Fox T-Bird/Cougar Forums

thinking this through, folding rear seats.

I am thinking the ass part of the rear seat could be hinged on the front lower edge so that it lifts and stands up,, then the back folds down.

cut away the x brace in the rear, s up the package tray with uni-strut there you have it,, more trunk space when the back seats are not in use.

the ass part is skinny, the back is tall.. that's my problem right now.

not really interested in other car pieces that do this because judging from the floor pans for the rear, they would never work well,, our rear seat area is not flat,,,, then again I suppose it "could" be.

How about leaving the bottom stationary. Create a slotted track with a pivot point on the bottom corners of the rear seat upright and  then create a slotted fastening system at the top rear of the back of the seat so that it can slide up and  come down to lock into position sort of like how some of the shelving units out there fasten together. The back could then be raised up, released from the top slot on the back and then folded forward to lay on top of the seat bottom. Just thinking out loud and roughly based on how I created some luggage space behind the rear seat on a street rod I built about 20 years ago.

I'm sure something could be done with SN95 hardware (they do have folding seats, don't they? I really don't know - if they don't, just ignore this post). Disassemble the SN95 seat back and the T-Bird seat back, and with some creative welding make one out of the two, then reupholster in the T-Bird's soft stuff, nipping and tucking as necessary...

For what it's worth, hatchback fox mustangs have folding rear seats too...

Carm..yes, SN95 Stangers have folding seats...except for (obviously) the convertibles. :)

None of those seat backs fit our cars that well, though...tried them all...

we will be doing this mod using our existing seats.
we will use the existing upper back rest tie bars which "hook over" the chassis hooks.
we will add pivot points into the rear wheel wells (pending)
we will modify the upper chassis hooks such that through friction  you pop the seat back rest onto the chassis hooks.
we will omit the chassis "hook" in the center
we will be using the chassis hooks on the pass and driver side only.

this way all you do is pull and push to latch

adding pic updates in my engine resto build out under engine swapping

Here is a rearview completely gutted

Nice to see this topic. I was hoping for more discussion for years about the removal of the cross braces behind the seats. Some people mentioned something about them helping general structure, so I stopped cutting mine out. I don't see how welding some stronger beams along the top and sides would be any worse though.

For me, I want them gone for better mounting of infinite-baffle subs.

StandbY

Seems as though boy genius has a plan

Pictures to follow here and in our winter project thread

After looking at the gutted pic, I wondered: why do the seats need to fold down? Why not just put the hinge point on the top, and have the seat flip up? You could even engineer a little set of hatch struts on the sides to keep it open, hehe.

You are limited ultimately by the opening size. I think any fold-down option slightly block the bottom. With a flip-up option, the back would be up and out of the way, and the bottom would be unobstructed.

Just a playful thought.

indeed he does. and that plan was to hold for suspense lol.

these show the basic premise for what im wanting to do. although, im gonna do it with some much heavier duty steel flat bar. i might also weld down the center of the flat bar after i get it bent to see if it adds rigidity. gonna have to play around with the design a little first

dang three image limit..

I like it. What you need is hinge assemblies from either a fox stang, a sn 95 stang or a wagon...

To answer the question of clearance. When folded, the seat lays relatively flat against the bottom part of the seat, allowing for an almost flat transition to where the trunk starts. Something that surprised me
 I wasn't expecting it to go that smoothly. I think it might have originally been in the body design for a folding rear seat. I know the body was used for a lot of cars, so it might have been an option on one of them.

Regardless, I won't know anything about the transition untill I get some steel to play with and make a final design with.

that puts something pointed at your head if in a crash.... the thought occurred to me but for safety, it bothered me enough to not go that route.
we are adding uni-strut along the package tray anyway to stiffen it up so it would be an ideal design, in this case I couldn't stand the picture of decapitation

If you have unsecured items in the trunk, and not much in the way of fastening the seats down at the top, stuff will come forward in the even of a head on impact anyway, but at least it would be lower down and you'd have the seat backs to cushion the hit(s).

Still, given the likelihood of a crash occurring in the first place, I'd say it's not something I'd concern myself with beyond having items like jacks and other small, heavy stuff secured or at least inside a tote.

Diggin' the folding seat idea...keep it up. :)

Hit the boneyard and find some latches fro the top from a car that already has fold down seats.

good idea!

Got the heavy duty pivot bracket completed

Will post pictures of the bracket tomorrow

 right now here's a photo of the completed seat folding down

There were several adjustments and re-considerations to the bracket so that's why pictures come tomorrow

Chance is about 6 foot and 1/2 inch tall to give you an idea

The next challenge is to try to think how we deal with the built-in head rests that are in the back seat up right

I am for leaving them alone and dealing with it


Fabric and a transition board to the trunk will come next

With the backrest folded down it offers an opportunity for a secondary cubby storage spot

Was gonna ask...how forward does the seat have to be for the rear to fold down and not contact it?

In this photo it is contacting it right now barely

Actually the seat will fall down by simply folding it down and if it bumps the back of the front seats then you know what to do

In our case we just simply tilted the driver seat forward and fold the back down

I'm pretty sure you just identified a pain in the ass because I would think it'll hit both driver and passenger seats slightly as it's coming down


No problem though because the  s fold now

I think the power seat photo I have now shows the seat in the middle position

Here is the bracket

In order to duplicate it I have to use my fancy 3-D copy machine printer

Our second bracket broke so we switched up to steal

There is an illustration of it and the length of the bracket

Here are two new folding seat pivot brackets

You have to egg out your mounting holes for the bracket and drill another hole in the fender well to keep the seats from not folding too far forward

folding rear seats are done as far as i can tell. below are the brackets being cut out and the final product.

folding seats are now complete

That's what you get for stealing road signs!  :D  Good job though!!

I hear ya!  lol

you have to drill your pivot bracket hole here

this makes it to where the seats are folding further back by another inch.
the two existing holes are a no go.

Awesome mod!! Your in box is full :D

Just wondering but how are you going to modify the trim panel next to the seat to hide the bracket?

you sir are nailing it down to the enth degree,,, we are going cross that bridge when we get there.

This is a quality mod.    :bowdown:
Awaiting word on when you are going to start stamping these brackets out.  ;)

I think 73 is onto something here...

to be honest, I thought of that.

I think its more productive to "mail you" a paper template. 
then I thought well that's pointless because I already gave it to you in one picture.


there is an image of a tape measure along the metal.
if you follow those marks , you have the jig already.

then again,, I could visio It out on a drawing and make it perfectly clear that you must print on LEGAL size paper in order for it to be exactly to scale.


so in a way,, its all moot,

ayone who wants a jig / template let me know.  Im pretty sure the demand for something like this is so low that it would not be any get rich quick item.. LOL, after all , we are all odd people who like a very odd ball car from the 80's.

I won't disagree with you here. The template you offered makes it easy for the average car guy to make. I'd like to believe that we're all friends here and nobody would try to profit from your intellectual design. Let's face it, the Chuck W parts look awesome and his price is more than fair. He makes the parts as a service to our community. I respect him for his work and am anxiously awaiting his shock brackets.

I put this mod in the same category. Will you get rich, no. Will you make a quality part that members here choose to use...yes.  Take it for what you will but I see a demand for these parts.


Ninja edit...

I treat Chucks parts as a proprietary design. He found a way to make things work. I have no problem paying for his time and labor. Again, I think our membership here is strong enough that nobody would overstep and steal your and Chance's hard work.

Reading back over this, this might be an idea for my bird, I have no door handles or locks.  If the keyless entry or battery goes dead, I can open trunk and crawl through to open door, because the X brace is cut out also.