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Topic: Seat upgrade ... attempt #2 ... (Read 19957 times) previous topic - next topic

Seat upgrade ... attempt #2 ...

Reply #15
Quote from: Aerocoupe;462465
I have experienced the same  dilemma with the Corbeau's in my Bird.  They just sit too high for me but other than that they are awesome.  I have the same exact seats in my Coupe and they don't sit as high so that is kind of a mystery to me and is why I bought them in the first place.  I used to have the 86 GT seats in my Bird using the Bird tracks so I just assumed the Corbeau's would work.  Should have yanked the seats out of the Coupe and tried them in the Bird...it.  So long story short I may be headed down this road as well.

Yeah, I don't get it with the Corbeaus I had ... they just aren't "right" and rather than let it eat at me, I just decided to move in another direction.

Here's a shot of the fully removed lumber switch and associated tubing.  After that was out, it was time to move on to the side bolster adjustment .  Pretty easy ... one small allen head to loosen up and then the  pulls right off.

Seat upgrade ... attempt #2 ...

Reply #16
At this point is where the real fun begins.

From the bottom of the seat base, you will first have to deal with three hog rings.  One holds the center of the front plastic clip and the two on either side just hold the fabric welt to keep the upholstery tight.  All you need to do is take a pair of dikes and cut the hog rings.  After that, you can loosen up and undo all of the plastic retaining clips for the upholstery.

Seat upgrade ... attempt #2 ...

Reply #17
Once the upholstery is loose all the way around, starting at the front of the seat base, you just begin to roll the upholstery off.  You  can compress the foam in the bolsters a little and it will come right off.  With the upholstery off of the fronts of the side bolsters, you will then reveal the main attachment point of the fabric to the metal of the seat base.  There are two main metal clips on either side and three more hog rings.  You will have to loosen the metal clips as they hold a left and right metal rod that each extend front to back through the seat base.  These clips will need to be reused later, so don't go to crazy and destroy them ... although I'm sure something else could be used in their place if necessary.  The three hog rings will all need to be cut as well.  One picture shows all five attachments, the other is just a closer view of the front left hand side.

Seat upgrade ... attempt #2 ...

Reply #18
Sorry for the first picture, realized I forgot to take one of this step so had to try to recreate it a little.

Once the main metal clips are removed from either side, you can simply pull out the metal rods.  They are "L" shaped and run from the front of the seat to the back.  They pass through a fabric seam on the underside of the upholstery.  They may stick a little due to some surface rust, put should come out pretty easily.

Seat upgrade ... attempt #2 ...

Reply #19
Great write up on this. Following along as I have these in my bird also.
87 Tbird LX w/Factory floor shifter:D   3G upgrade. Tinted Windows...85 Mustang GT steering wheel(non-cruise) 17'' Saleen SC style wheels,Front/Rear TC sway bars/poly bushings & Mustang GT steering rack...'05 Mustang V6 springs...93 Cobra MC & booster, MM adjustable C/C plates,  Work  In  Progress.......  ( On The Shelf---HO computer, 19lb injectors, HO cam, BBK headers, Explorer Intake, Cold Air Intake ,Phantom Gauges, Stinger stainless exhaust pipes )
 S O L D

Seat upgrade ... attempt #2 ...

Reply #20
Quote from: ISTLCRUZ;462485
Great write up on this. Following along as I have these in my bird also.

Thanks!

After you get the left and right rods removed and the front three hog rings cut, you will be able to continue rolling the upholstery off.  The side rods would have prevented you from rolling the upholstery off if you would have tried to start at the back versus the front.  There is another upholstery "pull" in the center/back part of the seat bottom that attaches the fabric to the foam.  This attaches with ... you guessed it ... three more hog rings.  Cut these and the seat bottom upholstery will then be free for you to remove.  Below are some shots of all of the rods that run through the seat bottom upholstery and attach it to the frame and foam.  You've already pulled out the larger "L" rods on the sides, but you'll also need to pull out the smaller two that run left to right as they will need to be reused in later steps.

Seat upgrade ... attempt #2 ...

