Broken Seat back

[stickyjazz]

Imagine Friday afternoon and you are getting ready to run from work to the liquor store and to the butcher to pick up a slab of steak. At the moment that you get into your car, you are dropped against the back seat and left wondering what the heck is going on.

So I found myself in this scenario last Friday. Turns out one of the supports for the back rest had choosen that moment to shear off and leave my stranded. The metal support was fatigued and there must have been only a small piece holding me in place while I have been driving on the highways of Ontario. Any minute, I could have lost control!

So now I need a new seat. Any body have a driver's seat for 98 contour SE. It's a royal blue cloth on both sides with speckled centre section.

Thanks for listening.

 

[Tony2005]

Put a small metal piece on it and weld it to the break, until you get a "new" one.

 

[catfish]

swap it out for the passenger's seat? I'm pretty sure they are identical enough. (assuming you don't have a power drivers seat)

(until you get a new one, unless you don't like your passangers)

 

[Tony2005]

swap it out for the passenger's seat? I'm pretty sure they are identical enough. (assuming you don't have a power drivers seat)

(until you get a new one, unless you don't like your passangers)

Welcome catfish .

 

[rouar]

swap it out for the passenger's seat? I'm pretty sure they are identical enough. (assuming you don't have a power drivers seat)

(until you get a new one, unless you don't like your passangers)

The seat belts are attached to the seat. Even if the bolts line up (I don't know, but doubt), you'd end up driving without a seat belt. Wouldn't matter if it was power seat or no, since the mechanism or motor is contained within the rails and will come up when you remove the seat.

To the OP: If by "royal blue" you mean "Midnight blue" (standard color) then SVT leather seats will match if you wanted to upgrade

 

[Big Daddy Kane]

My brother in law used to have a super-lemon 1990 Oldsmobile Silhouette van that the same thing happened to.

Ended up being a bolt that held the seatback up. Without the bolt, the seatback would freely move on a hinge. Had to replace that bolt a few times while we were all in high school.

Other problems with that van... the thing the passenger side door latch grabs onto unscrewed itself, letting the passenger door open freely. Had to use the passenger seat belt to hold the door shut until they could find a replacement. How did they use the seat belt? No door panels, they fell off a few years after they bought the van. And talk about dash warp! That thing was 1/2 way up the windsheild! Ignition decided it would work w/o a key anymore, every guage except the fuel guage was on the fritz (speedometer would continue to climb while driving... at 30 it would indicate about 70, at 70 it would indicate about 120, tach would drop to zero randomly), 3.1L engine would mysteriously loose all the oil at once (you'd be going along fine, then all of a sudden the horrible valvetrain noise when you have no oil. Not a drop in the pan, and no leaks!)... numerous other smaller issues... Good thing that's dead now!

 

[Tony2005]

My brother in law used to have a super-lemon 1990 Oldsmobile Silhouette van that the same thing happened to.

Ended up being a bolt that held the seatback up. Without the bolt, the seatback would freely move on a hinge. Had to replace that bolt a few times while we were all in high school....

I had a 1984 Cavalier which had a recall for this.

This post reminded me that there was a TSB issued (not recall) for the 1996 sometime in 1997 or 1998 and they had to fix something for my seat when I reported that my power seat was loose. This was, of course, under warranty at that time.

 

[stickyjazz]

K...so the mech is gonna weld the seat back togeter, which is fine by me.

Looks like I need control arms, rear springs, bearing in front.....what else....hmmm

 

[Aussie Ford]

You can get any Tour drivers seat and just swap the seat covers. You can even swap the plastic pieces just be careful not to break the fasteners. In the end you have the seat you need. It is only a PIA for a few minutes and your done and on your way again.

My 2 cents

 

[vaguely_clear]

Ended up being a bolt that held the seatback up. Without the bolt, the seatback would freely move on a hinge. Had to replace that bolt a few times while we were all in high school.

Yeah, this started happening to the old 1990 Mazda B2200 that I drove before I bought my Contour. Poor thing is bleeding oil right and left now, too.

 

[JoeM]

K...so the mech is gonna weld the seat back togeter, which is fine by me.

Looks like I need control arms, rear springs, bearing in front.....what else....hmmm

If you want a couple seats let me know. Ive got 2 leather contour sport seats i no longer need. you could have them cheaply .
Power Drivers seat, standard passenger. Wear on the drivers, but a seat cover would take care of that.

 

[stickyjazz]

well...looks like the welded together seat saga is continuing....

I got it welded together for real cheap and it got me through a bit of time....now I need to buy a seat. What year seats will fit in a 98se contour with manual seat adjustments? Also is there a special tool for the upholstery removal and reinstallation?

 

[Aussie Ford]

Here is the deal. Actually you can install any year driver side manual adjustment seat back it is 4 bolts. You can swap the covers and you have what you need. BTW the seat belts attach to the bottom part. I don't believe there are any special tools required for the cover swap. The biggest pain is putting it back on. I only did one and don't recall how the plastic parts at the base of the head rest are inserted. If you are going to replace the whole seat then you need one just like it from a 98 only since color patterns change from year to year and between tour and mystique. Any seats from any tour or mystique 98 - 00 will mount up in your car (6 bolts ea). Currently my 99 has leather seats from a 98 mystique for example.

my 2 cents,

AF

 

[stickyjazz]

if I don't get a colour to match the existing, is it possible to strip off the upholstery and put it on the new seat?

I will need the seat bottom too, I think. My seat shimies side to side and creaks like an sob.

 

[Aussie Ford]

yes......