Seat upgrade ... attempt #2 ...

Topic: Seat upgrade ... attempt #2 ... (Read 23492 times) previous topic - next topic

Seat upgrade ... attempt #2 ...

Reply #30 – September 02, 2017, 09:33:36 PM

Here's a shot of all of the side bolster adjustment pieces removed from the frame and a shot of the bare frame after powder coating.

When reinstalling the threaded blocks, make sure that they are installed like a "U". The pin that was removed from the bolster bracket slides through the top part of these blocks.

Seat upgrade ... attempt #2 ...

Reply #31 – September 03, 2017, 08:07:24 AM

To put everything back together, you can pretty much just go in reverse order. I basically cleaned, powder coated the metal frame, and then lubricated the moving parts/pivots. You'll definitely want to reinstall the spring assembly last so that you can easily access everything else. Here is a shot of the fully reassembled/refurbished seat base. We're now ready to start building our new seat base.

Seat upgrade ... attempt #2 ...

Reply #32 – September 03, 2017, 08:28:55 AM

Alright ... so anyone checking this thread out has probably been waiting for this piece of the puzzle ... new seat foam and upholstery.

While doing some research and trying to figure out my options, I found a company named TMI Products: http://www.tmiproducts.com/

They make all kinds of replacement seat foam for the Mustang. You can get the base foam, or the GT foam (with or without the adjustable knee bolster, and you can get them in the different seat back heights (24" or 26") based on the Mustang model year that you order them for. The prices on their site are kind of all over the board and several of the Mustang parts houses carry them, so shop around if you go down this path.

Seat upgrade ... attempt #2 ...

Reply #33 – September 03, 2017, 08:40:04 AM

I wanted to do something a little different with the seats and TMI provides an option for that as well. They have some foam and upholstery kits that will allow you to use your stock frames yet transform your seats.

Here's a couple of options for setups they offer using the stock frames with a foam/upholstery kit they sell. Most of these involve removing the headrest altogether. They also let you choose the fabrics (cloth, suede, vinyl, leather) and offer several colors of material and stitching as well.

Seat upgrade ... attempt #2 ...

Reply #34 – September 03, 2017, 08:45:56 AM

I have researched this for sometime now. On 1 of the Mustang sites a guy ordered the SVO foam and installed it on regular GT seats. Looked great. I have considered this option as i always liked the SVO seats.... Can't wait for your feedback on TMI foam so far as comfort level.

Seat upgrade ... attempt #2 ...

Reply #35 – September 03, 2017, 08:54:09 AM

Quote from: ISTLCRUZ – on September 03, 2017, 08:45:56 AM

I have researched this for sometime now. On 1 of the Mustang sites a guy ordered the SVO foam and installed it on regular GT seats. Looked great. I have considered this option as i always liked the SVO seats.... Can't wait for your feedback on TMI foam so far as comfort level.

Categorizing the Mustang seats is a bit of a strange beast in and of itself. When talking about the GT sport seats, from my research (and I could be wrong as I'm sure there are differences between GT's, LX's and even convertibles) ... but basically:

-87-89 used the 26" "high" seat back fully articulated seat with adjustable knee bolster and the large headrest
-90-91 used the same seat, except with a 24" "low" seat back and small headrests
-92-93 went back to the 26" "high" seat back, but kept the smaller headrest, and the adjustable knee bolster went away and was just integrated into the lower part of the seat foam as a single piece.

As far as I can tell, the XR-7 and Turbo Coupe seats have the 24" "low" seat back with the large headrest and the adjustable knee bolster.

Now, as far as the foam itself is concerned, I would say the foam between the Mustang and the Cougar/T-bird is the same overall size/dimension, but I would also venture to say that you are correct in that they do not have the same density or cushy-ness. Below are shots of the actual seat bottom foam. The Mustang GT one is marked with an "M" from the factory and the Thunderbird Turbo Coupe with a "T". If they were truly the same, I doubt they would be marked in such a way.

For my particular case, I wanted to keep all the functionality of the stock seat ... I just wanted something that would be a little more aggressive in the bolster department. TMI has an interesting solution for that as well. They sell a kit that will basically upgrade the stock GT Fox Mustang seat to a 2003-2004 Mustang Cobra style seat. Now, I know it looks very similar to the standard sport seat foam (and it is), but the bolstering is much more pr0nounced.

Seat upgrade ... attempt #2 ...

Reply #36 – September 03, 2017, 09:02:56 AM

Quote from: ISTLCRUZ;462526

I have reasearched this for sometime now. On 1 of the Mustang sites a guy ordered the SVO foam and installed it on regular GT seats. Looked great. I have considered this option as i always liked the SVO seats.... Can't wait for your feedback on TMI foam so far as comfort level.

