bit of free time this afternoon and i realised 'ive got rear seats in my car...what do i really need them for there just adding extra weight' and as i am planning quite a few quite long joureys with only 2 people i decided to take them out...billiant i thought weight reduction = better speed and better fuel economy....however..

i then realised i cant take more than one passenger if i had to which when i thought about it turns out to be every thursday morning, however i want to keep the rear seats out because its a lot nicer to think im saving all of this petrol and getting bettr acceleration out of the car

so i thought -

can i fashion my own back seat out of a thick sheet of chipboard, a double duvet, and some screws...as the seatbelts are still in place so you could still buckle in but is there anythign againt the law about having people in the back without the seats in even if they have a back rest and seatbelts on?

Not sure it would impress an MOT tester. If your seats are of the 30/70 kind you could remove the larger part and leave the smaller part in. I would, however, want to be sure there's no risk of the seat coming from it's mountings in the event of an emergency stop etc, so would pull hard on it and subject it to testing

I think in terms of the law, they simply have to be safe, and not loose. The MOT tester may therefore put reasonable force on the fixing points to test it, and I'm not sure thick chipboard would be up to the task.

If you want to go to the max with weight removal, all the trim, glovebox, carpets, headlining, bonnet sound proofing, and probably more stuff. I doubt there would be a detectable difference though to be honest as a full tank of petrol would probably weigh more than all of these things.

If you can't see the difference between a full tank and nearly empty, the weight loss exercise would purely be academic IMO.

:)If it's a Favorit or Felicia the rear seats just unclip anyway, so there's no need to mess about putting your kids lives at risk making seats out of chipboard!

I've seen it all now.

yeh thinking about it this morning i think ill just leave it...just gonna have to put them in and out as needed...

I've seen it all now.

:iagree:

There are plenty of other ways to manage to drive faster and/or more efficiently without resorting to ripping bits out of your interior! And something else to consider is that the seat backs are reinforced to stop luggage entering the passenger compartment in a crash - this isn't a legal requirement in the States, and people die every year apparently after getting a toolbox in the back of the head or whatever...

Just my 2ps...

i took the seats out if my mk1 the day i got her. the space was vast. but a little noisy if you ask me.

i did think about the lack of rear seats meaning things would move freely back and forth in the boot so ive made a barrier so that nothing can actually enter the space where the seats used to be, also i very rarely carry anything in my boot as the stuff ratteling around gets on my nerves

to be honest the whole idea of improvised rear seats was a bit stupid i know and i would have definatly made sure it was safe before i let anyone use it, thats why i asked around first

you could stop being so tight!

its not a 8l v10 viper you're driving

naa ive got to be tight - im a full time student

:rofl::rofl:

Is it April 1st?

:)When I moved house a few years ago I used my Favorit Estate to move all my stuff with. It took a few trips, but the house move was within the same village and the space in the back with the seats removed is vast! I often think that the Favorit was the first mini-MPV!

:)When I moved house a few years ago I used my Favorit Estate to move all my stuff with. It took a few trips, but the house move was within the same village and the space in the back with the seats removed is vast! I often think that the Favorit was the first mini-MPV!

That passenger seat isn't too difficult to take out either for the really long stuff! (Assuming the screws aren't too rusted in).

That passenger seat isn't too difficult to take out either for the really long stuff! (Assuming the screws aren't too rusted in).

you mean allen key bolts though don't you, really?

theres a fair difference in lifting the rear seats out, they're heavy enough. and they aren't really reinforced to prevent injury. none i've seen have been anything more than a professional version of foam on chipboard...

you mean allen key bolts though don't you, really?

They were screws on the fav I rescued a seat from, guess someone changed them

Hmm, back seats will weigh a few kg, hardly going to improve speed/economy that much. The only wayto save alot of weight is to remove all seats, door panels, sound deadening, replace front seats with lightweight bucket seats - maybe save 50kg.

'a thick sheet of chipboard, a double duvet, and some screws'

I doubt there would be much difference in weight, the Felicia rear seats are extremely lightweight anyway and of course as well as being very easy to remove also look infinitively better than anything homemade.

Hi. I have taken the spare wheel & rear seats out of my 5dr felicia, it does make a difference, no so much acceleration:snail:, but you can fly round corners. and overtaking stuff is easier.

... just dont get a puncture, or buy some of that tyre seal from halfrauds.

ran my mk1 with nearly everything stripped out. spare, rear seats, pasanger seat. and most of the time no fuel ether

speaking of seat removal - i have removed my back seats onli to place them back in when neded, but seems as realli all my mates drive im aimin to take them em for permant. onli to add some form of speker system of possibly cage ready for when i rally it. the front seats tho im changing and was wondering if anyone else had trouble fitting them before i buy them? goin for a set of universal bucket seats but will i need sub frames an will they go straight in the felly? i knows some modification will be involved.

Fonzi, have a look at Cobra bucket seats, their factory is in Telford and they have special sale days, normally on a saturday where you can pick up the seats cheap, also they can trim the rest of your interior to whatever you want. The subframes can be got from them and fitted too, either they have a felicia spec frame already (because they will have fitted them before due to the felicia being used as a rally car) or they will make them up.

cheers skoda m-sport. i will deff look into that, just need work to gimme one saterday off mayb.lol.