Modern Challenger Seats in a 1970

[70 Challenger Lover]

For my 70 Challenger, I have been wanting to put in a more modern set of seats but I wasn't quite sure what I wanted. I knew people use the modern Challenger seats but I figured they were expensive even from wrecked cars.

Today, I scored a full set of front and rear seats from a 2019 RT Scat Pack car that had only 6000 miles. The seller tells me these seats have more bolstering than standard seats but not sure if that's true or not. They are quite nice and very comfortable. I'm a little worried they might be too large for my 70 but I'll get them in and go from there. They look and feel like brand new. Came with tracks too. I love the scat pack bees embroidered into the seat backs. I had planned to do a houndstooth panel in whatever seat I chose but as luck would have it, these seats already have them.

On the driver seat, I noticed there is an extra four way adjustment and I was hoping someone could enlighten me. I need to figure out how to make the power controls work without burning up stuff. Is there a harness I need to find? Can someone point me in the right direction?

Should I try to remove the air bag components?

[Chryco Psycho]

Great score !!
I would leave the air bags alone , the yellow connector is the airbag system leave it un-powered
I believe you will find they are too big for the older challengers but you may be able to make them work for you .
Sorry I am no help on the extra control for the seat .

[70 Challenger Lover]

I messaged the guy and he said the round control is lumbar support. He also said they are heated seats so that explains the extra harnesses underneath. I only paid $300 for everything so if they don't fit, shouldn't be hard to get my money back. The head rests definitely add a lot of height so that could be one problem area.

I thought I had seen other posts here where guys upgraded their old e bodies with seats like these.

[MoparLeo]

One of our club members ( Inland Mopars of So. Cal.) transplanted the entire interior from a 2012 Challenger into a 1970 Cuda. He had to alter the floor pans to fit the deeper/wider tracks.  Basically widen and deepen the part where the seat tracks attach. This took care of the extra height of the seats, setting them down for more headroom.

[Brads70]

While I have no personal experience with them, I understand from reading on here that those seats are too tall in the seat area and would require reworking the floor to make them fit. 

[70 Challenger Lover]

I was taking measurements last night comparing them to the Barracuda seats which are essentially the same as the old 70 Challenger seats. The driver seat bottom sits low like the original but only because it's a power unit. The non power passenger side is higher and that would have made it too tight at the steering wheel. The other seat bottom dimensions are about the same. My car is a shell so I could mock up a dash and column along with the front seats just to gauge if floor modifications are necessary with a power seat. If floor modifications provide a cleaner install look, I'm okay with doing that.

One thing I could see as annoying is the higher bolstering. On our original seats, there is zero so you can slide in from the side and get into position behind the wheel. These seats will be awkward for that. I can already see it's going to be tighter getting in and out but once in, it should be comfortable and prevent sliding around.

The seat back is the obvious problem. Because of the headrest, it sits a full five inches taller. The seat back without the headrest actually has a lower profile than the original seat back. It appears to me that the headrest could be modified to a shorter profile and still look good and perform its task.

I think the biggest challenge is going to be figuring out how to get the power adjustments on the driver seat to work properly. I find lots of information on swapping modern seats from a modern Charger to Challenger but nothing about what I'm considering.

[JonH]

I have looked at this extensively. Currently have a set and have decided not to use them. Have mocked them up in the car several times. I do not want to modify my floors. Without doing so, these seats sit too high in my opinion and look somewhat out of place even with the headrest removed. Leg to steering wheel too close. Head to roof too close. I am only 5' 8". Love the seats, but after agonizing over them for a long time have decided not to use them. The rears would take even more work to make them fit and look nice. You may feel differently but this is my experience...

[CudaMoparRay]

Unfortunately if it can't be done it would have been a very nice upgrade

[JonH]

Unfortunately if it can't be done it would have been a very nice upgrade

Oh it can be done. Many have done it. Just depends on whether you want to make other modifications so they fit comfortably.

[anlauto]

I agree...ANYTHING "can" be done....

[Scooter]

I have the newer seats (believe from an "08") in my Challenger for almost a year now. Previous owner had a set of factory rails welded to the new seats. No modifications to the car at all with the exception of running 12v to the driver side, they bolted right in. I like them much better than the stock seats which I always thought felt like you were sitting on the floor pan.

A few observations.

1) You will sit higher. I'm 5'9 medium build ( a bit less fit since SIP started and no gym access) and it took a bit of getting used to.

2) The rear view mirror will present a bit of a blind spot as you are higher in the saddle. I'll be looking to shorten mine soon.

3) The wheel to seat clearance is tight. But one you get in it's fine. I prefer the wheel in my lap in my cars with tilt so it works out well for me. You could also get a smaller diameter wheel to gain space if needed.

[70 Challenger Lover]

Thanks. The idea of modifying the floor pan to get the seat an inch lower doesn't bother me. And I think it couldn't be that hard to make the headrests half the height they are now. So the seats handle full voltage just fine then? I was hesitant to test them without knowing more about the factory wiring set up

[Scooter]

Thanks. The idea of modifying the floor pan to get the seat an inch lower doesn't bother me. And I think it couldn't be that have to make the headrests half the height they are now. So the seats handle full voltage just fine then? I was hesitant to test them without knowing more about the factory wiring set up

Yup.. you'll need to modify the wiring to get it to work but mine handle 12v direct from the battery fine.

TBH I'm the only one that drives it and I do not believe I've moved the driver seat in 10+ months. So while power is nice.. it's not absolutely required.

GL

[70 Challenger Lover]

Good point. Out of boredom, I unplugged one seat adjustment motor and found it's two pins only. Hooking it directly to 12 volts makes it move. Reverse polarity changes direction. A lot simpler than I expected. If I do use these seats, it shouldn't be difficult to run 12 volts to it and use the switch as intended. Plus there's power lumbar and heated seats too!

So with the driver power seat in the lowest position, the overall height at the front edge where the steering wheel is tightest is exactly the same as my original seat. I think when I mock these up in a car, I'd still want to lower the floor pan. There's a lot of room under the car to play with that. The passenger side would be even more necessary since it's not power and it normal height is easily 1 1/2" higher than the original.

Those headrests are the biggest problem I can see now. They are unnecessarily tall. I think if I could get them to half their current height, the overall height of the seat would probably be the same as an original bucket.

[JpRngr]

I installed leather seats from an '11 Challenger in mine. Biggest thing with the fronts was modifying the floor pans. But, definitely worth it in my opinion. It is a little tight between the steering wheel and seat getting in and out, but fine once in. I installed a smaller diameter wheel to help. The wiring for the seat adjusters is just a matter of 2 wires. Haven't hooked up the heaters yet, though. I also removed the air bags out of my seats. Not very hard if you can handle pulling the seats apart. The rear took a bit more ingenuity. Had to combine the new seat bottom with the old one(cutting & welding required). The seat back required cutting it down as it was way too tall. Cut as much as I could out of the bottom part of it, still enabling the fold down arm rest to work. The main part of it sits only about an inch above the package tray(with the headrests sticking up from there). I have no problem with the looks of the headrests where they're at front or rear.