Looking To My First Mustang Since Hs

MrGreyZ · Apr 1, 2017

I have finally gotten to a point in my life where I have hit a few goals, and I want to treat my self to a car like I had in HS. I had a 79 notchback with 2.3L auto that got totaled my senior yr (92)

Today I went to look at a very clean 1990 hatch and upon trying to climb behind the wheel I discovered they have shrunk in the over the past 25 years. I need head room - I am 6'8" tall, and was seriously cramped.

I have seen that there are kits to get some more leg room, and have seen posts on various forums that mention cutting and welding the seat rails to gain some head room. I am wondering are there other Ford seats that fit?
At work I have had to drive a 2009 Focus and the seat manually lowers - are there any members who have put these in a foxbody?

Davedacarpainter · Apr 3, 2017

Welcome to Stangnet.

I'll move your thread over to our '79-'95 General Talk subforum, the guys there will be able to help you out.

Good to have you with us.

CarMichael Angelo · Apr 3, 2017

MrGreyZ said:
I have finally gotten to a point in my life where I have hit a few goals, and I want to treat my self to a car like I had in HS. I had a 79 notchback with 2.3L auto that got totaled my senior yr (92)

Today I went to look at a very clean 1990 hatch and upon trying to climb behind the wheel I discovered they have shrunk in the over the past 25 years. I need head room - I am 6'8" tall, and was seriously cramped.

I have seen that there are kits to get some more leg room, and have seen posts on various forums that mention cutting and welding the seat rails to gain some head room. I am wondering are there other Ford seats that fit?
At work I have had to drive a 2009 Focus and the seat manually lowers - are there any members who have put these in a foxbody?

I'm nowhere near your height, but I always cut and modify the seat brackets to allow me more leg room. Hopefully for you, during the years between then and now you will have acquired either one of two necessary skills:

Either you have learned some DIY fab skills that enable you to cut steel, fab up a solution, and weld it back together.

or...

You have a good job that will allow you to pay someone else to do it.

Just kidding. Kinda.

There are some premade seat extensions out there that allow a bolt-in solution to get the seat moved rearward. I don't know if it'll do anything for your head room though. The fox seat sits high as you know, the bracketry is partially to blame. Any seat you source from a different car is gonna be a first for most folks unless it's out of a different year Mustang.
The S197 seat swap is a popular conversion, but nobody ever talks about what it did to their ride height,..they always talk about "comfort and support".... (Just like a playtex 24 hour bra)

The Monster( my car) has more than enough leg and head room to accommodate a driver your height, but my seats are not factory,..are sitting on custom brackets, rear seat legroom is non existent, and are far from S197 comfortable....

MrGreyZ · Apr 3, 2017

madmike1157 said:
I'm nowhere near your height, but I always cut and modify the seat brackets to allow me more leg room. Hopefully for you, during the years between then and now you will have acquired either one of two necessary skills:

Either you have learned some DIY fab skills that enable you to cut steel, fab up a solution, and weld it back together.

or...

You have a good job that will allow you to pay someone else to do it.

Just kidding. Kinda.

There are some premade seat extensions out there that allow a bolt-in solution to get the seat moved rearward. I don't know if it'll do anything for your head room though. The fox seat sits high as you know, the bracketry is partially to blame. Any seat you source from a different car is gonna be a first for most folks unless it's out of a different year Mustang.
The S197 seat swap is a popular conversion, but nobody ever talks about what it did to their ride height,..they always talk about "comfort and support".... (Just like a playtex 24 hour bra)

The Monster( my car) has more than enough leg and head room to accommodate a driver your height, but my seats are not factory,..are sitting on custom brackets, rear seat legroom is non existent, and are far from S197 comfortable....

I have looking at the boards but as you said no one seems to share mush on the S197 swap other than drilling.

I have seen the extender kits and a second set of rails is cheap - how much can you trim them and still move the seat. I was thinking of knocking off maybe 1.75" off that nets a gain of about 1.25 in when the extender is bolted in.

FoxMustangLvr · Apr 3, 2017

MrGreyZ said:
I have looking at the boards but as you said no one seems to share mush on the S197 swap other than drilling.

I have seen the extender kits and a second set of rails is cheap - how much can you trim them and still move the seat. I was thinking of knocking off maybe 1.75" off that nets a gain of about 1.25 in when the extender is bolted in.

From what I've read about the S197 seat swap is that when you swap the Fox seat brackets to the S197 seats, it effectively lowers the top surface of the seat bottom about 1.5". If you use different seat brackets then the mounting holes may not line up with the stock Fox bolt locations which may not be good if you have subframe connectors that have seat bracing. I'm hopefully picking up some S197 seats today and will be doing this modification soon.

Jersey Joe · Apr 3, 2017

I thought I was squeezing in at 6' 5" , I'll be following this thread.

MrGreyZ · Apr 3, 2017

FoxMustangLvr said:
From what I've read about the S197 seat swap is that when you swap the Fox seat brackets to the S197 seats, it effectively lowers the top surface of the seat bottom about 1.5". If you use different seat brackets then the mounting holes may not line up with the stock Fox bolt locations which may not be good if you have subframe connectors that have seat bracing. I'm hopefully picking up some S197 seats today and will be doing this modification soon.

When your done let me know how it went.
If this is a fairly easy swap it may be the bit I need to buy my Fox

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