need help - installing back seat into 1979 RX-7
 

i've had a nice set of rear first gen seats refinished and am finally putting them into my car, when i pull the metal shields where the cargo boxes would normally go and find two supports in the way. I've circled them in the attached image and they're obviously not going to allow the seat pad to be put in. my question - which i feel i already know the answer to - is whether or not these can be removed from the car without compromising something here. They seem to be just tack welded in but i'd like to know if anyone has experience here because a few searches turned up nothing.

That would be why US-bound cars had no rear seats.

yes, i see that much.

that being said, the people on here who have installed rear seats and shown pictures as such, i'm more curious to see if they had to contend with these at all. on datsuns of similar years, cars with a 2+2 setup had bracing underneath the vehicle to compensate for something like this. on cars with no rear seats there were braces like this. i'm not going to compromise the structural integrity of the car for a pair of rear seats of course. if these can be cut out without doing that, i'll do it. if not, i've either wasted my money (wouldn't be the first time on a project car) or i'll build it "up".

that would make for a very short person to sit in, but for a five year old like my daughter it'd be fine.

I know that the FB's do not have those bracing members, which is why they have those nice deep storage bins back there. Fitting bins into an SA takes some serious plastic and cloth modding to work around the braces.

I don't know if they compensate through thicker metal elsewhere, or other structural reinforcements. Probably a comparion of body section part numbers from the SA and FB fiches would give a clue.

I had a back seat in my '79 years ago and did not have to remove/modify the braces to install them. If you have looked at the seat closely and are certain that it wont go with the brackets in place it MAY be that you have a seat intended for an FB, which had the brackets located further outboard, presumably for the bins as DD noted.

Post a pic of your seat and I can tell if it is the same as mine was. I may be that the seat just sits higher than you think it should so you dont have to move the braces to install it.

its definitely a seat for an FB. i've fitted it to the car and there is no way to install it with the present layout. i'm going to give thought to cutting the spot welds and relocating the brackets outboard. honestly i'm at a point where its seeming less and less worth it to do this.

all the feedback and help is appreciated.

Moving the braces is doable. I moved the one on the passengers side in order to relocate the battery in my 79. It was just as you stated, drill out the spot welds and move it outboard and re weld. Be carefull on the drivers side as the fuel and brake lines could be in the line of fire.

FYI there are seats out there that will work, but finding one that would work with the sa would be a long shot I guess. Is there any way the seat you have is for a 2nd gen or something? Just thinking out loud.

if the braces were not in the way, this thing would drop in snug as a bug. its perfectly formed for it. i've seen FC rear seats, and this is not one of those by a long shot.

the SA has those braces, the FB doesn't.

i understand that much, question is, does the FB make up for them somewhere else that it would compromise the SA by having these moved/removed?

For all the backseat questions, factory backseats the ones from aus or japan will not fit in a US spec SA chassis because of the braces as noted by the Captain..... for those people that have said they had a rear seat in their SA chassis it was not a factory seat it was an aftermarket one that was made here in the US... the seat wells on the aftermarket piece are not very deep this allowed it to be used in SA cars. The factory seat will work on any of the US FB chassis though. If there are any questions about this I would be happy to find pics of both and post them since I have both.

Mine were aftermarket.

If you decide not to install the rear seat, let me know, i'll buy it off of you. I have wanted a 2+2 7 for a long time!

not that i'm aware of.

i will consider that. it'd have to be a really good offer. it's been professionally refinished in black leather and black suede with red stitching, so i paid a bit more than i should have.

You gonna get the fronts stitched to match? Fronts are lookin' kind of old/worn!

i have a pair of turbo II seats refinished in black suede and leather with the same red stitching waiting to go in :)

You lucky dog...I have been looking for turbo II seats. Everything is either trashed (bent frame etc), or absolutely ridiculously overpriced