Split Rear Seat Upgrade (M335)

[kdjones2000]

Thought some might be interested, so here goes....

Brian944Turbo offered up a set of split rear seat uppers at a good price, so I decided to upgrade Since my car is the Linen carpet/Grey Beige vinyl interior, what he had off his '88 Turbo S worked perfectly.

Here are the steps, some without pictures, sorry.

1) Acquire a set of split upper seat backs. These can come from a 944 or a 968 coupe, as they are identical (Except possibly for the color).

2) Make sure that you have the plastic center piece for fastening the seat backs to your car body. Mine came without this critical piece, so I had to get one from the local Porsche junkyard (20th St Auto). Mine came from a 968, but again the 944 part is the same. At least for the late cars the two studs used to mount this plastic part to the car body are there on the car, covered in a nylon cap underneath the lower seat part.

3) One other critical item is to know that the lower rear seat is also different for the split rear version. There is a cutout "U" in the upper center of this part to accommodate that plastic center piece.

I didn't have that part, and these things seem to be pretty much unobtanium, at least in the color that I needed. The '89 and up cars use a different almost white color scheme in contrast to the Grey Beige color of the '87-'88.

So I decided to make one of my own. I used the imprint of the mounting studs in the lower rear seat, and a box cutter to remove the backing material. I then cut out some of the vinyl from the original upper rear to use for finishing the "U".



After a LOT of careful hand sewing, plus tacking the inside parts to the rear seat using contact adhesive, here is the result.





And a closeup of the sewing. Not quite as good as OEM, but not bad for me



I also bought a set of 3 point belts from a Pelicanite and put those in. As an FYI on those, the only way I found to extend the belts if you do buy a set is to mount them into the car. The locking mechanism is designed to be VERY sensitive to the orientation of the inertial retractors, and it was impossible for me to extend them until I mounted them in the car itself.

The rear cargo cover no longer works with the split seats, so Porsche made a cheesy fabric cover that is held in place with some elastic cord:



With this setup the cover can be attached to the hatch, so it opens with the hatch:



Here are some closeups of the attachment points; the rear has hooks:



While the fronts hook into the rear seat side panels. There are special plastic grommets needed for these, and the cover end pieces twist and lock into those:



Cheers,

Keith

[Aufenbahn]

Nice write-up, and I'm impressed by the sewing job! Good work

[kdjones2000]

Thanks Andy.

I took it slow and easy on the sewing, trying to match the pitch and keep it all in a straight line It is actually 3 separate stitches you have to make to match properly; first sew the two vinyl pieces together, second pin back the two trim pieces underneath then put the decorative stitching in on both sides.

The weird part about the seats is that I can find no part numbers or any reference to them in PET. I am sure that there must be some info out there, but it doesn't seem to be in the obvious places.

Cheers,

Keith

[thoen]

andy,
that piece in the middle of the bottom. should that come with the seats if i buy the top and bottom at the same time. are the two top ends attached to the car the same way as the earlier models? i will try to re-read your installtion on how you made that center piece.

[kdjones2000]

Andy? Hmmmm....

Well to answer your question: You will need to make sure that the plastic part comes with any split seat setup you purchase. The seller couldn't find his when I got mine, so I had to source it from somewhere else.

If you are getting the lower seat portion along with the uppers, then the cutout is already there and you won't have to do any modifications to the seats themselves.

However, I don't think that the early cars have the bolts welded onto the car bodies where that center plastic part needs to mount to. You might have to go as far as to drop the tranny/torque tube to gain access from underneath and drill/tack some studs for that. I am not sure, but one way to tell is to push down on your lower rear seat in the cutout area and you should easily be able to feel for those studs if they are on your car.

I am not familiar with the early cars and how the rear seats were attached on the ends. Maybe someone else knows if late rear uppers work on early cars?

Good luck!

Keith

[thoen]

Keith,
thanks for the info. you are right, the early 944 don't have that connector for the seats. I will give up this idea and just look for a nice rear seat that i can fit in and dye to match.
best,
ernest

and andy is probably someone else that was on the posting. sorry!!!!

[EnglishYeoman]

Originally Posted by kdjones2000

At least for the late cars the two studs used to mount this plastic part to the car body are there on the car, covered in a nylon cap underneath the lower seat part.

THREAD REVIVAL (10yrs!!!)

Mine's an 86' with split seats added. The lower seats have the cutout "U" but underneath is a plastic looking cap where the bolts should attach to the car body.

Do I prise this off to 'hopefully' reveal two attachment suds?

At the moment the spilt seats are attached together with the elusive plastic connector but not anchored to the car body in the middle section???

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[kdjones2000]

'86 cars do not have those attachment points stock on their bodies.

You will have to create those yourself, with rivnuts or the like.

[EnglishYeoman]

Originally Posted by kdjones2000

'86 cars do not have those attachment points stock on their bodies.

You will have to create those yourself, with rivnuts or the like.

RIVNUTS! Now theres an idea! I'll look into that as it could be a quick and cost conscious option to sort this out!!!