Reply #21
With the upholstery removed from the bottom part of the seat, it is time to remove the foam.  It looks like it would just lift right off, but there are some metal rods that run through it and they are attached to the pivoting brackets that control the in and out adjustment of the side bolsters.  Since the foam on these bolsters is typically worn or split, you might have easy access to them.  In my case, the foam was split on one side of the foam, so I snapped some pictures so you can get a good idea of where the rod is attached to the bracket.  There should be two holes in the top of the pivoting bracket and there is a hog ring connecting the rod in the foam at each of these spots.

Seat upgrade ... attempt #2 ...

Reply #22
If the foam isn't split or worn as shown in my previous pictures ... and you don't want to or feel like destroying it ... then you have to access the hog rings from the side as they were installed by the factory.  Each side bolster will have a factory cut that was sliced into the foam.  Just peel the foam back in this area and you should be able to access the two hog rings for each side.  Cut all four hog rings (two per side), and you will be able to pull the foam from the metal base.  I missed getting pictures of this step as I was doing it, so I tried to recreate some of these photos as well.

Seat upgrade ... attempt #2 ...

Reply #23
At this point, I could have just started rebuilding the bottom part of the seat ... but I decided to take it a step further.  I completely stripped the seat base assembly and took the bare frame to get powder coated.  Might be a little excessive, but the bases both had some light surface rust here and there and I figured I would get them cleaned up if I was going to go to all this trouble.  Some of these next several posts will use photos that were taken during reassembly of the bases ... so ... even though I am going to discuss further disassembly, you'll see photos that show a pretty clean seat base.

Here's the base with the upholstery and foam removed.  At this point, it was time to remove the seat foam spring assembly.  This involves removing the four springs at the back of the seat base.  I just used a pair of pliers to pull on the springs and guide them out of their mounting holes.  With these spring removed, you can move to the front of the base and gently pry up the four metal tabs that secure the base spring.  Once these tabs are opened up a little, you can slide the base spring out and remove it.

Seat upgrade ... attempt #2 ...

Reply #24
Here is the assembly fully removed.

If you have any missing or broken springs ... or you are just looking to replace these items, you're in luck ... you should be able to use these Mustang units: https://lmr.com/item/LRS-SEATSPRING/1979-1993-mustang-lower-seat-foam

I would assume these can be used for base, LS/LX, and sport seats.

At this time, I also removed the plastic guard that was installed on the outboard side of the seat frame.  This just slides on and off.

Seat upgrade ... attempt #2 ...

Reply #25
Next was removal of the lumbar pump.  Pretty easy, remove the two screws on the outside of the metal frame and the pump will come right out.

Seat upgrade ... attempt #2 ...

Reply #26
From there, I removed the left and right slider guides for the knee bolster.  There are 2 screws that hold a small metal clip in place.  Remove those and then you can pop out this clip along with the plastic guide that it is holding in place.  Once done, you'll have 4 screws, two clips, and two guides.  You can access and remove all of these items from the openings in the front of the metal frame.

Seat upgrade ... attempt #2 ...

Reply #27
The worst part of disassembling the base is the removal of the side bolster adjustment assembly ... it's not hard by any means though.  First, you need to remove the external snap ring at the back of the lower hinge pin.  Once removed, you can slide the hinge pin out, thus freeing the bolster bracket from the block that controls its inward and outward motion.  With this piece now freed, all you have to do is move to the outside of the base and remove the two bolts holding the hinge part of the bracket to the metal base.  Repeat this for both sides.

Seat upgrade ... attempt #2 ...

Reply #28
I also removed the bracket that the lumber switch assembly mounts to.  You might be able to remove this before getting into the removal of the bolster assembly.  In my particular case, on one seat base, I was able to just remove the bracket ... on the other, the bolster bracket overlapped a small piece of this bracket (where the left most screw is located) and needed to be loosened up in order to be able to remove it.

Seat upgrade ... attempt #2 ...

Reply #29
Remove the cable connecting the left and right adjustment screws by driving out the roll pins on each end and pulling the cable out.  Once this is done, you can simply unthread the adjustment screws to remove them, the blocks they thread onto, and the plastic disc washers.  There is nothing too special about these pieces other than the fact that they are threaded opposite from one another.  Turning in one direction draws the blocks closer together and turning in the other direction draws them apart.  The blocks are marked with an "L" and "R" for left and right.  The longer adjustment screw goes to the outer side of the seat because your adjustment  mounts over it.