There have been discussions about moving the seat back in Model T coupes but renovation details are sketchy. While some larger drivers feel comfortable enough, I feel cramped, especially on longer tours that might cover several hundred miles over a few days on tertiary mountain roads. My co-owner son is 6’3” and 240# can hardly fit in, so moving the seat back in my 26 Coupe was a necessity for the future generations of this family heirloom. How much to move it is a random decision, limited only by how far the seatback can be moved. Based on succeeding generations growing proportionally larger, I decided to move it back 5” and that left only a 2 ¼” shelf. I can always add a seat cushion if it seems too much for me.
To begin, use a Sawzall to cut through the wood spacers and bolts that anchor the seatback bracket to the floor. It’s virtually impossible to unscrew these because the nuts are obscured in the body channel below. I drilled new holes 5” back from the original holes and remounted the bracket directly to the floor with ¼” bolts.
- Original mounting holes at top with clip reattached and remounted bracket 5" back at bottom
(Using longer full threaded bolts facilitates threading the nuts in that tight channel underneath.) The lower upholstery panel clip was re-anchored in the previous bracket's front bolt hole with a 5/16” cap screw after tapping the hole because it was impossible to get a nut under there.
Because the seat will be moved back ‘down the incline’ of the seat stand, the spacer is omitted. I thought about repositioning that entire base but that appeared to be too much of a challenge, so an MDF panel was cut to fit the base stand to which the seat will be mounted. The base panel was drilled with 11/16” holes that align with those two anchor buttons on the front rim. The seat will be positioned back leaving a 5" ledge.
- MDF panel becomes the new seat base
These buttons tend to be driven down over the years but can be pressed back up using a ¾” nut and a C-clamp so that they protrude up to about ½” again.
- Everting stabilizing buttons
The seatback tray was trimmed proportionately and was remounted only along the rear body flange because the side supports are now too far forward adjacent to the seatback.
- Shelf behind seat remounted to rear body seam only
With the seatback reinstalled and the floor panel in place, the seat is firmly positioned back against it and the outline of the seat is marked on the MDF panel. Then the seat and panel are removed, and the panel is screwed to the bottom of the seat frame as marked. This now becomes a unit. It can be lifted to utilize the space beneath for storage or the entire unit can be removed when necessary. A complementing remnant of commercial carpet glued to the 5" shelf helps it blend with the upholstery.
There’s plenty of leg room now behind the steering wheel and room for my size 12 shoes in front of the pedals. My knees are no longer flexed so high that I inadvertently reset the timing, and that little ledge offers another position to rest a foot if I want to.
- More leg room under the steering wheel and knees aren't bumping the timing lever
The only thing remaining is to install a side-shifter for the Ruckstell over by the hand brake so I can stretch a leg all the way across.
