Hello everyone
Since some of you have asked me how I've fitted the Alfa GT seats in my Punto, I've decided to do a guide and hopefully help you.
Tools needed for this job are:
I'm not going to spend time on the front ones because they're a straight foward bolt on swap.
The seating part of the rear seats fits almost perfectly so I've decided to fit those first and this is how.
I've used the original Punto hinges for the outside, to get them off you need to drill trough the rivets. Since the hing placement on the Alfa seats is on a slight offset I advise bolting the hinges in the floor first, you'll notice the hinge has two holes, original Punto the seats were bolted in the hole closer to the hinge but here you'll have to use the outside hole. Once that is done just mark the holes on the Alfa seats and bolt them in.
That's that for the outside hinges, now for the middle ones.
My punto didn't had an dividable rear bench so I had to fabricate the middle hinges.
I've used a basic hinge from my local hardware store and bent them into shape. Once tested to see if it would work I had to work out how to fit them. Since the fuel tank is right under the seats I couldnt bolt them in so I've decided to rivet them in. Mark the holes for the rivets with a marker and be EXTREMELY carefull while drilling because you have one and a half maybe 2 cm between the metal and the fuel tank.
Now that the seating part is beeing taken care off we can attack the backrest
The main problem you'll encounter with the backrest is that is heavy, really heavy, so putting it into place is no easy job in a cramped Punto interior
I've decided to use the original Alfa seat mounts and just drilled holes in the sides so I can use the original Punto holes in the wheel arch. Shown on the picture, the proces of mounting is underneath
Since the backrest is litteraly 1 cm wider you will have to cut a little bit in the plastic around the wheel arch. When you've done that you'll see that you still need a little bit of space to get it just right. This took me almost an hour to figure out but it is really simple. Take the back covers off the backrest and you'll see you can remove the hinges. Remove them and slightly redrill the holes so the hinges can go more inside. Bolt everything back together and you shouldn't have trouble fitting them.
For the middle hinges I used the original Alfa hinges but sawed off the brackets leading into the trunk because they were of no use since the GT has a much higher trunk area.
On the bottom side I used the GT holes and since I didn't had a dividable seat I didn't had any holes so I had to drill 2 new ones in the floor, put a 2cm spacer between the floor and the hinges and just bolt them in.
This is the finnished fully functioning product
The main problem is that the backrest is taller so you can't lock it on the original lock. But you can lock it by fingers and in the middle hinge there is a piston that locks the backrests together so they can't fold. They have some play if you jam the brakes hard but for normal driving everything works, even the middle seatbelt. Some of you might say that this is not the safest option or mod and I agree with you. I'm still trying to figgure out how to lock them just for safety reasons but luckily my car is lowered so I can't go over 40km/h with anyone in the back so for me it's more of a style mod
SUMMARY:
This is a full one day job. Don't expect it to be done in a short time. It needs patience and a helping hand so call your friend Since the rear backrest is a bit higher than normal the rear seating position is a little bit more upright, somewhat like the one on the polo.
The fronts are probably the best thing I've done to the car. They're very comfortable (even on very long journeys), supportive and give you that sporty feel
Thanks anyone for reading this, hope I've helped you somehow. Sorry for some spelling errors, English is not my mother language.
If you have any questions feel free to ask, I'll do my best to help
Since some of you have asked me how I've fitted the Alfa GT seats in my Punto, I've decided to do a guide and hopefully help you.
Tools needed for this job are:
- screwdriver
- torax/torx and allen set
- 17 wrench (optional, I'll explain later)
- rivet gun
- saw
- some hinges from your local hardware store
- drill
I'm not going to spend time on the front ones because they're a straight foward bolt on swap.
The seating part of the rear seats fits almost perfectly so I've decided to fit those first and this is how.
I've used the original Punto hinges for the outside, to get them off you need to drill trough the rivets. Since the hing placement on the Alfa seats is on a slight offset I advise bolting the hinges in the floor first, you'll notice the hinge has two holes, original Punto the seats were bolted in the hole closer to the hinge but here you'll have to use the outside hole. Once that is done just mark the holes on the Alfa seats and bolt them in.
That's that for the outside hinges, now for the middle ones.
My punto didn't had an dividable rear bench so I had to fabricate the middle hinges.
I've used a basic hinge from my local hardware store and bent them into shape. Once tested to see if it would work I had to work out how to fit them. Since the fuel tank is right under the seats I couldnt bolt them in so I've decided to rivet them in. Mark the holes for the rivets with a marker and be EXTREMELY carefull while drilling because you have one and a half maybe 2 cm between the metal and the fuel tank.
Now that the seating part is beeing taken care off we can attack the backrest
The main problem you'll encounter with the backrest is that is heavy, really heavy, so putting it into place is no easy job in a cramped Punto interior
I've decided to use the original Alfa seat mounts and just drilled holes in the sides so I can use the original Punto holes in the wheel arch. Shown on the picture, the proces of mounting is underneath
Since the backrest is litteraly 1 cm wider you will have to cut a little bit in the plastic around the wheel arch. When you've done that you'll see that you still need a little bit of space to get it just right. This took me almost an hour to figure out but it is really simple. Take the back covers off the backrest and you'll see you can remove the hinges. Remove them and slightly redrill the holes so the hinges can go more inside. Bolt everything back together and you shouldn't have trouble fitting them.
For the middle hinges I used the original Alfa hinges but sawed off the brackets leading into the trunk because they were of no use since the GT has a much higher trunk area.
On the bottom side I used the GT holes and since I didn't had a dividable seat I didn't had any holes so I had to drill 2 new ones in the floor, put a 2cm spacer between the floor and the hinges and just bolt them in.
This is the finnished fully functioning product
The main problem is that the backrest is taller so you can't lock it on the original lock. But you can lock it by fingers and in the middle hinge there is a piston that locks the backrests together so they can't fold. They have some play if you jam the brakes hard but for normal driving everything works, even the middle seatbelt. Some of you might say that this is not the safest option or mod and I agree with you. I'm still trying to figgure out how to lock them just for safety reasons but luckily my car is lowered so I can't go over 40km/h with anyone in the back so for me it's more of a style mod
SUMMARY:
This is a full one day job. Don't expect it to be done in a short time. It needs patience and a helping hand so call your friend Since the rear backrest is a bit higher than normal the rear seating position is a little bit more upright, somewhat like the one on the polo.
The fronts are probably the best thing I've done to the car. They're very comfortable (even on very long journeys), supportive and give you that sporty feel
Thanks anyone for reading this, hope I've helped you somehow. Sorry for some spelling errors, English is not my mother language.
If you have any questions feel free to ask, I'll do my best to help