After 160,000+ miles, in what was left of the stock GT seats, Project Mongoose was beginning to leave us saddle sore on all but the shortest trips. The upholstery on our Pony's saddle was also getting worn thus making the interior of the car look pretty ragged out. The rear seatback locks had long since been broken and the passenger seat would fly forward under hard braking if no one was sitting in it. Stains on the seats from dirty mechanics, spilled road trip food, and just general road grime made matters even worse.

With a tight budget we set out to find the best new "saddle" for the money. While we wanted something supportive for our occasional road course activities, we were unable to afford something like Recarro seats. Additionally the seat couldn't be an all out racing seat as Project Mongoose is a daily driven car.

With this in mind we opted for cloth factory 1997 Mustang GT seats. They were cheap, a direct fit, and factory looking with most of the support we were looking for. For $400 we were able to get a pair of brand new cloth 1997 Mustang GT seats from Diversified Products Marketing (734-459-0130). The seats are "take-off" seats originating from Saleen who removes the stock seats in cars they are converting.

The seats arrived still wrapped in factory plastic and had acquired only five miles on them before we received them. The seats do not come with rails so if you're planning to sell your stock seats to offset the cost of the new ones, don't get rid of the factory seat rails or wiring harnesses! You will see why later in the article.

Both seats have lumbar support and the driver's seat has provisions for a power seat adjustment rack. If you already have a power seat this should control it. If you do not currently have a power seat you can purchase the rack necessary to have this option through sources like PPI. If you don't have a power seat don't worry about it, these seats will work just fine with your existing rails.

These seats provide plenty of lower body support and positioning, and good lower back support. Unfortunately they do not have the same upper body support that more expensive seats like Recarro, Cobra, Flofit, and others have. They did not, however, require the additional purchase of special mounting brackets like most other aftermarket seats do. The fabric, while not a perfect match, provides a factory look with our existing interior. With our limited budget, these seats were just what we were looking for.

Because of Project Mongoose's track abilities we felt it best to stick with cloth seats. A ride in Project Sidewinder's slippery leather seats, while wonderfully nice, convinced us that leather was not a good option for a car that sees track time.

Installation Procedures

Installation is pretty easy and can be accomplished by those who can tell the difference between a screwdriver and a pencil. No special tools were required so just about anyone should be able to perform this modification. Since the new seat comes with no seat rails it is important to remember to save all hardware you remove from your old seats including nuts, bolts, harnesses, springs, and clips. So roll up your sleeves and let's get started!

Seat Removal

The entire procedure took about one hour to complete and required only basic hand tools. We used 10mm and 15mm sockets, a ratchet and a flat head screw driver.

Remove the covers from the feet of the seat rails to access the four bolts that mount the seat rails to the floor. They are held on with plastic push connectors, just use a flat head screw driver to pry them off if necessary.

Next, slide the seat all the way back to access the two front nuts. Using a 15mm deep dish socket remove the two nuts attached to the floor mounted bolts. Slide the seat all the way forward and remove the two rear bolts that mount the rails to the floor.

Tip the seat forward to access the lumbar support wiring harness and power seat controller harness (if so equipped). Disconnect the harnesses and remove the seat.

Seat Rail Removal

Lay the old seat on its back and tilt the seat bottom forward so that you can access the rails and wiring harnesses. Disconnect the seat return spring, that is attached to the seat rail, from the bottom rear of the seat's frame.

Slide the rails down until you can access the front two bolts that mount the rails to the seat. Using a 10mm socket remove these bolts. Slide the rails up until you can access the bottom two bolts and remove them. Carefully place the rails aside.

This is also a good time to re-lubricate and clean the rails if you're so inclined. We found that our rails were a little little rusty and that the grease on the rails had attracted lots of fuzz. We cleaned them off and sanded down the rust spots. A few coats of flat black krylon spray paint ensured that we would not dirty up the bottoms of our new seats.

Check the wiring harness on the new seats and the old seats. Our 1987 vintage wiring harnesses were of a different gender than the new 1997 seats. Rather than cut and splice connectors we decided to do a complete harness transfer. If your year of seat has the same connectors as the new seats you can skip the wiring harness transplant steps.

Wiring harness transplant

Next, using a flat head screwdriver, remove the wiring harness from the bottom of the seat. Be careful not to destroy the clips that attach them as you'll need them to hold the harnesses in place on the new seats. Disconnect the harness from the lumbar support air pump and the lumbar support rocker switch. Set the harness aside.

Select the appropriate new seat and lay it down, like the old seats, on a clean surface. The new seats are left and right specific so make certain that you've got the correct seat. Remove the existing harness from the new seat and then connect the old harness to the lumbar support air pump and switch, then fasten it down using the clips.

Seat Rail Installation

Take the old seat rails and slide the rails so that you will be able to access the front two mounting holes. Align the mounting holes with the front holes on the new seat. Make sure that the seat adjustment lever (on manual seats) is pointed towards the front of the seat as well. Install the 10mm bolts in the front two holes on either side of the seat, don't tighten them down all the way yet, you'll need some movement so you can align the rails.

Next align the holes at the rear of the seat rails with the holes in the rear of the seat. Our rails appear to have been shorter than the SN95 rails, you will most likely find that this is true for non-SN95 Mustangs.

The new seat has four rear mounting holes and the third hole was already threaded; however, our seat rail mounting hole aligned with the second mounting hole from the front. The metal in these mounting holes is pretty soft so we were able to tap new threads using the 10mm bolts. Mark which hole your seat rail aligns with, swing the seat rail out of the way and tap it using a 10mm bolt. Be very careful doing this as you don't want to strip either the hole or the bolt.

Once you have threaded the two holes swing the rails back and tighten them down. Tighten the front rails down as well. Re-attach the seat return spring to the hole at the rear of the seat's frame. When the seat rails are not connected to the car's frame they are free to move back and forth independently. Make sure that both rails are in the same position.

Final Step

Place the seat in its position within the car, making sure to put the front floor pan seat mounting bolts through the feet of the seat rails. Tip the seat forward and re-connect all the wiring harnesses. Then tighten down all bolts and nuts with the 15mm socket in the same manner as seat removal by sliding the seat forward and backward.

Repeat the procedures for the other seat and you're finished!

Conclusion

This conversion was the perfect choice for Project Mongoose in its existing state. As a daily driver we could not bother with the hassles of prying ourselves out of a full race seat. Additionally the cost of some aftermarket seats was prohibitively high. For what a pair of Recarro seats and their adapter kit cost we could have a brand new 351 ci Lightning short block. Thus if you happen to be armed with only a modicum of free cash and needs some new seats for your pony, take-off seats are the perfect solution. V-6 SN-95 cars can also perform this same installation to upgrade their existing seats to GT level!