Bench VS Bucket Seats?

[71dart666]

How much weight would i save switching to my stock bench seat in my dart VS some a100 van seats or anyother A body buckets from that era. Also would it be a direct swap or would i need to modify any of the brackets or what not ?

[pishta]

My '65 A buckets weigh at least 60 lbs a piece. I could not believe it until I I tried to hoist one out of the car and hold it over the hood to get it out of the tight garage. I had to toss it over the last 3 feet of the hood because I was losing it! I think the bench with its 2 rails and simple construction must weigh about half that of buckets.

[Dartcustom]

I am pretty sure the bench is lighter than factory buckets are, though i never weighed either. I would say the A-100 van seats are lighter than the bench though, their is nothing to them!

[Firelord]

Any ideas on weight of the standard bench vs. the deluxe bench?

[71dart666]

Damn i was always under the impression buckets were lighter, but I figured the A100s were the lightest out there since they put them in the hemi Barracudas and Darts. My main interest is freeing up some weight. No point in going with buckets if they will just add weight. Id take some A100 van seats... or I have given some thought to aftermarket racing seats as well. Anybody know any link on aftermarket buckets for old A bodys ? I know summit has some but they dont got shit for mopars.. all Cheby and Fords. I really wouldnt want to have to cut or weld anything since id want the option of putting the bench back in.

[chargerfreak]

I'm sure about the a-body bench, but I just pulled the bench out of my '71 Charger and it weighs a lot! I've been told that the a100 van seats are super light. The only this is that they don't slant forward so you won't have much access to your back seat. That's why I didn't end up buying some that I found on ebay. What I ended up doing was going to the junkyard and looking at buckets in about 100 different cars - all makes. After a long fun day of looking I scored and found some buckets in great shape out of a late 80's Daytona, and they only cost me $32 for both! I'm not going for a resto/stock look so it worked out great. Also, they were pretty light. Both w/sliders was about what the bench weighed.
The sliders lined up on the door side perfectly, and I just used metal shims to bring the inside
height up to level with the door side. Whole installation took about two hours, and it looks great. My bench seat would have needed a total rebuild, and the interior looks much cleaner without the bulk of the bench.

[71dart666]

Hmm.. I myself looked into a few newer buckets at a PickNPull and i did like a few... some from Sebrings. But they were pretty solid and weighted alot i bet, Perhaps I could remove the backseats and get the A100s and then no longer have need for backseat access and save even more weight.