Bucket Seat Adapters
Factory bucket seats from 1972 are enjoyable to look at, but they sure are tough on the body. While hunting down a pair of original bucket seats and having them covered would have looked great, the end result would not have been comfortable. By all means, the Montego would never make the show car circuit anyhow.

To locate a modern yet musclecar-like seat in some shade of brown, I researched craigslist and found a pair of used Bestop Jeep seats. The brown was not a perfect match, but the seats were comfortable and inexpensive at $200 for the pair. Perhaps one day I could have them recovered in "Ginger" to match the rear seat and door panel inserts. At this point, just getting them to attach safely to the floor was the next challenge.

Other than the adjustable headrest and larger bolsters, these Bestop seats were similar in style to original 1972 Montego buckets. However, modern materials and design make them much more comfortable.		I pulled the stock brackets from the bench seat removed during teardown. The brackets used for bucket seats and bench seats were the same. I set them in place and took bolt hole center-to-center measurements for the driver's side.
Hoping for a miracle, I measured the center-to-center distance between bolt holes on the Jeep seat bottoms and looked for a match. No such luck.		They say there are 100 ways to skin a cat but I chose to make a temporary adapter out of plywood to be used both as a template and test piece. Since the final plate steel adapters would need to be fabbed up somewhere besides my garage, I wanted to eliminate any potential for error.
I transferred the bolt hole pattern I measured from the stock brackets (Step 2) to the piece of plywood and drilled four holes.		Next, I positioned the plywood up against the seat bottom to get a rough idea of fit.
By measuring the location of the bolt holes on the seat bottom, I was able to identify where to drill the seat attachment holes on the adapter		Once all eight holes were drilled into the temporary adapter, I attached the seat brackets with 4 bolts and nuts.
I bolted the adapter to the seat bottom. The seat was almost ready for a test fit.		Next, I added these heavy duty clips to the 2 inboard bucket seat accomodations that were already in the floor board. Remember, this Montego was an original bench seat car.
Test fitting the seat proved my template was accurate.		By sitting in position and adjusting the seat forward and back, I was convinced the travel was smooth and perfect for a person of average height.
Now it was time to find the steel I needed to make the final adapters. I needed a 16" x 17-3/4" x 5/16" thick piece of mild plate steel. Here's the machine shop I went to, not the most inviting place but they did the job quick.		Of course the metal adapter did not need to be of a one-piece design like the wooden template. Excessive and much too heavy.
By using the wood template, I transferred the front and rear bolt hole positions onto the steel plate.		Next, I center punched the bolt hole locations.
Marks were designated to provide cut lines for the machine shop. Although I was working with just one seat at the time, I marked the plate for two sets of adapters.		I brought the plates back to the machine shop for cutting and drilling. Once back in the garage, I checked them against my wood template for accuracy.
The bolts required to attach the stock seat brackets were prepped for a weld.		I dropped two Grade 8 bolts per adapter through the inboard holes.
Next, I gave each bolt a clean weld to the adapter.		Here is the unfinished but 100% functional product for one seat.
Each adapter was fastened to the seat bottom.		The stock brackets fit perfectly to the adapters.
The seat was attached to the floorboard.		Finally, I tested for smoothness of operation. To complete the job, the adpaters should be removed, deburred and painted prior to final installation.

What's Next?
The second part of this series will include carpet installation, seat belt treatment, final button up, and a "reveal" Project MX's new interior. Heck, maybe we'll even get with it and add a real stereo system for a change.

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