Hi Everybody,

I'm new to this forum and have a question regarding Sebring convertible seats. I am currently restoring a 1951 Studebaker and was interested in installing sebring convertible seats for safety reasons as they have the seat belt integrated into the shoulder of the seat. My Studebaker runs on a 6-volt positive ground system, and obviously the Sebring seats would run on a 12 volt negative ground system. I don't reallyneed the electric features of the seat such as it being able to slide foward and backward...

Does anybody have any ideas as to what I'd need to make this work. Or any information about these seats would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

 

Presuming that the Studebaker is not a daily driver, I suggest that you simply wire in a 12v battery that gets charged manually with a charger. When you're home, plug it in. Wire your seats, and any other oddball things in the car to it, and don't plan on road trips that you can't plug in somewhere along the way. (You should be able to get a couple of weeks out of the battery if you are only depending on it to run the seats. If you hookup a music system or lights, your drain time radically changes.)

 

Keep in mind that the belts in the Sebring seats have an automatic retractor built in to them to take up slack and lock up in the event of a collision. These are powered by a pyrotechnic (explosive) device controlled in turn by the car's airbag controller. Obviously, your Studebaker won't have any of that so the retractors won't work. That would mean that you are likely to travel a little farther forward in a frontal collision before the belts stop you. Better than nothing but not as good as designed to work in the Sebring.
Also, the Sebring seats are designed tofit into the Sebring floorpan, which is not as flat as the Studebaker and will require some bracketry to work right. Your home-made brackets will need to be quite strong to take up the seat belt loads.
Here's a plan: don't hit anything with the Studebaker.