I believe the SVO and 03-04 Cobra foam kits are very similar from TMI (if not identical). Since I was converting 87-88 Turbo Coupe seats with a 24" seat back height, I ordered TMI part number 43-73790. Here is a shot of the label from my shipment. The foam kits can be ordered per seat or as a set.

Seat upgrade ... attempt #2 ...

Reply #37 – September 03, 2017, 09:15:29 AM

Here are shots of the stock foam against the TMI Cobra foam ... this gives you a better appreciation for the difference in the bolstering.

The seat backs:

Seat upgrade ... attempt #2 ...

Reply #38 – September 03, 2017, 09:17:07 AM

The seat bottoms:

Seat upgrade ... attempt #2 ...

Reply #39 – September 03, 2017, 09:27:06 AM

Once I decided to go down the path of upgrading to the 03-04 Cobra foam, it was time to figure out the upholsery side of things. My primary goal in starting all of this was to match the rest of my interior. TMI will send out swatches and offers matching material for the Mustang: http://www.tmiproducts.com/swatches.html/#mustang

This is where some of you may or may not get lucky. If you share an interior color with the Mustang, you're probably in luck. Even if you don't, they have other material options that you can request samples of and you might just find something that will work. Luckily for me, Charcoal was a factory color used on the 84-86 SVO Mustang. I requested samples of the Charcoal vinyl, Charcoal leather, and Black uni-suede.

The photo doesn't do it justice, but the Charcoal vinyl (and leather for that matter) was a dead on match to my door panels. I ended up deciding to have my front seat covers made with the Charcoal vinyl and Black uni-suede inserts. I then bought additional matching material (by the yard) to have a local upholstery shop recover the spare Turbo Coupe back seat that I have to match. TMI makes a rear seat kit for the Mustang, but our luck of sharing parts with our cousin runs out there unfortunately.

Seat upgrade ... attempt #2 ...

Reply #40 – September 04, 2017, 10:50:22 PM

Here's my "custom" upholstery set. It took about six weeks from the time I placed the order until the time the set arrived. They have some of these sets as off the shelf items if you are ordering stock Mustang colors that were offered in the correct model years. Since I was looking to get the 24" "low" seat back, I ordered the 90-91 Mustang upholstery set and then "customized" it by ordering it in the Charcoal color. Since these years also had the smaller headrest, I had to then order the larger headrests as well. If you really wanted, you could also order the halo headrests from different Mustang parts places and use those. The kit does both front seats and is comprised of four pieces for each seat - headrest cover, seat back cover, seat base cover, and the knee bolster cover. They also include a plastic bracket with hardware that the knee bolster ends up mounting to. It ends up replacing the factory cardboard style backing that the knee bolster foam and upholstery is mounted to.

Seat upgrade ... attempt #2 ...

Reply #41 – September 04, 2017, 11:17:57 PM

Starting with the knee bolsters, you are basically going to build new ones. The only thing that will be reused from the old assembly is the metal bracket that the bolster mounts to and slides in and out of the seat base.

The new foam should first be glued to the plastic backing bracket provided in the kit. There is a groove in the foam where the plastic should sit.

Seat upgrade ... attempt #2 ...

Reply #42 – September 04, 2017, 11:25:58 PM

Give the glue a minute to set up, and then place the assembly in a thin plastic bag. The plastic is supposed to help the foam glide around within the upholstery ... you'll use this same technique when working with the seat back. After sliding the foam into the upholstery, you can cut away the excess plastic.

Seat upgrade ... attempt #2 ...

Reply #43 – September 04, 2017, 11:43:36 PM

With the knee foam placed inside the upholstery, begin folding the fabric over the plastic backing that was glued on and start stapling it to the plastic. There are little cut outs in the fabric that should line up with the mounting locations for where the foam/upholstery assembly will attach to the sliding metal bracket. Once you have staples around the entire perimeter, you can then mount it to the metal bracket with the four bolts provided in the kit. There is a plastic cover that slides over the back of the metal bracket and two of the mounting bolts that attach it actually pass through the cover and then the metal bracket and into the plastic of the bolster assembly. At this point, your knee bolsters are complete outside of installing them into the base which will come at a later time. I had these metal brackets powder coated as well.

Seat upgrade ... attempt #2 ...

Reply #44 – September 05, 2017, 09:03:17 AM

In Post #39 it appears that the bottom of the lower new seat foam has a higher angle to it. I will be curious to hear if it raises the seated position, hopefully not and it just provides a better leg angle.