By Josh Hickey
This article was written by Josh Hickey and published on the GrassrootsMotorSports forum on September 26. For those looking for ideas on a rear seat delete, this is one that keeps a folding seat back that can keep heavy things in the hatch area, but also provides a storage area in the back seat area. Thanks to Josh for allowing us to pass this on to the rest of us!
Just thought I’d share my little project on the 924S this week. It’s pretty basic stuff compared to what a lot of you guys do but it came out almost exactly how I planned, so figured it might give someone else ideas, especially people who only want to spend about $30 in total materials and don’t have any fancy fabrication tools 🙂
I know I’m not the first to do this of course, but anyhow here’s my take on the “rear seat delete.” Since this is my road-trip car and not a track car, I decided to not just delete the rear seat, but to turn the whole area into a useful storage and gear area.
I removed the rear lower seat, and stripped the cushions off the seatback, which is the only part I am re-using since it’s the easiest way to keep fold-down capability. Then made some cardboard mock-up pieces. Then I cut some wood and made some brackets, using the seat belt bolts as the primary mount for the “front” piece as well as some aluminum angle pieces bolted to the front lip of the lower seat base.
Then I padded the old seatback piece (not sure why, in retrospect, but whatever…) and got out my 3M carpet adhesive and electric staple gun and did some basic upholstery. And this is how it all came out. I added a cargo net, some tie-down eyes, and some other stuff that I figured would come in useful as well..
The seatback looks a bit lumpy here, but it should level out a bit over time I think. I wanted to be able to fold down the seatback in case of carrying something long, but also wanted it to be a “back brace” for stuff on the parcel shelf. So I double-hinged the storage compartment onto the bottom of the seat back (rather than to the car itself), allowing it to slide forward and let the original seat back fold down.
Editor’s Note: This configuration allows under-seat storage as well as “over-seat” storage. The area that used to be the right rear seat could actually house the battery, if you are inclined to do so. Using seat belt eye-hooks as tie-down locations is also a great idea.
Thanks to Josh Hickey for allowing us to publish this here. Look for more of his articles on GrassrootsMotorsports forums!
