Removing The  !*&%#*!  Seat

I'd pull the front seats out!  You'll have a lot more room.  If you need to drive the car, just pull the "shotgun seat" - it'll make a lot of difference!

Removing the rear seat is the first major chore, unless you have "insider information," which I will now provide.   It's pretty simple - unless you try to follow the instructions in the Haynes Manual!  I made several attempts prior to getting the "real story" from Shane's Web Site.  I almost broke the seat  - it just wouldn't unlock and come out.                                            

Tilt your front seats forward, and slide the passenger seat all the way forward.  Kneeling on the ground or the rear floorboard will make it easy to:  slide a thin flat blade (6, 8", etc.) screwdriver under the bottom front edge of the seat, about 10" from the center (over the hump).

Slide the screwdriver slowly towards the outside edge of the seat, untill you come in contact with the seat locking mechanism.  Pull out slightly on the screwdriver, maintaining pressure against the lock, untill you find the front of it.  In the very center of the lock, there is a small tab-like button. Push "in" on that, and the mechanism will unlock (you may have to lift up slightly on the seat)!

(Deleted photo)

Do the same on the other side, and then lift up on the seat, pull it forward,  push the lap belt buckles through the holes in the seat, and pull the seat out.

The seat back has three mount bolts on the bottom - one in the center and one on each side - remove them.  Fold both seat backs down, to get them out of the way.  Remove enough bolts along the top of the seat back to free-up the head cushion - lift up on it, and remove the head cushion.  There are now two or three bolts along the seat back frame - remove them and then put both seat backs in the up position,  and the whole frame, with the two seat backs attached to it, will come out.

(Deleted photo)

It's fairly heavy.  Make sure the previous owner didn't route any wires through it (mine had four or five wires running through the seat).  If there are wires in the way, you'll have to either remove the pivot bolt on the affected seat back, or cut the wires.  I removed the outer bolt on mine (take your time, it's a "bugger"), got the wires out, and then reinstalled the pivot bolt after I removed the frame.

Now, it was clean-up time - wisk broom and vaccuum cleaner.  Natuarally, I found almost a dollar in coins, pencils, an old CD, and many flakes of cereal!  The previous owner's wife must have used the back seat as a place for feeding her children!

I'm now at a stopping point. I have to make a template for the horizontal board I want to run from side to side, resting on the flat edge of the seat support, right behind the hump, and attached to a piano hinge on the rear edge.

Sep 16, 2003:  A Cobra owner named Duane, in West Virginia, known as "duane v," on the SVT Performance Web Site Forum, offered to send me a copy of the pattern (countours)  that he made his seat delete mod with.  That was some great favor - now I won't have to spend hours trying to figure out the contours.

The lower edges of the rear side trim and moldings are contoured, so the angles will have to be transferred to a template.

(Deleted photo)

The vertical space where the seat back was, will either have a carpeted board mounted to the flanges where the seat back frame was attached, with a piano hinge to allow easy drop-down access to the trunk, or a hanging piece of carpet, attached with velcro (to allow easy roll-up access to the trunk).

I'm going to replace the entire floor carpeting during this Mod, so I plan on ordering an extra yard or two to cover the trunk area, and the Seat Delete components.  While I'm waiting to order the carpet, there should be plenty of time to make my templates.

More to come, as I get the materials and the camera ...                        

Oct 2, 2003:  The carpet is on order from AccuMat.  It's due to arrive on Oct 6th.  The mailman seems to have lost the pattern that Duane sent to me,  so I'll have to get my compass out, and start trying to copy the contours in the back seat.

Oct 4, 2003:  Carpet arrived. 

Oct 8, 2003:  Replacing the carpet now, then I'll finish the Seat Delete. 

Recarpeting Project

Oct 14, 2003:  Working on seat delete.

Oct 21, 2003:   Installed boards with brass hardware, for a test fit.  Looks okay - now                         I'm looking for carpet to put on them.

Oct 24, 2003:  Board carpeting day.

Oct 25, 2003:  Final installation of boards.

Had to create templates, to transfer the side panel curves to the plywood

I used old cardboard box panels that I had saved from the cabinet project in the garage

I ended up using 5/8 CDX plywood.  Anything thinner was warped and bent.  I found one good sheet.  Side clearance is a problem.

I got a free cross-cut at Home Depot, and then all I had to do was make a rip cut (for the front to back depth) with a little jig saw.

It wasn't easy to get the right curvature.  I made a lot of correction cuts just to get it in place.   Now that it fits, I have to trim off about 1/4  -  5/16" on both sides so I'll have clearance for the carpet, and enough space to raise the "lid."  I plan on leaving the r/h seat out until I'm complete.  It will make a lot of extra moving around room.  The side clearance was a major problem.   See the following photos and notes.

