Fold-Down Rear Seat Swap

Stanley

Stanley

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Oct 12, 2023
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Canada
Vehicle Details
1997 Thunderbird 4.6L V8
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If I wanted to add rear fold-down seats from a Super Coupe (or Cougar, I suppose) to my '97, do I need to change the LX rear bench out as well? I'm wondering if the necessary folding component is only the upper portion with back support, and your bottoms can stay as they are. All the sales for Super Coupe folding seats that I see only show the top half of the seats.

I'm looking to reupholster the fold-down part to match, if it's possible, so I don't want the entire seat assembly if I don't need it.

If you can mix and match the two seat parts, if anyone has any photos of interiors with LX benches mixed with fold-down uppers I'd appreciate seeing them. I'm curious to see how the lines blend together: whether it looks natural or not. The threads over at TCCOA that I found all have dead images.
 
This is what my rear seat looked like with an '89 XR7 cloth fold down. It fits fine but the seat belts fit through gaps in the seat bottom on the later MN12s, whereas through the gap between the back and bottom on the earlier models. If you were to use the accompanying '89 seat bottom, you would need to also transplant the matching seat belt brackets (I've also heard that reversing the original brackets allows you to get just enough slack in the belts to fit them through the seat gap).

IMG_3044.JPG

When reupholstered, I just had to be extra clear that I needed a seat bottom for a 97, and the seat back was an 89 for that reason.
IMG_1736.JPG
 
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Damn. That is awesome. How do I say "jealous" in a nice way? Was it hard finding a 89 rear seat? Are there other cars the pull down back seat can come from?
 
Any 89-90 XR7 or 89-95 SC can be equipped with fold-down rears (but not all of them). For a cloth version, the XR7s are the only route - all SCs came in leather.

I lucked out; I found that locally about 15 years ago. I imagine you'd have a hard time finding one nowadays, but you never know. :)
 
Yeah, I'm aware of the brace issue. I was just wondering if you need anything from the seat bottoms, or if it's entirely an upper-seat operation.

I also see mention of needing a connecting carpet piece, but that doesn't seem to come up much at all so I wonder how necessary it is.
 
The L braces I picked up had carpet covering, is that what you're referring to?

Joe
 
Stanley said:
Yeah, I'm aware of the brace issue. I was just wondering if you need anything from the seat bottoms, or if it's entirely an upper-seat operation.

I also see mention of needing a connecting carpet piece, but that doesn't seem to come up much at all so I wonder how necessary it is.
Click to expand...

The filler carpet's velcro'd onto the seatback unless the seller's a dickweed and trying to sell it separate
 
Rodeo Joe said:
The L braces I picked up had carpet covering, is that what you're referring to?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure. It's allegedly this piece:

concar.jpg

XR7-4.6 said:
The filler carpet's velcro'd onto the seatback unless the seller's a dickweed and trying to sell it separate
Click to expand...

heh, that probably explains why I don't see it mentioned often.
 
It's not needed, but it does cover up the gap along the bottom between the back of the seat back (if that makes sense) and the trunk carpet to give a cleaner look when the seats are down.
 
One of the cool features of my 83 firebird was the fold down seats. It had less room than the cougar. It would have been fun with a v8.
 
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