Rear seat delete options?

[SSLance]

I have finally decided to go forward with a 4 point roll bar installation in my car which will not only restrict access to the rear seat but will also necessitate major modifications to the rear seat bottom and seat back to work around the roll bar tubes.

Another option is to leave the rear seat out all together. My question for this thread is...if I chose the rear seat delete option, what is the best way to finish that area off taking into consideration how nice the rest of my interior is, the color of the rest of my interior, and the changes made to that part of the car already.

Here is what the rear seat pan looked like when I cleaned up and painted the interior floor pan of the car several years ago.



The factory jute that was behind the seat back was toast so I put a layer of closed cell foam in it's place which you can see in this picture from the trunk.



Then covered the inside of that foam with more raamat butyl sound deadener. This is what the back seat area looks like today under the rear seat.



Some of that sound deadener is going to have to come up to make room to weld in the roll bar mounting plates. The main hoop bars are going to weld onto the floor close to the B pillars which is several inches back from the carpet edge and the rear down bars will go through the sheet metal holes onto the trunk floor up above the axle.

There is really nice maroon carpet from the front edge of the rear seat forward and the rest of the interior is very nice. Here is a pic to give you an idea of how the rest looks.



There's been a few changes over the years since that was taken, Dakota Digital dash, aluminum shift plate cover and 6 speed shifter, and there will be black with grey insert front seats installed at the same time as the roll bar that look lke this.



So...that's the canvas I have to work with. What should I do to finish off the back seat area after the roll bar install? Build a sheet metal firewall to block off trunk is probably first order of business. But then do I just paint it black? Undercoat it? Find some black short pile carpet to line that area with? Try hard to find some maroon carpet that matches the front carpet to put down (this might be somewhat difficult). Pull up all of the raamat sound deadener? Line it all again with more sound deadener then cover with something else?

I like to think I'm pretty good with nuts and bolts type stuff, but I realize I'm limited in design vision when it comes to stuff like this...hence asking for help. The car interior is nice, it was very hard for me to make a decision to do this install and tear that up. Safety dictates that I do this though...I just want to try to do it as nicely as possibly without completely starting from scratch on the whole rest of the interior at the same time.

[Vince@Meanstreets]

You can cut thin interior board and have it upholstered to match the front seats.

[SSLance]

So the plan has progressed a little bit. The cage builder will sheet metal in a package shelf where the seat bottom was and a firewall where the seat back was and then I'll cover it with sound deadener and carpet that matches the carpet up front. I've found that ACC sells the same carpet that came in my new molded kit in flat roll the length I need.

Hopefully this will result in a finished looking area behind the fronts seats that matches the rest of the interior.

[WSSix]

sounds good lance. post pictures when its done please. this is something I am considering as well. thanks

[glassman]

Do a flat package tray for behind the seats, upholster it the same as your carpets, then buy one piece of good luggage and have the luggage recovered to match your interior.
I think i'm going to do that when i reupholster the car (from black to carmel/camel)