I really wanted to upgrade my stock seats. They were in rough shape and needed to be rebuilt. I wanted to add head rests and get a better feel from them. The cost of the ‘new’ kits was more than I could afford. After a lot of surfing and reading about using newer mustang seats I found a set of black leather seats that were almost free.
I drove about 4 hours round trip to pick them up. They are in great shape and look good. I even got the back seat incase I want to do another project later.
The stock seats on a old mustang sit very low to the floor. There is not a lot of room to make adjustments. I have seen where some folks have modified the seat pan but I didn’t want to do that. The ’96 seats sit much higher due to having the ‘power adjustable’ option. This is really such an easy mod I am surprised that everyone is not doing it.
1.Get your self a good seat of seats and recover them if you like. Lots of cool custom things can be done here so the sky is the limit.
2. Remove the seat tracks from the ’96 seats. This will bring them down to almost the same height as the stockers. Keep all of that power stuff and what not. I was able to sell mine for $30. Also keep the bolts that are used to bolt the track on to the seat.
3. Remove the stock seats from your car. Be sure to keep the tracks so you can bolt them up on your new ’96 seats. Also be sure to save the bolts that bolt on the tracks to the seats.
4. This is a good time to clean up the old seat tracks. Replace the springs if needed. Clean and grease them. Make sure the bolts and nuts are in good order. I painted mine, bought new nuts, and new floor plugs.
5. Once the tracks are cleaned up you will need to do two modifications.
5.1 The seat adjuster that you would normally push to the side so you can adjust the seat back and forty, you will need to bend this almost flat because the seat will interfere with the lever’s operation.
See adjuster handle has been bent almost flat to match the contour of the seat.
5.2 The holes to bolt the stocker tracks to the ’96 seats will not line up 100%. I took and used the front hole and lined it up with the front hole on the ’96 seat and found that the back of the track lined up and if I notched the track a little I could bolt it right on. If you put the track in place and bolt in the front you will see where you will have to either drill a hole or notch the track. I figured notching was easy enough so I did so.
The first time I got the track on and tightened up I found that when testing it I could not get it to slide well. This is because the leather bottom of the seat was rubbing against the track and stopping it from freely moving.
To correct this I decided a small spacer was needed. I used two nuts for each track just to see if would work. I used a small piece of electrical tape to do this and it worked just fine. I tapped the nut to the chair to provide a little space between the track and the seat. I have driven the car with them taped into place since but I think that when I pull the seats out I may find another way to do that. Maybe tack-weld them on the rail.
See below the hole for the bolt is my nut with some electric tape.
See seat with track installed.
Once you have the tracks on put your new ’96 seats in your car and bolt them up. I recommend using the seat track clips, new seat track nuts for underneath, and new or good conditioned body plugs to seal up the bottom.
Adjust as needed and enjoy
I think they look pretty good. I am pretty sure that I can get the back seat to fit in and look good as well. It is narrower than the old stocker but it will complete the interior I think. What do you think?
Today
