01 Seats Converting to 03/04 Foam and Covers questions
- Thread starter rzimmerl
- Start date
I would say it wouldn’t be the same. The 01 bolsters seem more curved and snug and the 03/04 bolsters look wider to me. Idk
To the best of my knowledge, the seat frames are the same ‘99 to ‘04, just the foam changes. Buy the foam and the upholstery and you should be good to go.
Yep. I think TMI carries the foam for the 03/04 covers.
LMR does too. They get their stuff from TMI I think
I've ordered the covers from CJ Pony already as I wanted dark charcoal/parchment for my saddle interior, since LMR doesn't list that color combo, but the foams will come from LMR as they have the best price. I'll share some info in this thread as I redo them, figuring 9-14 weeks for the seat covers they said.
@rzimmerl
I can confirm all the seat frames are the same. I did this exact conversion a while back in my GT. Everything fits fine.
My best advice to you is go SLOW so you don't **** up like I did. The hole for my lumbar support button is off because I was rushing to get done.
Plan on two days and make sure you heat up your covers either in the sun or in the house. It makes a HUGE difference when sliding them on and getting the bolsters into the covers on the seat base.
Don't actually cut any holes until you get the covers in position properly and secured.
I know this sounds stupid but you may want to consider ditching the power drivers seat base.
The control switch panel for the seat requires you to cut a large hole in the foam. Doing this causes the drivers seat the not feal as firm because it now lacks support near the middle front. This is also due to the foam having less density than the OEM ford foam.
If I would have known this I would have grabbed a manual seat base from the junk yard.
If you have any questions feel free to ask.
Good luck.
I can confirm all the seat frames are the same. I did this exact conversion a while back in my GT. Everything fits fine.
My best advice to you is go SLOW so you don't **** up like I did. The hole for my lumbar support button is off because I was rushing to get done.
Plan on two days and make sure you heat up your covers either in the sun or in the house. It makes a HUGE difference when sliding them on and getting the bolsters into the covers on the seat base.
Don't actually cut any holes until you get the covers in position properly and secured.
I know this sounds stupid but you may want to consider ditching the power drivers seat base.
The control switch panel for the seat requires you to cut a large hole in the foam. Doing this causes the drivers seat the not feal as firm because it now lacks support near the middle front. This is also due to the foam having less density than the OEM ford foam.
If I would have known this I would have grabbed a manual seat base from the junk yard.
If you have any questions feel free to ask.
Good luck.
Thanks for the info. I purchased the second seats as I'm saving my 48k mile original seats. Ditching the power seat sounds like a good option as I could go with out that. How much softer is the aftermarket foam in comparison to the original?
It's pretty noticeable. I can't say how much exactly but you will notice a difference.
Do you think some sheet metal under the foam would help if you’re keeping the power seat base?
No because the foam not only hangs off the end of the seat but it's also no longer there.
You would be putting a piece of metal under something that isn't there.
I converted my 99 GT seats to 03-04 Cobra from TMI (vinyl and suede). Couldn't be more happy. In my case I did have to buy a set of Cobra head rests. I found a folding set for cheap. I would follow most of the advice from above. I would not do away with the power adjustment personally. And I have no comparison other than stock GT to TMI as far as the foam which was a great improvement.
The Cobra, Bullitt, Mach1 factory foam is considerably firmer than the stock Gt foam
I've seen this mentioned before but I am not entirely sure it's true.
I say that because years ago my cousin also had a GT with cloth seats and mine were leather.
Sitting in the two mine were firmer. So much so that after riding in his car I got out and looked at the seat thinking it was broken down but it looked fine.
What I am getting at is I think if you're comparing leather GT seats to the cobra, bullitt or mach 1 there may not be a difference.
Also I can tell you 100% that my TMI seat foam is softer than my old GT foam and that's what I've talked about above.
Again I could be wrong but that's what I've personally experienced.
Would it be possible to swap to a 96-98 base? I remember my 98 GT was a little lower seat wise compared to my 04. After talking with a couple buddies we all noticed it going from the SN95 to New Edge.
To my surprise the covers from TMI arrived already. The vinyl is super nice and could easily be mistaken for leather, and the inserts are very soft and the Cobra logo is spot on. Gonna lay them over the stock seats in the car to see how the dark charcoal/parchment look will be with the saddle interior.
Nice to see the upholstery arrived earlier than expected. How long from ordering to arrival? LMR’s website says 16-24 weeks!
Do you have any pics of the covers by any chance? Wanting to do this in the future but I want to see how well the vinyl looks.
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