This really is specific to Fox-bodied 1978 to 1986 Ford mid-sized passenger vehicles. Fairmont/Zephyr Wagons were only made from 1978 to 1982, even though the 2 and 4-door models went to 1983. Mercury got the Mid-sized 1982 Cougar wagon which became the 1983 Marquis wagon. Ford got the 1983 LTDII wagon. From 1984 to 1986, there was the Baby Lincolns, and Marquis, and LTD-LX Fox cars. No wagons. The buckets from the 1978 Donor Sedan need upholstery really bad and they are red (nylon/vinyl). The owner must have scooped a rear seat from another sedan, because the fabric was all velour. He had cheapie seat covers on them, but the back seat was fine. The spacing for the two bucket bracket mounts: 1978-79 Buckets (maybe up to 1980 - I don't know): 12" hole to hole width distance (floor mounts) and length (front to back mounting hole distance) 16-3/4" The 1982 Zephyr Buckets are 14" hole-to-hole width distance and the same spacing front to back (16-3/4") This is the fabric from the 1982 Zephyr: Here's what they look like installed in an 1983 Marquis Wagon: And here's what my original Bench seat looked like: I'll take pictures of the mods (Before and After) to the brackets or floor mounts and post them later. There are a couple of issues. The inside bracket mounting holes are fine, and they'll serve as the location guide for the door-side (LH/RH) mount hole relocation. There's a dimple on these 1982 rails brackets to adjust/drill/bend slightly, and then I have to beef up the underside for the rear mounting bolt (door side), or I could find myself part way through the windshield. EDIT: I'm repeating this here to finish off the seat hardware mods, but I got this far in here. http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13008&postcount=147 Tomorrow, I'll post some pics of the shenanigans and mods I had to do to get these seats in. I also had to mod the sedan's rear backrest to fit onto the fold-down hardware, so before I sew up the new side gussets, I'll comment and post pics on it as well.
Outstanding Development You'd think Ford planned for retrofit! The dimensions for the old seat tracks fit on the seats AND the width between them is the same as the Fairmont Floor bolt and stud holes. In otherwords, NO MODIFICATION! Since my wagon has the seat belt tunnel mounting bolts I have to use them instead of the ones on the 1982 Bucket Seat. They're supposed to move with the 1982 seat. But the 1978 Donor Bucket Seat had the right length to move with it, and the retractable shoulder belts on the 1979 Squire works like the 1978 and adjusts to the movement (forward and backwards.) I was almost going to drill the floor through, but decided to check first. That old 'Measure Twice, Cut Once' rule really works. I took some pics, but I have to figure out how to load them on the Harddrive, but I'm using this gorgeous weather before it changes its mind! To be continued later this evening...
Get some 79 pace car recaros Pretty most (seat and dash wise) all the fox interior stuff is swappable to 93. I've swapped mustang stuff all over the years. I'd love to have a fox wagon....
I got the whole interior for $40. That's real comfort for me right now. The black hole of home renovations is rattling the piggy bank. I like these, just firm enough. I'm only 160 lbs. the Recarros I had in the VW Cabriolet were hard for a long drive. Look great, but they give my touche absolutely no love.
Outstanding Continued Here's the 1982 Zephyr Seat (foreground and 1978 bucket brackets (top of picture): The front bracket has that silver elevation where the seat belts should go, for the 1982 car, but my wagon has those in the tranny tunnel. Left hand seat base is from the 1978 Fairmont 2-Door sedan donor. The right hand seat base is the 1982 bucket seat: They are exactly the same between the bolts side-to-side. The really good news is that 1982 has the weld nut blank in the right position for the 1978 brackets. The bolts that go in there are the self-tapping kind, and they work fine. The big difference is that the 1982 brackets have a wider attachment base, with the attachment holes further away from center (14") to a 16" bolt width. The 1982 brackets also have a stamped curve on the front end and extend forward by about 1/2". That would require fabricating an angular cross brace, attached to the existing crossbar bolt locations. The fact that the old brackets fit like a glove means everything goes in stock. No holes to drill, no floor stiffeners at the rear outside bolt, and no patching the original redyed carpet! Here's a side profile of the two seat bases. There's not much to see, but you can see that the 1982 seat (furthest away) has about 3/4" more distance on the front to back bolts: I'll finish this up over the weekend, after I get the wiring harnesses, and carpeting back in.
1978 Fairmont Brackets installed PERFECTLY on the 1982 Zephyr Bucket seat frames. Spacing is EXACTLY the same on width. Even the seat adjusters needed no bending. Piece of cake!
It's strange there seems to be plenty of Fairmont,T-Bird.LTD II wagons out west but I have yet to see one here in NC
Yeah, I know what you mean. In Guadalajara, we never saw one, over the last two years that we lived there, after buying the car in 1997. Up nearer the North East US/Mexico border, we saw quite a few. Go figure.
Just throwing this in here for future reference: I want some extra tool and roadside parts storage in the wagon, so with the hard-backed Mustang hatchback seats, and the rear of the front bucket seats, this wouldn't be all that hard to do.
Its not done yet. The Mustang seats aren't in yet, but it won't be long. The top picture is from a Bentley wagon, with those drop-down trays built into the seat backs. I'm thinking about building a roadside tookits and storage box in the Mustang backs. I've got a Ford optional storage box on the Driver's side cargo panel, for booster cables, brake and coolant fluids or PS oil, etc. But it's almost essential for a decent roadtrip, because some of these parts are hard to find in an autoparts store.
