65 Bench seat and seatbelt questions

[offthebeatenpath]

I suppose this ought to be my introduction as well, but I'll do that properly later. Anyway I'm Josh and I just picked up a '65 J200 that needs a little bit of love to be useable- a good carb tune and some floor pans, and some serious work to the bench seat.
I'd love to be able to do as much of this work myself as possible, so Plan A is not to pay someone else to do it.

But I'm having trouble finding parts or kits for the actual upholstery part of this. Do you guys have any sources for upholstery kits or anything for these trucks? Along the same lines, are the seat dimensions the same for the early trucks and the later trucks?

On another note, looks like I'll be needing a source to add some seatbelts to this thing, am I correct in assuming that they didn't come with any?

I have found BJ's Offroad, but any other online sources would be super helpful. Thanks!

[offthebeatenpath]

Sorry, the forum was giving me an error message saying that it couldn't publish my post, so I kept retrying....

[Brly]

Welcome! Post some pictures of your truck and more info; engine, transmission, etc. I'd like to see it!
I'm not aware of any upholstery kits. I'm sure you can get the materials, but you'd be on your own putting it together. I'm also not sure about seats interchanging with later years. Someone here knows.

[letank]

Welcome to the asylum... there were some custom uphostery places when I redid my bench 30 years ago, perfect fit... of course it was BI, before the internet. It will require a little search. The chevy truck site could be a good source, lmctruck or close to those key words. Otherwise, the bench is not a fancy piece of complicated shapes.
As for seat belt, you will be stuck with lap belt, drill a hole and weld a nut on the underside

[offthebeatenpath]

I had a local shop quote me $1200 to rework the seat..... looks like I'll be doing it myself!
I'll look into the LMC truck info, I hadn't thought about looking at other brands. I might be able to find something close if I can get some dimensions.

[Crankyolman]

When I had my seat redone I went to 3 shops. The first shop quoted me $2,500, the second $1,500. The 3rd was a hole in the wall place in an industrial park who did The seat, door cards and sun visors for $700. He did a really nice job too. He said he could have done it cheaper if I had chosen materials he had on hand. It pays to shop around and find guys who are doing upholstery on the cheap, or since you are in Montana you might see if these guys have what you need http://montanaoverland.com/

[offthebeatenpath]

When I had my seat redone I went to 3 shops. The first shop quoted me $2,500, the second $1,500. The 3rd was a hole in the wall place in an industrial park who did The seat, door cards and sun visors for $700. He did a really nice job too. He said he could have done it cheaper if I had chosen materials he had on hand. It pays to shop around and find guys who are doing upholstery on the cheap, or since you are in Montana you might see if these guys have what you need http://montanaoverland.com/

I've got the Montana Jeep Ranch on my radar, I'd love to make a trip up there this summer. It's about a 4 hour drive from me, and it's not really on the way to anything. But, come to think of it, neither is Montana

[Crankyolman]

It's hard for me to find time to drive an hour for something much less 4. I remember reading an article once where someone used a seat out of a ford or something, they just went to the junk yard with a tape measure. In the early 90s I put a Cadillac seat in my 66 Gladiator without much problem. I bet a mid to late 60s chevy seat will work.

[Joodan24]

If you call Montana Overland, they make trips to missoula with parts weekly. They are happy to deliver within reason