True Connections

To keep up with our power options theme, this month we’ll discuss power seats. Power seats were an option on all 1964-1972 Chevelle and El Camino bench seats and drivers side bucket seats. All Chevelle and El Camino power seats are 4 way adjustable, forward and backward, up and down. The seat frames themselves are exactly the same as non power, if you have the seat and find an original power assembly, simply unbolt the seats existing tracks and the power assembly will bolt right up. The 1964-1965 power bucket assembly used a motor with a direct drive to two clutch solenoids that turn cables, similar to speedometer cables, that turn gears to adjust the seat. The 66-72 power seats use a rubber belt to connect the motor to the solenoids and drive mechanisms. The power assembly for the bench seat is very similar to the bucket seat assembly except for the fact that the tracks are much wider apart and they are connected by longer cables. The biggest problem with power seats is dirt. Being close to the floor boards under the seat, where you dropped your change and a few french fries, the seat mechanisms can collect all kinds of garbage. If you find an original unit, the best thing to do is blow it apart and clean everything. Be sure to open up the clutch mechanisms, by simply removing the three screws, and clean all the internals also. Once you’ve wiped off 40 years of dirt, be sure to generously lube everything, and more than likely that power seat will work like a champ. If not its usually the motors that need to be repaired, but you shouldn’t have a problem finding someone to rebuild them as someone who rebuilds wiper or power window motors should be able to tackle your power seat motors also. The next trick is installing them. The biggest hurtle is mounting the seat. The tracks that mount to the floor are different then the standard tracks but fortunately there is a bracket being reproduced that welds to the floorboard, just like factory, to give you the correct seat height and angle. Power to the seat is accomplished by a single orange 10 gauge lead coming from the seat, under the carpet to the firewall. The wire then travels through the firewall to a 30 amp breaker mounted on the engine side of the firewall. A lead then goes from the breaker directly to the starter solenoid. The switch for the power seats on 64-72 Chevelles and El Caminos are all the same, mounting on the lower left hand side of the driver with a single joystick type knob coming out the center of the switch. You can easily determine if the seat is an incorrect impala power seat since they are a 6-way seat, which means the switch will have two more buttons on either side of the joystick knob. Next month we will discuss variations of the interior kick panels and other little know trim pieces that are usually missing.