Home-brew rear seat delete/parcel shelf/storage bin (Porsche 924)

Just thought I'd share my little project on the 924S this week. It's pretty basic stuff compared to what a lot of you guys do but it came out almost exactly how I planned, so figured it might give someone else ideas, especially people who only want to spend about $30 in total materials and don't have any fancy fabrication tools :)

I know I'm not the first to do this of course, but anyhow here's my take on the "rear seat delete." Since this is my road-trip car and not a track car, I decided to not just delete the rear seat, but to turn the whole area into a useful storage and gear area.

I removed the rear lower seat, and stripped the cushions off the seatback, which is the only part I am re-using since it's the easiest way to keep fold-down capability. Then made some cardboard mock-up pieces. Then I cut some wood and made some brackets, using the seat belt bolts as the primary mount for the "front" piece as well as some aluminum angle pieces bolted to the front lip of the lower seat base. 

For scale of depth/size..

I got a $15 roll of cheap Amazon.com black unbacked carpet. It's not great, but it stretches pretty well and will hopefully hold up. if not, it wasn't expensive. First carpeted the interior area, and used some old harness eyebolts I had sitting around to give me tiedown points for gear, water/fluid jugs, or whatever I put in there.

Then I padded the old seatback piece (not sure why, in retrospect, but whatever...) and got out my 3M carpet adhesive and electric staple gun and did some basic upholstery. And this is how it all came out. I added a cargo net, some tie-down eyes, and some other stuff that I figured would come in useful as well..

The seatback looks a bit lumpy here, but it should level out a bit over time I think..

I also plan to re-mount a rollout cargo cover to the back of it...

I wanted to be able to fold down the seatback in case of carrying something long, but also wanted it to be a "back brace" for stuff on the parcel shelf. So I double-hinged the storage compartment onto the bottom of the seatback (rather than to the car itself), allowing it to slide forward and let the original seatback fold down..

Hell, I'm 6 feet tall and can even lie down on it lol

Nice! I should do this for the mgbgt...

Well done!  Looks pretty similar to the factory 968 rear seat delete option:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-924-944-968-technical-forum/351727-rear-seat-option.html

Stefan said:

Well done!  Looks pretty similar to the factory 968 rear seat delete option:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-924-944-968-technical-forum/351727-rear-seat-option.html

Thanks, yeah I initially considered trying to make something like the 968 delete, but thought a top-opening storage bin would be easier to access, for one. And also the 968 design seemed like a lot more work to replicate, haha....

I likely will steal the general design of the crossbar piece, however. Just need to get some lightweight tubing and bend it....

Nicely done!  I’ve toyed with doing this over the years (owned several of these) but never seemed to get around to it. The 968 delete kit was always too pricey when one would pop up. 

I've considered doing this in my 2002. I just wish the rear seat was in worse shape than it is, as I'm sure that would motivate me. There's no fold-down to worry about, so it would just be a bottom plate and some hinges, plus whatever accoutrements I might be inclined to add; I like the cargo nets and flashlight bracket.

very nice. I took the back seat out of my old 318ti. My solution was just a flat load floor made of ply with carpet, no where near as nice as your idea

In reply to mad_machine :

Yep did the same on my e30

Friend of mine did something similar in his mid 1970s Ford Capri, except is was back seat /passenger seat delete, for windsurfing gear.  Plywood and black carpet, little ice chest underneath the deck with a door to access it.  Hinges were carpet, extra staples to secure it and cut around hatch and hinge area. 

Ghetto fabulous mini motorhome.   His homeless windsurfer stage, job making boards, out on the Gorge before and after work, sounds pretty good to me.

For the lightweight tubing, look at a shower grab bar. 

They are a little thin on the ground these days, but 2nd gen RX-7 storage bins will go into pretty much any coupe with relative ease.  Lets you do this sort of thing without as much plywood.

93gsxturbo said:

They are a little thin on the ground these days, but 2nd gen RX-7 storage bins will go into pretty much any coupe with relative ease.  Lets you do this sort of thing without as much plywood.

 

 

yeah, saw those (and you can buy Porsche ones as well). But when you can find them they run $250-300 at least. I like $30 :)

Dusterbd13 said:

For the lightweight tubing, look at a shower grab bar. 

yep, was thinking the same thing. Need to see if I can find one that doesn't *look* like a shower bar lol