Golden Retriever seat mod

[Duj]

The best solution would be a cheap second car with more space I think...

[MX5CHIC]

Get a Smaller Dog? ......

[davekmoore]

The best solution would be a cheap second car with more space I think...

Got a Honda MDX, but try as I may I can't get the roof to fold down.

Also still got the Golf, NEI 155 on carsales, if anyone fancies it. Actually quite nice, but it isn't an MX5!

[davekmoore]

Ok, so Alfie's grown and I may now need to remove the passenger seat for there to be enough room for him. Might kill two birds with one stone and put a bit of a flat false floor in there as well for storage and security, especially after I got myself back into the boot today, to retrieve my keys, with a few minutes wiggling of some random house keys.

How easy is it to remove the seat?

Has anyone done something similar to maybe save me working it all out from scratch?

[PUR157]

Very simple actually, but it helps to have an extra set of back muscles (a friend)

slide the seat full back and you'll see two bolts holding down the left and right rails
slide the seat full foward and tilt it and you'll see another two bolts
get someone to lift the seat up while you pull it across out of the car and your done!

If your car has headrest speakers it will have an electrical connecting harness holding it to the car so unplug that while you lift the seat out
Even if your car doesn't... lift it out slowly, my seats didn't have the speakers but it did have the connector...

[davekmoore]

Thanks PUR157. Too easy with perfect instructions like that. Had to use the Persuader though as the 14mm bolts were very tight. Reckon if I can get some bolts with wings on then it's probably only a 2 minute job to put the seat in or get it out.

I'm about to start making a cardboard template for the false floor. Unless anyone's already done it and can give me some pointers, or even a template?

[bruce]

Reckon if I can get some bolts with wings on then it's probably only a 2 minute job to put the seat in or get it out.

I wouldn't be doing that, as the bolts would be special hi-tensile (?) and ideally done up firmly. It is a safety item. Any bolts with wings (I don't think you'd get them in that size) wouldn't be hi-tensile, nor could you do them up tight enough.

[davekmoore]

Reckon if I can get some bolts with wings on then it's probably only a 2 minute job to put the seat in or get it out.

I wouldn't be doing that, as the bolts would be special hi-tensile (?) and ideally done up firmly. It is a safety item. Any bolts with wings (I don't think you'd get them in that size) wouldn't be hi-tensile, nor could you do them up tight enough.

Fair comment. I'll keep my socket set handy instead.

[PUR157]

Thanks PUR157. Too easy with perfect instructions like that.

You're welcome!

[hks_kansei]

the MX5 floor area is not really that oddly shaped so a template should be easy to make.

if you are lucky you might be able to use the seat rail bolt holes to bolt the false floor down.

best of luck with the project, certainly sounds interesting.

[davekmoore]

Cardboard mock-up in place and Alfie loves it. He can lie down full length in the footwell, either way round and catch the heat, or sit up so he can see out and catch the wind, also either way round. Might need a bit of padding on the glove box for the occasional sharp stop (no, there are no airbags).

Just need to sort out making the box to fit the footwell now so that I can have accessible and lockable storage underneath along with a cupholder, 12v power supplies and cord tidying for satnav etc. The angle of the glovebox means that the higher and therefore the bigger I make the storage, the less dog length is available, so there'll be a bit of experimenting for the right compromise before the next stage.

[Benny]

Isn't it amazing that dogs love to have their heads out of the window when you're driving, getting the full blast of the wind in their faces, yet, if you blow into their faces, they cringe?