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Colt of Personality Seating Area Upgrades - Interior SpacesUpgrading project Colt’s seating area for better performance and comfort From the February, 2012 issue of Modified Mustangs & Fords By Steve Baur Photography by Steve Baur
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It became readily apparent as we flung our latest project car around the corners on Gainesville Raceway's road course that if we were to continue with our present course, it wouldn't be long before the driver of said Mustang would slide right out of the car or lose control of it while shifting back and forth in the seat. The stock buckets had to go, as they offered no lateral grip, and the large, factory steering wheel posed issues as well, as it was often difficult, if not impossible, to heel-toe downshift, and in extreme turning situations, your hand could easily get lodged between the wheel and your legs. It was time for a change. Thankfully, there is no lack of aftermarket options when it comes to our favorite Pony car, and our first call was to Corbeau for a resolution to our seating issue. Knowing we planned to increase our Colt of Personality's lateral grip both with suspension upgrades and modern rubber, we picked out a pair of front seats that would keep us firmly planted in the cockpit no matter what direction the car was moving. This would not only increase our level of comfort from an every-day standpoint, but it would allow us to concentrate on driving the car, rather than worrying about stabilizing ourselves during maneuvers. To that end, we ordered a pair of Corbeau A4 bucket seats in black leather. The A4 is an adjustable racing seat that was designed for tight spaces and minimal headroom applications such as our Mustang. The A4 will fit up to a 34- to 36-inch waist, while an optional A4 Wide will fit up to a 38- to 40-inch waist. With the cloth models, high wear patches are strategically placed to protect your seat from abuse. Prices for the A4 racing seat start at $320 each for cloth, with leatherette high wear patches, while our leather-clad seats go for $539. As good as the A4 seats are, they're incredibly more helpful with a proper set of harnesses to hold you in. Corbeau offers a number of harness belts, and we opted for the five-point camlock harnesses, which retail for $149--a latch and link harness is offered for $99. The five-point harness belts feature lightweight pull-down-length adjusters, and are SFI 16.1-approved. To mount the harnesses, we called up Mustangs Plus and ordered one of its Street Bars for the fastback. While the Street Bar by itself doesn't have a center bar to mount the harnesses to, we also ordered the Mustangs Plus removable harness bar so we could keep the back seat functional as well. Though it was in decent shape, we didn't feel right about setting the new leather seats down on the present carpet, so we called National Parts Depot, which sent us a fresh black two-piece rug, as well as a box of Hushmat sound deadener to quiet down the cabin. While installing the new seats, we realized that they simply sat too high in the car, so we had to modify the factory seat risers to adjust the height. You can read all about how we accomplished that in the captions here, and be sure to check back next month as we work to complete the installation of the rollbar, rear seat, and more.  1 Our ’66 Mustang’s interior...  1 Our ’66 Mustang’s interior is pretty normal vintage stuff, aside form the aftermarket console. All that’s about to change as the dated and largely unsupportive bucket seats are getting the heave-ho.  2 The headliner has seen...  2 The headliner has seen better days, and while we won’t be tackling its repair in this issue, we shall address it down the road.  3 To remove the seats, pull...  3 To remove the seats, pull out the plastic plugs from underneath, and then remove the nuts securing the four seat bolts.  4 Carefully extract the buckets...  4 Carefully extract the buckets and promptly put them up for sale. Recouping costs is fun!  5 Next up is the carpet....  5 Next up is the carpet. Using a Torx bit, remove the seatbelts, along with the sill plates, kick panels, and any console or shifter bezel you may have.  6 Upon removing the carpet,...  6 Upon removing the carpet, we found out that a previous owner had installed some sort of sound deadening/heat barrier on the floor already. It appeared to be in good shape, but further inspection was deemed necessary to make sure it wasn’t covering up any rust.  7 Our inspection turned up...  7 Our inspection turned up some solid flooring, and while we had procured a box of Hushmat sound deadening form the fine folks at National Parts Depot, we opted to leave the present application to save us a whole lot of headache scraping the floor.  8 We did hit all of the uncovered...  8 We did hit all of the uncovered areas with a wire brush and/or Scotchbrite pad followed by some rust preventive paint.  9 One of the areas where...  9 One of the areas where sound deadening material such as Hushmat can make a big difference is inside the doors. After removing the door panel, we found that the previous owner had followed through here as well with his application of the material. No matter, we plan to use the Hushmat in the back seat area where he didn’t get to, not to mention the trunk and roof areas.  