Leather Seat Modification..

P

ph0en1x_uk

Club Member
Dec 2, 2012
44
10
Wiltshire
Hi Guys.

I'm new here.

I've had my Cougar for 4 years now. And have to say its the best car I've ever had. I was lucky when I bought it as the previous owner had owned it from new and taken it to Ford all of its life every 10,000 miles for a gold service. I hurt my back in a few months ago and have found the standard cloth seats in the car aren't helping things. Rather than buy a new car I'm toying with the idea of swapping them out for heated leather ones from either a C1 or C2. My question is how easy is this? Is the loom already in place for the heating elements?

My Cougar is a 99 Reg 2.0 Zetec. Cloth interior. Bog standard.

From a quick search on the forum I gather this mod is fairly common? How easy is it to remove the seats? Are any special tools required? Are there any other considerations I need to think about?

Any advice/pictures would help.

Many thanks

James
 
10mm bolts and a couple of multi-plugs.

There can be wiring issues, but i got c2 leather into a c1 zetec - i just couldn't have heated seats without messing with the looms
 
hello James and welcome to the forum. Whereabouts are you in Wilts? can't be that far from me in S. Glos.
If you're close enough I've got a leather interior in the garage you could have a look at and compare the plugs etc. As Si has said it's fairly straightforward especially with the earlier seats.
 
Hi Guys, Thanks for the quick replies. :)

I'm near Salisbury.

Regarding the C1 and C2 seats. Is the shape construction the same, but with different covers/patterns?

Thanks for the offer on the seats.. :) I might take you up on that if this project gets off the ground.
 
c2 seats are much better.

c2 cloth are better than c1 leather imho.

Best option is c2 leather

Rare, but worth in

PM Ginja - make him an offer he can't refuse
 
I'd second what Si just said there. The C1 seat design is rubbish in my honest opinion. The C2 seats are much better. Of the C1 seats, the cloth ones are much better because they at least offer some friction. The actual seat design itself is utter pants, and when covered in leather it's total lack of support becomes very apparent and not only do you fall out sideways whenever you corner, but you'll find yourself submarining down into a slouching position just driving along normally. They're terrible for your back.

If you're having back problems, and want to keep the car, then try to source C2 cloth seats. Leathers look better and in most cars they actually are better - just as supportive but harder wearing. The Cougar really struggles with seating support though, so cloth gives you the best chance of staying in place and supporting your back.

2p supplied, but you're due me 27p P&P.
 
I fitted C2 leather a couple of months ago and it's been a massive improvement. Sure they look nice but the difference in my lower back is huge. Now the seats will actually make my lumbar stop aching after a rough day!
 
All,

Sorry for the slight hijack of post, but it is related....

We have just bought a '99 2.5 V6 for a rally we are doing across Europe in May (Scum Run). We have the leather interior and I have also found the seats to be incredibly uncomfortable, even on a short journey.

Having looked on Ebay, there doesn't seem to be many replacements around - I assume we have the C1 and possible replacing with the C2.

We have seen mentioned elsewhere that Mondeo MkII seats can also fit in this Cougar. There seems to be more of these available on Ebay etc. Can anyone confirm if this is possible to do.

Thanks

Adam.
 
The Mondeo seats are a bit taller and obviously don't fold. Depends how much work you want to do really. Nothing's impossible but you might need to adapt a custom subframe for the seat using parts from the Cougar on and the Mondeo one. Despite being the Mk2 floor pan in the Cougar, it is a shorter car in height but longer in length. There is someone who has managed to get Mk3 Mondeo seats into a Cougar.
 
Thanks for the reply. I though this may be the case. We are no experts in metal work - so probably would have to take it in somewhere if it is not a simple remove and refit.

Is there any other alternatives, as we are trying to do this with a fairly tight budget. Not sure packing the seat out somehow will work. As was mentioned by Jamie_Duff, I end up sliding down :-/

Thanks

Adam.
 
Easiest way with anything is to try it. IF you can get your hands on a pair of seats out of a Mk2 Mondeo to try then its literally just four bolts and twenty minutes of your time? Insure if you're doing the event for charity etc you could get someone to donate a pair of seats or at least loan you them with a view to returning them once te event is over?
 
Yeah, good point - will have to take a venture down to a local scrappy to see if we can pick some up to test. Might get 'em free for advertising on the car.

Thanks for the advice!
 
Pid_16V - will have to locate some cloth ones for the C2 - reason I asked about the Mondeo is that there are obviously more of them around for breaking. If it doesn't work, then nothing ventured, nothing gained.

If we can pickup some cloth ones that will be my first choice - just hope it sort my back problem out :-S
 
EOTB said:
Yeah, good point - will have to take a venture down to a local scrappy to see if we can pick some up to test. Might get 'em free for advertising on the car.

Thanks for the advice!
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No worries. Nothing ventured and all that, can't hurt can it? I guess it would be fair to say I can't see Mk2 Mondeo seats being in high demand apart from the Recaro ones. If you get real stuck, ask on Talk Ford or have a look on Ford Bay for any being broken etc and ask te question (y)
 
Excellent- thanks again!

Will post some pics up when we have it all stickered up. Our current theme is 'Axles of Evil', but thinking this might reduce sponsors :)
 
I would hazard a guess that you could fit the Mondeo seats to the cougar subframes with a little work.

JJ
 
Procomm said:
if you can find a celica vvti in a scrappy the seat from one of those will fit, feel quite sporty aswell and look alot better than c2 seats but then again so does a 2 year old turd thats grown really furry and has a mouldy sweetcorn kernel sticking out the end imho
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Love it....comparing a seat with a turd!!!! LOL!!!!!!!!
 
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