My butt cannot make up its' mind when it comes to seats. My 1965 coupe originally came with bucket seats that needed to be reupholstered. It did not take long for me to install a reupholstered bench seat up front. Now, several years later, with no actual drive time on the bench seat, I changed my mind once again during a trip to the junkyard where I found two black, leather bucket seats from a 2002 Mustang. They were transplanted into a junky 1997 Mustang and barely bolted in. For about $80 I got both seats, including the driver side power seat track assembly with three motors.
Unfortunately, this write-up does not include the installation of the power seat track assembly due to the height of the assembly. It uncomfortably put my head into the headliner, and at 5' 8", I realize that it poses a significant problem for most drivers. I will include more thoughts on this later.
Here are the seats after coming out of the junkyard. They were pretty dirty and the passenger seat had rust stains. The driver side has a good amount of cracks and wear, but I plan to fix that later.
The first step was to clean the seats several times. To clean the loose dust and dirt, I started with a light solution of dishwashing soap and water and a soft cloth (t-shirt). After going over both seats twice, I used a solution of Simple Green and water. For the tougher spots, such as the rust stains, I used a green scrub pad. I also used my brother's toothbrush to clean between the piping and stitching. I then polished the seats with a leather polisher. After doing that, I thought that I should have first used a leather conditioner (which I will do eventually).
Still hoping to use the power seat track, I began with the installation with the non-power passenger seat. The stock 2002 seat tracks would be of no use, as the brackets used to mount the seat were much too narrow.
Interestingly, the width of the mounting holes for the seat tracks were a perfect match for the early Mustang seat platform, so adapting the 1965 seat tracks to the 2002 seat was the best choice:
First, bolt the seat track to the seat frame using the front bolt hole.
Next, you will see that there are four holes in the frame, but the seat track will not reach these holes:
No problem, because you will get to add two weight saving holes per seat!
The area where you drill the hole is thick enough to tap, just like the other holes, so tap it and bolt the track in:
Since the seat track rests on the edge of the leather cover, you may have to file down the seat track as shown, in order to provide more room when bolting it down. You can also lay down some rubber material to protect the seat cover:
You may need to file down the plastic clip to allow this lever to work:
I needed to file a good bit away to allow free operation.
Moving on to the track with the release lever, you will notice that the curved handle will not clear the seat:
To remedy this, grab a small propane torch, a mini-anvil and a hammer. Cover the seat track adjuster knob with tape to protect it (from fire, what am I thinking? It was past midnight).
Heat the handle and then smash it flat:
Notice the partially melted knob. I didn't think about the heated metal melting the knob. Once again, it was late...I won't make that mistake on the next seat.
Drill the rear hole (haha...that's a good one) and bolt the seat track down. Now you are ready to hook up the adjusting hardware,
Next, you need to hook the end of the return spring to something. Time for another weight saving hole:
Now you are ready to bolt the passenger seat in.
Unfortunately, this write-up does not include the installation of the power seat track assembly due to the height of the assembly. It uncomfortably put my head into the headliner, and at 5' 8", I realize that it poses a significant problem for most drivers. I will include more thoughts on this later.
Here are the seats after coming out of the junkyard. They were pretty dirty and the passenger seat had rust stains. The driver side has a good amount of cracks and wear, but I plan to fix that later.
The first step was to clean the seats several times. To clean the loose dust and dirt, I started with a light solution of dishwashing soap and water and a soft cloth (t-shirt). After going over both seats twice, I used a solution of Simple Green and water. For the tougher spots, such as the rust stains, I used a green scrub pad. I also used my brother's toothbrush to clean between the piping and stitching. I then polished the seats with a leather polisher. After doing that, I thought that I should have first used a leather conditioner (which I will do eventually).
Still hoping to use the power seat track, I began with the installation with the non-power passenger seat. The stock 2002 seat tracks would be of no use, as the brackets used to mount the seat were much too narrow.
Interestingly, the width of the mounting holes for the seat tracks were a perfect match for the early Mustang seat platform, so adapting the 1965 seat tracks to the 2002 seat was the best choice:
First, bolt the seat track to the seat frame using the front bolt hole.
Next, you will see that there are four holes in the frame, but the seat track will not reach these holes:
No problem, because you will get to add two weight saving holes per seat!
The area where you drill the hole is thick enough to tap, just like the other holes, so tap it and bolt the track in:
Since the seat track rests on the edge of the leather cover, you may have to file down the seat track as shown, in order to provide more room when bolting it down. You can also lay down some rubber material to protect the seat cover:
You may need to file down the plastic clip to allow this lever to work:
I needed to file a good bit away to allow free operation.
Moving on to the track with the release lever, you will notice that the curved handle will not clear the seat:
To remedy this, grab a small propane torch, a mini-anvil and a hammer. Cover the seat track adjuster knob with tape to protect it (from fire, what am I thinking? It was past midnight).
Heat the handle and then smash it flat:
Notice the partially melted knob. I didn't think about the heated metal melting the knob. Once again, it was late...I won't make that mistake on the next seat.
Drill the rear hole (haha...that's a good one) and bolt the seat track down. Now you are ready to hook up the adjusting hardware,
Next, you need to hook the end of the return spring to something. Time for another weight saving hole:
Now you are ready to bolt the passenger seat in.