I might still have a cardboard template of a seat delete I was going to make before I got a deal on my Ford Racing seat delete. I will have to dig through my garage and get back to you on it.
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Finished DIY rear seat delete
- Thread starterdmichaels
- Start date
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Okay, I punted on the DIY rear seat delete. 2020 has been a rough year and I didn't want to risk murderous rage, if my DIY effort failed to meet my own standards. Also, I'm gainfully employed again and have more money than time, so I decided to treat myself to my favorite non-factory rear seat delete - the Watson Racing version, as found in the Watson Racing Rear Seat Delete Kit Group Buy thread. Or so I thought. Be advised that the kit shown in that thread is no longer the kit being sold by Watson Racing.
The Watson kit here does show correct photos of the new kit, but has the old (now inaccurate) description and the installation instructions (now incorrect) show the old kit. Also, the part number is the same! So, I thought the photos were wrong. The original kit was so well built and so well regarded, that I had no reason to believe they would have changed it. What Watson sells now is a kit from Shrader that has been modified to accomodate the Watson 4-pt roll bar. The most prominent modification being pre-drilled pass-through holes in the back panel for the rear downtubes.
Installation is accomplished by removing the roll bar's rear downtubes, installing the kit according the online instructions from Shrader, then passing the downtubes from the trunk and through the holes in the back panel, then reinstalling the downtubes.
In the end, I'm a bit upset that I didn't get what I thought I was paying for. But some of the overbuilt qualities and features of the original kit (like being finished on both sides of the panels and the lift-up storage panels) were actually things I didn't want. I mostly just wanted a simple plug-and-play kit from Watson, even if it was a little more than I wanted. At least it would be of the highest quality. Instead what I got was actually my ideal rear seat delete kit. I wanted it to be as simple and light as possible. And if possible, I wanted the downtubes to pass through two clean holes in the back panel. This is exactly the kit I was trying to design for myself. So, I'm very happy with the finished result, but it's impossible to overlook the fact that I got less for the same price of the old, bespoke kit. Watson charged $130 for drilling two holes, which at least were dead nuts accurate.
I'm very pleased with the Shrader Rear Seat Delete, which can be found here.
The Watson kit here does show correct photos of the new kit, but has the old (now inaccurate) description and the installation instructions (now incorrect) show the old kit. Also, the part number is the same! So, I thought the photos were wrong. The original kit was so well built and so well regarded, that I had no reason to believe they would have changed it. What Watson sells now is a kit from Shrader that has been modified to accomodate the Watson 4-pt roll bar. The most prominent modification being pre-drilled pass-through holes in the back panel for the rear downtubes.
Installation is accomplished by removing the roll bar's rear downtubes, installing the kit according the online instructions from Shrader, then passing the downtubes from the trunk and through the holes in the back panel, then reinstalling the downtubes.
In the end, I'm a bit upset that I didn't get what I thought I was paying for. But some of the overbuilt qualities and features of the original kit (like being finished on both sides of the panels and the lift-up storage panels) were actually things I didn't want. I mostly just wanted a simple plug-and-play kit from Watson, even if it was a little more than I wanted. At least it would be of the highest quality. Instead what I got was actually my ideal rear seat delete kit. I wanted it to be as simple and light as possible. And if possible, I wanted the downtubes to pass through two clean holes in the back panel. This is exactly the kit I was trying to design for myself. So, I'm very happy with the finished result, but it's impossible to overlook the fact that I got less for the same price of the old, bespoke kit. Watson charged $130 for drilling two holes, which at least were dead nuts accurate.
I'm very pleased with the Shrader Rear Seat Delete, which can be found here.
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