, when the tracks were re-fastened to the seat base I found that the holes required enlarging in a side-to-side direction in order for the bolts to align with the captive nuts.

· When bolting the seat to the floor, I used large flat washers (with a small inside diameter) on the securing bolts.

· I also placed spacers under the front “feet” to raise the seat slightly to provide support under my thighs. These were made from aluminum bar drilled to allow the seat bolt to pass through.

· If you are using the headrest speakers, the wiring code is as follows:

n dark blue is R+

n light blue is R-

n brown is L+

n yellow is L-

n remember to get the connector from the donor car when you get your seats.

By following these steps your Fiero seats will fit snugly into your MGB, recline properly and fit onto the original floor pan captive nuts.

The final touch, of course, is to fit leather seat upholstery from MrMikes !

The locating holes on the MGB floorpan are approximately these measurements:

· Distance between front hole and rear hole = 14.5”

· Distance between left and right holes = 12.75”

* A note from another MrMikes customer:

From: Steven
Sent: Sunday, 4:53 PM
To: MrMike
Subject: Fiero seat tracks for MG

Hi MrMike,
The leather kit you sent me worked out well, and I am getting ready to install the seats in my MGB.
The article by Martyn Harvey about fitting Fiero seats in an MGB discusses using an extra set of Fiero tracks and substituting the two rear "feet" with two front "feet" so that the captive nuts in the floor of the MGB line up for ease of installation.
* I simply welded a small plate on the back "feet" of the Fiero runners with a fresh hole drilled.
This was easier and I think a better fit.

Thanks,
Steven
Minneapolis, MN