1981 Toronado p/w seats
February 12th, 2024, 05:12 PM
#1
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1981 Toronado p/w seats
Back in July 2023, i began helping a friend with the power seats in an 81' toronado. both seat motors do not work, and we are finding that replacement ---not only expensive, but, possibly open up another can of worms with electrical issues with switches and relays.
here is my question---back 40 some years ago i owned a 77' cutlass and i am positive it had no power seats. there was a **** on the side of each seat to adjust the back--and a release handle directly under the front of the seat to control the movement horizontal back and forth. so now, i'm saying "who needs power seats anyway " ? can the seat rails be simply swapped out and make them manual seats.? and has anyone here done this ? and if you have, exactly what gm make, model, and year did you swap out parts to accomplish this ?
dal442
here is my question---back 40 some years ago i owned a 77' cutlass and i am positive it had no power seats. there was a **** on the side of each seat to adjust the back--and a release handle directly under the front of the seat to control the movement horizontal back and forth. so now, i'm saying "who needs power seats anyway " ? can the seat rails be simply swapped out and make them manual seats.? and has anyone here done this ? and if you have, exactly what gm make, model, and year did you swap out parts to accomplish this ?
dal442
February 13th, 2024, 04:51 AM
#2
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Yes, you can convert power seats to manual seats. It requires removing the seats and swapping to the manual seat rails from a parts car. I'm not sure if any other GM cars would be a direct swap. Maybe a Cadillac Eldorado or Buick Riviera?
February 13th, 2024, 11:43 AM
#3
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Location: Medford, Oregon
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Used parts shouldn't be too expensive if its a mechanical problem. Have you tried troubleshooting it yet? Is it a cable that's broken, or a relay that burned out? It may be a simpler repair just swapping out a broken part then trying to match a manual seat track to your car. By 1981 the luxury models were pretty much all power.
February 14th, 2024, 12:13 PM
#4
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the owner of the car ( not me ) has come to the point of being done with the electric seats, so on to finding an 80's cutlass with manual seat adjusters and be done & swap them out. when we initially removed the seats, both transmission cases fell into 35-40 pieces, and only the driver seat motor would grunt as if it wanted to operate. he bought the transmission cases and one coupler for the gearing, re-assembled it and it still won't work. so, i guess i don't blame him. mechanical seat adjusters don't fail. one good thing --- the cables accuators work fine--so we can adjust the seats to look as a bench seat with an arm rest. done
dal442 thanks for the input
dal442 thanks for the input
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