I’m sure this is a rare modification I am doing. But thought posting it could help someone else if they were crazy enough to do it. Most people delete the rear seat when mini tubbing their cars. Especially since the MII rear seat is useless for anyone over the age of 12 anyway. But I am trying to keep my interior as close to factory looking as possible even with the tubs and large meats on the back. So I have decided to narrow the already tiny rear seat to fit in between my tubs. I also wanted to keep the factory option to fold the seat down. This is a current on going project. So I’ll post as progress moves along. Here’s what I’ve done up this point.
Original width from tub to tub is 41” with the seat back being 40”. I have 36.5” tub to tub and there for need my seat back 35.5” to retain the .5” clearance on each side. I have to remove 4.5” out of the seat back and the metal brace that folds down. I started with the metal seat back. I didn’t want to lose any structural support. So instead of cutting the 4.5” out of the center where there’s a main support. I decided to cut 2.25” out of the middle of each side. You can see my cut lines in the first picture. This allowed me to keep the main center structure support. Second picture shows them cut. Then I stitch welded them back together. It seems every bit as strong as before. I’ll be cleaning up the welds and painting next. But honestly this will all be covered up by the seat itself and the carpet. I’ll be doing the fold down bracket next. I believe the hardest part of this whole thing will be the upholstery itself. I’m nervous of how that will turn out.
Original width from tub to tub is 41” with the seat back being 40”. I have 36.5” tub to tub and there for need my seat back 35.5” to retain the .5” clearance on each side. I have to remove 4.5” out of the seat back and the metal brace that folds down. I started with the metal seat back. I didn’t want to lose any structural support. So instead of cutting the 4.5” out of the center where there’s a main support. I decided to cut 2.25” out of the middle of each side. You can see my cut lines in the first picture. This allowed me to keep the main center structure support. Second picture shows them cut. Then I stitch welded them back together. It seems every bit as strong as before. I’ll be cleaning up the welds and painting next. But honestly this will all be covered up by the seat itself and the carpet. I’ll be doing the fold down bracket next. I believe the hardest part of this whole thing will be the upholstery itself. I’m nervous of how that will turn out.