Interior and Upholstery Rear Seat Recovering And/or New Foam

[Mustang5L5]

I don't have my oem back seat anymore, so I can't look. My SN95 seat has been more for show, but I'd like to get the back seat functional again for future rides with kiddos.

I'd like to recover the rear bottom to match my 99-04 leather seats, but unsure if a stock back seat can be reskinned.

Do they sell new foams? Trying to find a donor 87-89 rear seat, but by the time I buy and ship one, I wonder if a new foam would be better...if such a thing exists.

The rear seat backs are stock hatch seatbavks with the SN95 skins installed over them. So no different than getting fox seats and new covers.

Next step is to get a material sample from TMI and see if it matches the seat backs and front seats

 

[Mustang5L5]

Here's why I want to go back to the oem type seat cushion and recover. SN95 seat fit isn't exactly perfect

 

[Mustang5L5]

Well, I scored a donor seat cheap. Next call to TMI

 

[Davedacarpainter]

I don't know about the areo foxes, but there's no foam to be found for the older 4i's Mike. I guess that metal frame inside of the foam keeps companies from making it.

 

[Mustang5L5]

What I figured. Hopefully the foam in this seat is in decent shaoe

 

[Davedacarpainter]

I filled my bathtub up with cool water, a capful of laundry of laundry detergent and a cup of bleach and pretended I was making wine from grapes on mine for awhile.

Got the old stink completely out of it.

It's a pita though mike. You'll have to drain and rinse the foam several times to get the soap out. Then hang it on it's end and let it dry for a few days.

 

[Mustang5L5]

I've got time...and a 55 gal drum

 

[NIKwoaC]

Speaking of getting the back seat kid-ready, I've been doing a lot of thinking along the same lines. Does your car have 3 point belts in the back? My old 86 just has lap belts.

I'd like to figure out a way to convert my lap belts to 3 point (find a way to hang a shoulder loop, basically) and install foldable headrests like what are in modern cars.

The later Foxes with 3 point belts in the back also had anti-submarining bars under the back seat- another feature I'd like to retrofit. Does your car have these?

 

[Mustang5L5]

I just have lap belts in mine. I actually have no belts in mine since they were originally red and I swapped interior to black.

I don't have the bars either. Bars and 3-point belts started in 1990. I had a set a long time ago but never test fit them in to see if they would attach.

I think in order to get the 3-points in, I'd need to cut off the upper attachment point from a donor car and weld it into mine.

Can a modern toddler car seat be used with a lap belt? I'm probably at least another year from booster seats, and still got a newborn coming.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Anyone browsing this thread know if the 90-93 seat bars can be used in the pre-90 cars?

 

[Mustang5L5]

Scratch that, I guess I took the buckles out and left the red belts in. Totally forgot I did that

 

[2000xp8]

I never realized that pre 1990's had no shoulder belt. That sucks.

I would think with a forward facing the lap belt only would work, since I think the seat in my explorer has the lap and shoulder belt through the same lower hole on the frame of the child seat. Just remember there is a special way to put a seat belt on a child seat in a non latch style attachment.
You have to hook it up, pull the belt all the way out and then let it retract and it will click click click.


I catch flack from my wife, my parents, my inlaws etc. about the idea of my kids in my car. I win most battles, I may have to let this one go or maybe install a 4 pt to make everyone happy.

 

[NIKwoaC]

I never realized that pre 1990's had no shoulder belt. That sucks.

I would think with a forward facing the lap belt only would work, since I think the seat in my explorer has the lap and shoulder belt through the same lower hole on the frame of the child seat. Just remember there is a special way to put a seat belt on a child seat in a non latch style attachment.
You have to hook it up, pull the belt all the way out and then let it retract and it will click click click.


I catch flack from my wife, my parents, my inlaws etc. about the idea of my kids in my car. I win most battles, I may have to let this one go or maybe install a 4 pt to make everyone happy.

Yea all car seats have provisions for seatbelt attachment, since I believe latch was not required by law in passenger cars until maybe 15 years or so ago.

From what I've seen, a lot of modern cars use bolt-in latch bars. I've been meaning to see if the later New Edge cars use a bolt-in design that could be (safely) retrofitted.

 

[mikestang63]

mike, what about getting somefoam from an upholstery shop supply company and forming it to fill in the areas that need addressed..

 

[Mustang5L5]

mike, what about getting somefoam from an upholstery shop supply company and forming it to fill in the areas that need addressed..

It still doesn't secure the seat down. Right now the SN seat just lays there loose, which isn't an issue if you don't sit in it.

I have a set of SN latches to secure the seat, but I'd need to fab up some metalwork to properly mount it all.

I've got an email out to TMI on some covering for my 87-89 seat I have in the mail. If they are reasonable I'll just do that. If I get a quote of $500 or something like that...I'll revisit modding the SN seat as that's just nuts

 

[2000xp8]

Just take the 89 seat to an upholstery shop and tell them you want it to match the upper section and the fronts. Someplace that knows what they are doing should be able to do it fairly easy.

 

[Mustang5L5]

So I scored this decent 87-89 red tweed seat bottom for $50. A little dirty, and smells like motor oil, but the foam in is great shape.

Now to clean it up a tad.

No reply from TMI just yet. I hate calling people.

 

[NIKwoaC]

Agreed. I also prefer email because it leaves a "paper" trail.

 

[Mustang5L5]

I'll give them a call next week.

So I threw the seat in just to test fit. The contours if muuuch better and it feels better to sit on. The correctly molded foam just fits better...for obvious reasons.

Now the negative. A gap where the fox seat bottom meets the SN95 seat bottoms. Confused why this is, or perhaps it's normal as I'm using the fox frames, but with the SN95 skins in top. Do you pre-90 guys have the same gap?

Maybe I'll just leave the SN95 seat in for looks and throw the fox seat in when I wanna take the kiddos for ride. I need to get seatbelt soon back in. Since finding 79-84 rear black belts is gonna be tough, maybe I'll snag some blue belts for now.

SN seat just looks better but doesn't really "sit" correctly

 

[Mustang5L5]

Ok. Got some seat belts in the car. Until I find a set of 79-84 black rear lap belts, I'll need to deal with the mismatch in colors. It's just nuts how much stock fox parts are selling for these days...even red.

But, i can now stick a car seat in. I'll use the red fox seat (which has been washed a dozen times so far) and go for a local ride with kiddos.

No response to my email from TMI. I'll give em a call eventually, but I prefer written communication for everything.

They don't tuck under the SN95 seat. Need to sit like this. Wish they weee black

And front seat shot for the hell of it