I want to take my useless back seats out, but do not want it to be obvious to the average person. Kind of like they were never there in the first place. What should I do about the seatbelts and interior panels? Are there any replacements out there without the belt provisions?

 

I plan on doing the same thing this summer. I am planing on making a sheetmetal panel that will bolt in place so this way it looks like a steped ledge and cover it with matching carpet. the panel will cover over the seat belt holes so it is almost impossible to tell

 

i have a couple pics of my interior with the back seats out, forgive the fact that its filthy (hadnt had a chance to clean out yet) and i hadnt removed the belt that crosses your chest but that was easy to take out as well. The only issue is there is a bracket in the floor that sticks out that would need to be cut off, other then that i think you could just carpet over everything else and it would look fine

here are the pics

 

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Looks just like mine. I'm gonna work on mine this fall. You probably want to put sheetmetal over the holes caused by the seat belts too. Right now I just have the bolts put back in so it's not a hole in my floor. Good luck on your project.

 

wow my ****ty aftermarket carpets don't cover as nice as that under the seats as a mater of fact i don't think my factory carpets did either

 

here's what i did, not exactly "stock appearing" though. too bad i wrecked that car...

 

yeah thats whats going in the car when i have the cash

 

If you nab some older thirdgen panels that had the lap belt, you dont have to worry about covering the top holes. I know my 87 still has lap belts, not sure what year they switched over

 

i pulled pannels out of an 84 that had lap belts only and the pannels worked fine. great idea and much easier. just remove the belt and your good to go.

as far as looking stock. i don't like the looks of a missing back seat at all but at least replacing those pannels looks 100% better then just leaving the belts there or removing the belts and having the piece that way. much cleaner.

 

got any pics showing this?

 

whoa!?!? shoulder straps in the rear? my 85 only has lapstraps

 

Id use the extra space to put stuff.. like a cd changer , etc ...
Since these cars dont come with a glove compartement..
Or make a custom shelf and store some products ..

At least then it wont look like an empty space ..

 

....just look and you'll see.

 

what about the fact that their are arm rests on each side of the car?

 

If you cut the bracket off, remove the belts, replace the bolts or weld the holes, use rear cargo plastics from an 82-87and rear arm rest peices from an 89+ it will look like there are no belts and there were never seats there.

 

you should not have to cut or weld anything......it is unnecessary and a mistake should you ever want to go back.

 

I realize you don't have to cut or weld anything. However if you wanted to make it look like you never had rear seats cutting the bracket off, or maybe just removing the spot welds it's held on by would do it. There isn't a need to weld up the holes except you would have a slight buldge in the carpet if you just put the torx bolts back in.

 

mm.. not sure what happened to 1988 in there () .. but neither my 88 Camaro nor the 88 GTA have shoulder belts in the back. 89+ have lap belt slots in the arm rest pieces too.. so I dont see what the difference would be in using side arm rest pieces from an 89+. Seems like they'd all be the same to me. *shrug*

The lid idea is a good one IMO. Just buy some carpet ... cover a cut out lid piece... hing the sumbitch to the under back and go.... or something like that


-Bud

 

I had lap belts too.

 

Yeah, 88 just left my mind for some reason heh. The reason to use 89+ rear armrests is because it dosn't have a hole for the lap belt so it won't look like something is missing.

 

mine has the provisions for lapbelts...can't miss it. also, leaving the brackets in and just cutting the carpet right makes it un noticeable.

the pannels are really the only thing that needs to be changed. for the few pounds you save is it really worth it?

 

They do have the outlines for the belts, but don't have the holes for it.

I wouldn't remove the rear seats. I like to have the option of carrying a few friends if we go somewhere and I feel like taking my camaro. But if i had a cage, i think they'd be coming out.

 

I always have my back rest folded down. Makes for nice extra space for storage... and it hides what you are storing under the folded down back (CDs, backpack, trash, whatever). People that are riding in the back that have never riden in the back before... ask where my back seats are... or assume they can't sit in the back.

Just an idea.. b/c yea.. seats weight like nothing. When/if the cage comes.. worry about it then.

.... and the 89+ armrest piece... never noticed the lack of hole there. Interesting.


-Bud