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  View original topic: cutting the rear seat for more foot room
dnbuggy Sat Sep 08, 2007 10:57 pm

I am thinking about cutting a six inch notch out of my back seat area and fiberglassing in a foot area. My front seats do not provide enough room for feet and my back seat seems really long. Has anyone ever seen this mod?

Any advice would be great.

sandhopper Tue Sep 11, 2007 8:44 pm

I would also like to see this done , I have a short pan car and have thought this would be a good idea .

Elwood Fri Sep 14, 2007 7:04 pm

I am not 100% sure thats was supposed to be a back seat.

I am currently making the rear seat pan for mine as it's non existant, but my remedy for lack of foot room was tretch the body, however what you lookign to do is similiar to what I am currently doing to the rear seat.

Frame yourself up a wooden box thats the size of the inside of what you want. You will be thing of the box as the positive of the negative shape you want to make. It's just a form.
Spray it with Super 77 and wrap it in Aluminum Foil. Squeegeee it down as smooth as you can. Glass it up to like 4 layers or so of 1.5 oz. and peel it off. Trim to fit and glass it in. If you Gelcoat before you glass when you pull it off you'll have a layer of gel that you'll need to sand the foil texture out of but it's a great start .

CrashedAgain Sat Sep 15, 2007 8:08 am

dnbuggy wrote: I am thinking about cutting a six inch notch out of my back seat area and fiberglassing in a foot area. My front seats do not provide enough room for feet and my back seat seems really long. Has anyone ever seen this mod?

Any advice would be great.

Looking at my bug I don't think this would work because the rear torsion bar would prevent you from being able to lower the floor enough to give actual legroom in the back. Try sitting in the back with your feet in the battery box, you'll see what I mean, your knees are at your chin.

To get a real four seater you will probably have to use a full length pan.

You may be able to get more front seat leg room by moving the seat mounts back.

sandictive Wed Sep 19, 2007 10:14 pm

I was just searching this cause I was thinking the same thing. Any ideas?

Butch F20 Fri Sep 21, 2007 12:57 pm

Hey Guys,

Just read you post and thought I would throw an idea in the mix. I have a Sand Shark, shortened chassis and when I put suspension seats in, they didnt go back very far due to the sesign of the seat. What I did is cut out part of the tunnel and welded in a support which has worked well. I only did this on the drivers side but intend to do it to the passenger side this winter when I do a complete tear down.

What I did is cut out the section of the tunnel where it widens out near the rear crossmember where the rear of the body sits. in other words, the tunnel on the drivers side goes straight back from the shifter area all the way to the rear crossmember. I cut out he area of the tunnel where id widens out and replaced it with some .090" steel sheet which I weled in place. It lets my seat travel a good 6" further back and made all the difference in the world on a long trip. I am about 6'2" and well over 250 and allthough its not a Town Car its pretty comftorble.

I did this 10 years ago and see no sign of weakness in the chassis. Just another thought for you to think about.

Thanks,
Butch

JiI Sun Sep 23, 2007 8:11 am

What do you need a back seat for? Use the space to put a spare tire, parts, cooler or a 2 stage air cleaner. Cars are supposed to be 2 seaters!
JiI

sandictive Sat Sep 29, 2007 8:26 am

any pics butch?



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