Mike Frye

Hey everyone,

I have been talking and thinking about this for a while and I started it last weekend. I'm working on a rear seat delete.

This link will take you to my rennlist website section where the progress photos are located.



Linky

What I'm not sure of yet is whether I want to go with carpet, or all vinyl for the rear section and also how to do the doors.

As you can see, I went with an agressively sloped piece where the seats used to be (about 45 deg) so that it won't affect the range for reclining the fronts, as well as to give it a look that I imagine it would have had it it were designed as a two-seater.

This leaves room for two doors as well as possibly a subwoofer and/or amp if I can put it out of the way (don't personally like to see the audio equipment, just hear it).

For the doors/compartments, I was thinking of some kind of plastic or rubber lip around them so it looks somewhat professional, and doors that swing out to the sides.

The bottom half of the front piece would be carpet, transitioning to vinyl at the top like the rest of the interior. (leather someday, but for now matching is also more cost effective).

If anyone has any ideas or pics of their own version of this I'm interested.

PS- Please excuse the condition of the car in the pics, I'm starting with this and then I plan to replace all the carpet and see about repairing/upgrading the body panels. I know it doesn't look like Sterling's, but come-on, give me a break! .

Giovanni

Is it my firewall or is the link is not working?

Mongo

Linky no Worky.

Mike Frye

Sorry, try it now.

Mongo

I think you should go all carpet. The downside from what I see is that you lose all of your cargo space. The gain is that you have lightened it up significantly back there. I did a rear seat delete on my 944 using only carpet. The job turned out quite good, but I didn't fabricate a shelf like yours out of wood.

I really like your door idea to hide the subwoofers. You should definitely go that route.

Good luck to you

AO

Hey, if Porsche used it to cover our footwells, then it's good enough for a rear seat delete.

Mike Frye

Andy,

I lost some open cargo space, but there is about a 6" space under the two covers that I'm going to upholster and use for a jack and tools. It's like having a (shallow) split trunk. I'll post more pics as I make progress.

Hey Sterling,

I was considering using something different for the two rear sections that will lift up. MDF with fiberglass would do the trick. I was also considering some stuff they use for boats called 'star board' I think. It's machinable and strong but wicked expensive. Thanks for the feedback.

I was also thinking of just using clear polyeurethane(sp?) to seal the plywood, which has worked for me in the past. The pieces you see in the link were just 1/2" plywood to get the shape right. I may keep them or I may use them as templates (as I probably will with the 'front' piece since I'm not sure what the doors are going to look like yet).

I'm also thinking of making the exposed 'T' on the top out of a dark wood and doing it up in stain and clear poly (like a Walnut) since I'm planning to make wood door inserts and get some other pieces from Nicole to trim out the dash.

laufenOutLoud

I've got a custom-made sub enclosure that used to cover my rear seat area and integrates flush with the rear deck if anyone wants it. Even has a little place under a lift-up panel to hide the amp. Requires you to delete your current rear seats, of course.

hans14914

Laufen,
I am interested in your rear sub enclosure. Can you send pics? I just finished casting molds in fiberglass of the rear seats for that purpose. Would like to see what others have done.
Thanks
Hans

Jim M.

I just finished a rear seat delete and I'm very pleased with the results. I used Mazda RX-7 rear storage compartment on the top section and mounted a 10" sub in the passenger side front panel and the amp for it in the driver's front panel. Everything is carpeted to match the rest of the car. The panel and carpeting go around the stock 6" mid/woofer and seems to help direct the sound forward. I used all of the original mounting points so I wouldn't have to drill any new holes in the car.

Jim Mayzurk
93 GTS 5-spd

Rockoosi

Nice my friend.

Rodney

EspritS4s

Jim,
Very nice. I haven't seen HOTT amplifiers in quite a few years. Did you have them left over from a previous project?

-Gary

Mike Frye

THAT'S the one I kept hearing about.

Jim that is NICE! Thanks for posting these pix. I really like those storage compartments from the RX-7. That looks really nice. Very well put together with no DIY 'home depot' look (hinges and hardware that really don't belong in a car). I'm really concerned about this for mine.

Thanks again and good work. I especially like the work around the speakers in the columns, the way it's wrapped around them. I chickened out and went under .

Jim M.

Gary, yes the amp is left over from the 89GT.

Mike, There are lots of hidden hinges, see Sterling's original thread on his seat delete. In mycase I wanted the doors on top and I liked the carpeted doors from the RX-7. I had looked at a lot of factory storage compartments and mods others have done. For me the RX-7 filled all my requirements.

Jim Mayzurk
93 GTS 5-spd

Joe '87 S4

That's really nice, Jim!