Forming a template can be a challenge

This piece of cardboard had to be extended

It fit in place okay, but I'm having trouble with clearance under the headrest - see other notes in following photos about side clearance

The vertical board is flush against the bottom edge of the headrest

You're going to spend a lot of time in here, so that's why it's best to remove one or both front seats!  There's plenty of room to work with just the "shotgun" side out.

This part of the upper board install was a problem area.  The headrest has three tabs that were used to secure it to the old backrest frame.  I accidentally broke the left side tab off (oops ...).  I originally tried to place the board underneath the headrest so the edge of the board wouldn't show - doesn't work.   There are molding lines on the bottom side of the headrest that hit on the board.   I cut pieces of plywood to act as shims, between the tabs & the outer frame area the the old seatbacks used to mount to.  I used a long bolts (actually, toggle bolts) to go all the way through, holding the headrest secure to the outer frame.   Now I had to notch out the board, to fit around the tabs.  Make them large enough to allow movement of the board, for alignment.

So, the headrest mounts to the outer frame, and the upper board mounts to the same frame, but doesn't touch the headrest.

When I carpet the upper board, I plan to run the carpet all the way across the upper edge - there won't be anything under it where the cut-outs are, but with such a small area, I don't think it will matter much.  Atleast, the bolts will be covered-up.

The Countersunk Finishing Washers will Look Nice, With The Carpet

Brass Piano Hinge With 30 Mounting Holes (should be strong enough)

It's A Tight Fit On The Sides, Next To The Side Trim Panel

    The areas depicted required a LOT of rework.  At one point, I thought                     I was going to have to get another sheet of plywood and start over.  The clearance was fine until the board came up about 3 - 4 inches, then the "contour" kicked in again.  Go slow - you may have to adjust the edge (for clearance) 3 or 4 times!   You can't put back on what you cut off.

The Lid Will Raise About 45 Degrees

              The Front Edge Of The Horizontal Board Extends 1 -  2 Inches                 Beyond The "Thin Hump" That The OEM Seat Rests On

Well, I'm glad that part is finished.   Now I have to get out and find some carpet. 

If anyone tries this Mod on any year model that has the same contour problem on the rear seat side trim panels, use some good material for making your template.  When you get a final fit, and trace it onto your plywood, you'll find that the lid won't open but about an inch!  That's that contour!   You have two options:

[1]  cut the bottom edge of the top piece off a little, so the bottom piece will slide under it (you can then secure the bottom piece to the "thin hump" with some sort of guide pin & anchor hole, to keep it from sliding out - you will also have to mount some cleats under the bottom piece, to support the rear edge, to keep it level).  The bottom piece will be stationary, with the capability of lifting the shelf out to gain access for storage.  Of course you'll have to get out of the car and wrestle with it to get it back under the top piece!  Sounds like a LOT of work - hence, Option 2 ...

[2]  Trace some cut lines on both sides of the bottom piece, to allow some space between the edges of the plywood and the side trim panels.  Cut that amount off, and put it back in and try it again.  If there still isn't enough clearance for the bottom piece to open, mark another cut line on each side, to allow more clearance.  You need to try to keep each side the same distance from the trim panels.   You will need more clearance where the contour goes towards the center of the car (again, see photo above, for reference) so the cut line won't be exactly even for the length of the cut.  I did this little operation about four times, and found out that I was gaining clearance in places where it wasn't needed! 

Once I got the lid to open, I sanded the edges, and mounted everything.  The excess clearance can be hidden when you carpet the board.  I plan on leaving the side edges with a little slack carpet, to conceal the excess clearance.

Needless to say, I came close to scrapping the whole thing, and putting the OEM seat back in ... After taking a break and getting advice from my wife, I got into it again, and finally everything came together.  The carpet, being the final step, will conceal a lot, if necessary!

I used bolts on this project - you have the advantage of making slightly larger holes in the frame edge where the seat-back frame used to mount.  I found it fairly hard to hit the hole with a self-tapping screw (and if the pilot hole is too large you end up having to go to a larger size screw, cause the other one wouldn't tighten up).  If you don't drill the hole in the plywood perfectly straight, the screw will have to turn in order for it to hit the hole!  Using bolts, you can enlarge the holes to compensate for hole mis-alignment!   I also bought some 5/8" or so wide rubber bumper pads to mount on the bottom on the front edge on the lower piece.  This will level out the front edge, and keep it from slamming down.

Everything looked like hell all the way up to the point where I sanded the edges of the boards, and mounted the hinge & hardware ... then it started looking better (and I started feeling better).   Once the carpet is glued on, I'm sure that I will be satisfied with the project.

Cost so far:

Plywood - approx $21.00

Brass hardware & hinge - approx $32.00

Miller High Life Beer -   approx $4.00

Smokes - too much

Carpet - free   ($60 value)