Jumpseats... bolt or weld in?

[Flowmastered87GL]

I just wan everyone's opinion here.

My street brat is going to get its Jumpseats re-installed and I have the option to either weld in captive nuts under the bed and bolt the bracket down each time (I feel more theft prone and since its hard to weld under the car, maybe less structurally sound) Though it makes the bed VERY useable.

The other option is to fabricate new mounting tabs, take the angle grinder and clean up everything. I know I can get a good strong weld from up top and the seats wont go anywhere. The bad part is while I can ubolt the seats to haul stuff, the silver frame will have to stay in there.

Opinions?

I am leaning towards welding it since it will be less work and more secure to theft (since they fetch alot of $$ on e-bay)

[ScreaminMimi]

I would weld them in if they'll be used as seats for passengers.

If you want to bolt them in, maybe you could go the other way, weld the bolt head (with a VERY large washer or block of metal) under the bed and have the stubs come up through the bed and up through the mounting bracket so you can take the whole shebang out.

Be sure to get some rubber tubing inside a metal sheath to cover them from damage when the seats are out.

You may be able to redrill the bracket and use bolts that will accept wheel locks to prevent theft? Just a thought.

[Flowmastered87GL]

Hmmm good idea on the wheel locks.

So far it appears that welding is winning anyway, so that probably wont be a factor.

[cyphergirl]

Just weld those puppies. Welcome to the site, btw. How long have you had your Brat?

[Flowmastered87GL]

Uhhhh a while...

I have 2, the soon to be blue street one and the OD green off roader.

The story of the off roader:

Bought it 2 years ago this July for $500. Had rust everywhere. I have since fixed most of it, but it ran good, had like 142K on it and had only 66K on the engine. I lifted it, bobbed it and painted it from silver to OD green (nicer off road if you scrape it) I have since been having MASSIVE clutch issues. I had the flywheel turned and am running a new setup, but its still slipping, I think it was turned wrong. Basically I bought it before I met my wife, we dated and I kinda tinkered with it, we are now married and its still not done. Its kind of a sore subject around our house. I will be glad once that clutch is back in it and working again. (on the plus side I can now yank the engine in 45 minutes to yank the flywheel and pressure plate.)

I have had my street brat for about a month.

[Guest]

I would bolt them in,you never know when you need the space.

[Flowmastered87GL]

Hmmm talked to my mechanic (for stuff I dont want to tackle myself) and he said to bolt the seats in.

He said to make him a setup at the same time too

I'll probably weld these in though, and bolt in the ones in his brat, then choose the better of the 2 setup designs in my final brat (which is yet to be purchased... I am holding out for one with a stock grey interior)

[ScreaminMimi]

Let me know how the bolts work out. Are you bolting in from the top for easy removal?

I want to bolt the seats into the new '86. The sliding window needs to be changed to one that opens in the middle. Skippy, the black lab, can't join the conversation with the current window that opens on the sides (thanks for that pointer) and he can't fit in the cabin. So we'll take the seats out when he comes along.

[Flowmastered87GL]

The bolt method that my mechanic ordered me to make for him:

Take one jumpseat mount. Weld 2 metal strips to the bottom of it.

Stick the whole shebang into the brat, find out the right spot for it, then drill down through the strips and the bed and then pass a bolt down through. Make sure you have good clearance from the brake lines frame rails and so on...

Pull the bolts back out, use a dremel to take off the undercoating and stuff (we need bare metal here)

I am still debating how to go about grounding the system to weld it, but I am thinking of using the ground clamp on the bolt, then using the nut as the hot part which will be touching the bare part of the body... hopefully should give a good weld between the nut and the unibody. We shall see though.

At this point you can prime and undercoat back over what you just did so rust doesnt start. Just dont gum up the threads on the bolt or nut.