10 After installing the Mustang-specific...  10 After installing the Mustang-specific Corbeau seat brackets on our A4 bucket seats, we set one in to check the driving position. What was immediately apparent was that the seat sat way too high. With an average-sized driver, you were looking directly through the factory window tint strip at the top of the windshield, and the gauges seemed as though they were set on the floor.  11 As if the vision issue...  11 As if the vision issue wasn’t enough, headroom was also a problem, with our driver/owner Matt Guida having just 3/4-inch in headroom. Add in a helmet and the situation was just plain bad.  12 To remedy this, we opted...  12 To remedy this, we opted to cut down the factory seat risers. We took height measurements at the four points where the seat bolt holes are located. The Mustang floor rises up toward the transmission tunnel, so the heights will vary. The key is to take an even amount from all over.  13 After setting the Corbeau...  13 After setting the Corbeau A4 seat in the car, we were very happy with the angle of the factory riser, so we utilized our handy iPhone level to take that measurement so we would be certain to duplicate it after lowering the riser.  14 There are a number of...  14 There are a number of different ways to remove the riser. We used a cut-off wheel and a drill to remove the spot welds at the tunnel and the rocker panel (a spot weld cutter wasn’t available to us at the time). We then broke out our plasma cutter to slice the front and rear down. This saves you the trouble of drilling our a couple dozen spot welds and subsequently filling all of those holes afterwards. You can use a cut-off wheel if needed.  15 After removing the seat...  15 After removing the seat riser, we pounded the edges flat again and then rolled the front and rear sides over to reduce the height. With the seat riser out, we realized that setting the A4 on the floor put it in the optimal height position. We just needed the tilt of the riser, so we determined that we would cut/fold the back of the riser right down to the floor at the inside corner.  16 After a couple of hours...  16 After a couple of hours of cutting, bending, and fitting, we were ready to reinstall the riser. First, we had to drill out some new spot weld holes at the front and back edges.  17 This side-by-side comparison...  17 This side-by-side comparison shot shows just how much we took out of the riser.  18 Prior to welding the newly...  18 Prior to welding the newly lowered panel in, we checked for level from side to side, as well as our riser angle.  19 Source Interlink staffer...  19 Source Interlink staffer Marc Christ burned our riser in using our Lincoln 216 Power MIG welder.  20 After welding, we cleaned...  20 After welding, we cleaned up the riser and hit it with some spray paint.  21 A clean work surface is...  21 A clean work surface is a key to any successful installation, and with our Hushmat, it’s especially critical.  22 Here, Guida lays down...  22 Here, Guida lays down a new sheet of Hushmat using Hushmat’s own installation tool. We couldn’t find a similar type of roller locally, so do yourself a favor and order one when you purchase the Hushmat. They work great and make the job very easy.  23 Next up is our new rug...  23 Next up is our new rug from National Parts Depot. NPD offers just about every restoration part you might need for your Mustang, and they had our black carpet, as well as the Hushmat, to us in just a couple of days. Here you can see that the carpet has the shifter bezel area located on the backside to make it easy to relocate it within the car.  24 With the A4 seats in their...  24 With the A4 seats in their final resting place, the Mustang’s interior instantly went upscale, and we can’t wait to turn some corners once strapped in. Astute readers may have noticed the rollbar behind the seats in this photo. Mustangs Plus sent us one of its ’65-’70 Street Bar setups (PN 04274), along with its removable crossbrace kit (PN 02502). We’ll be installing this next month, along with Corbeau’s five-point harnesses.  25 With the lowered seat...  25 With the lowered seat risers, headroom is much improved over our previous 3/4-inch of room.  26 To bring the interior...  26 To bring the interior further upscale, we are going to swap out the stock window cranks and door levers with some billet pieces from Lokar. Start by removing the Allen bolt that secures the handles and levers.  27 Next, install the provided...  27 Next, install the provided collar and tighten the Allen bolts to secure it.  28 The decorative bezel is...  28 The decorative bezel is placed over the collar, and then the billet handle is pressed on and secured with the included hardware.  29 Pop on the O-ringed beauty...  29 Pop on the O-ringed beauty caps and you’re done. The Lokar handles are available polished or in this slick black finish (PN XIDH-2008). The window cranks (PN XIDH-2014) are available in the same finishes.
 | Introducing our newest project car |  | Keep yourself planted with a street rollbar and harnesses for early Mustangs |
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