Any boxes come with manual seats?

[drhill]

Hi all,

Looking for manual sliders for my 84 Wagon split bench...did the box panthers ever come without power seats? If so, anyone have a set they want to sell? Need some extra headroom....thanks!

[Tiggie]

Both my 88 and 90 have manual seats on both sides.

They are out there! Maybe someone has a set

[gadget73]

Sure, I've even driven a solid bench manual seat wagon.

Not sure the manual ones sit lower though, the power seat track can be wound down to the floor a fair bit.

[Mainemantom]

My 79 LTD S wagon had a manual bench seat. One of the 82 MGM had manual seats. My 90 CV police car had manual split bench. I added the power to the driver side. The manual seat does sit a little lower as they were hard on my back. You might try putting the power seat to it lowest level. The effort to change to manual I don't think is worth the difference.

[drhill]

Ok, I can start looking at my local yards. The boxes are getting really hard to come by nowadays! I'll post up on here looking to buy. When you guys talk about lowering the seat all the way - is there something I can do manually other than just pressing the power knob down to get the seat closer to the floor? I'm a big guy (6'5" 290) and I need all the space I can get with a helmet on for the track. Really gotta keep the stock seats too!

[massacre]

Not sure if Aero seat tracks are the same, but when my electric drivers seat shit the bed, i replaced it with a manual seat track (pass side was already manual. Got it cheap from junkyard

[sly]

floor pans and seat tracks changed in 90. So you'll need to find 79-89 boxes for direct fit options.

[massacre]

floor pans and seat tracks changed in 90. So you'll need to find 79-89 boxes for direct fit options.

Thanks for the info.

[sly]

There is a way to use the newer tracks... but it requires some "out of the box" thinking.

[gadget73]

its been a while since I had eyes on the seat tracks, but its possible you could do some cutting and re-welding to move the seats downward further.

[Stocker]

My '85 has manual seats. It's a farmer-spec car with few options.

But if it's headroom you're looking for, I doubt you'd get it with manual seats. I'm 6'2" and I have only an inch to spare. I actually bought a power seat track at a junkyard several years ago in the hopes of being able to adjust the back of the seat downward a bit - with manual seats, thigh support is lacking after a couple hours of driving. (Haven't installed it yet - it's one of those low-priority projects that ends up on the back burner indefinitely.)

[sly]

+1 I think power seats can actually get lower than manual seats. This is the case in my wife's 2000 CV. The passenger seat is manual and the driver seat can get about 3/4 of an inch lower.

[slack]

If the manual vs electric seat tracks don't get you there, what about swapping in some lower trim seats if you have the "plushier" ones? I'm not sure how much extra head room it will give you but for example, the seats that were in my CV (now in David's car) I feel like had less height than the "poofier" seats in my GM.

Please someone correct me if I'm wrong... I'm going off memory here.

[GM_Guy]

Power definately gets lower than the manual seat. Friend of mine had an 87 with manual seats vs my 89 with power.

[VicCrownVic]

If the manual vs electric seat tracks don't get you there, what about swapping in some lower trim seats if you have the "plushier" ones? I'm not sure how much extra head room it will give you but for example, the seats that were in my CV (now in David's car) I feel like had less height than the "poofier" seats in my GM.

Please someone correct me if I'm wrong... I'm going off memory here.

Recently discussed in Arquemann's Maisa RR thread, some styles of box panther seats do sit you lower. Not sure how much lower but maybe an inch, can't be much more than that.

[Dragonwagon]

When you guys talk about lowering the seat all the way - is there something I can do manually other than just pressing the power knob down to get the seat closer to the floor? I'm a big guy (6'5" 290) and I need all the space I can get with a helmet on for the track. Really gotta keep the stock seats too!

Can you modify the stock seats by using less foam and droopier springs? What about a Gurney bubble on the roof? Bolting the seats to non-adjustable brackets instead of tracks?

[sly]

If you remove the adjustment rails altogether and make a flat bracket to bolt the seat down in your preferred location, you could make the car fit you alone and drop the seat about 3 inches.

[Lincolnmania]

had a 86 vic wagon. with a manual full bench.
had a 84 vic cop car with manual split bench, seat got broken by a large friend so replaced with power ds manual ps split bench.
some crown vic police and fleet cars came with manual buckets. same seats used in some fox chassis cars.
have seen a 91 grand marquis with manual split bench seats.

[drhill]

If you remove the adjustment rails altogether and make a flat bracket to bolt the seat down in your preferred location, you could make the car fit you alone and drop the seat about 3 inches.

This may be the route I have to go. If the manual track isn't worth it (sound like it's not), my next step is cutting the foam down in the seat - it is a leather seat car and the seats are plushy.

I got my wife into drag racing with this car and she's only 5'3" so I'd like to keep the power seat so she can still drive and race it. I've done the "race seat" route in the past and I hate 'em...hard to get in and out of and they look dumb in a sleeper street car.