To help stabilize the seat springs, some washers were welded to the seat
frames as shown below and the springs were wired to the washers. The seat
springs are tied to each other with hog rings. I just used some 3/32"
welding rod in place of hog rings for now until I prime everything:
I found these Zig-Zag springs on-line at perfectproductsonline.com These seat springs come in two different gauges (9 and 11). The heavier (9 gauge) is needed for the bottom springs and the lighter (11 gauge) is needed for the seat backs. The seat bottoms have 5 rows of springs (9 gauge) spaced about 3" apart and the seat backs have four rows (of 11 gauge) spaced about 3" apart.
Seat Controls
The only thing left to do is to fabricate some way to easily pull down on the seat pin release fork on the bottom of each seat control. It would be very un-handy to have to reach under the seat to adjust it each time.
Here are the parts I'm using to create a seat adjustor handle. A bracket
to create a "pivot" point for the rod:
and the control rod:
The control rod was made from some solid 1/4" rod with one end heated and
flattened, then a hole drilled in it.
The pivot point piece gets welded vertically on the bottom side of the seat
control unit, creating a pivot point (fulcrum) for the rod. The rod
slides through the hole in pivot point and attaches to the seat pin fork.
Here it is, as mounted in the airplane:
The first arrow shows the control rod attached to the fork. The second
arrows shows the pivot point piece welded in place.
Here is the front view showing how it works:
As you can see, I welded a cross piece to the front end of the control rod
to make for easier handling. As you can see in the above picture, as
you pull up on the rod, it pivots in the pivot piece, pulling the fork down,
retracting the seat pin so the seat can slide. Release it and the spring
pushes the pin out, locking the seat in place.
Here is a picture with both front seats installed:
Now I can get some 3" foam, stuff it into a pillow case and do some serious hangar flying. I might even pull the airplane out in the driveway first so my neighbors can really think I'm nuts ;>)
Front Seat Install
Completed: January 19, 2006
Total Time: 28 hours
OK - Now its on to the rear seat.
Click here to go to the Rear Seat Install page