Interior & Exterior Styling
Fitting Rear Seat Head Rests
Go to the scrap yard and find an Orion... I'm am not sure at what point Ford changed the design on the fixings for the rear head rests. Early Orion's have the brackets mounted inside the seats where as the later Orion's have them mounted on the parcel shelf instead. This guide uses the brackets that are mounted on the parcel shelf. For a guide to using the brackets that are mounted inside the seat then please visit www.xrtwo.com and read the guide by Chris Roderic.
Once you have found an Orion with the brackets mounted on the parcel shelf you will need to drill out the fixing rivets. There are 5 rivets in each bracket - two at either end, and one on the top of the shelf. Once these rivets have been removed pull the brackets away complete with the plastic tubes that the head rests fit into. If you want to use the Orion head rests then get a pair of these too. Note however, that the pole spacing on the rear head rests is narrower than on the front head rests so they are not interchangeable. If you want them to match your existing ones then you will need to get a pair of covers out of a car with trim matching yours. Or alternatively I have used a compete set out of a Sierra, where the front head rests are the normal size but the rear ones are smaller. This not only looks good but also limits the amount that the rear head rests obscure your rear view. If you are a bit handy with a needle and thread then you could also make your own covers, but get a set to use as a pattern anyway.
Now you have the bits off the Orion and whatever else you want, get out of the scrap yard, if you hang around you will only find more to spend money on! As a guide my local scrap yard charges £10 for 2 head rests and about £5 for the brackets and fixing tubes. When you get home don't rush straight into getting the seats out and taking them apart. Take your time, you should not start this job if you have somewhere that you have to be, it took me a whole day to complete, but then I was working out what to do as I went along. If you are sure you have time then start the steps below.
1. Remove the back of the rear seat and lay it flat on the floor. To remove the cover get a fairly large screw driver and starting at one end force out the plastic strip round the edge of the cover that is pushed into a lip on the metal backing. Once this is done, turn the seat over onto it's back and remove the cover and the foam inside. You will be left with just the metal backing.
2. Take one of the brackets and offer it up inside the seat. You will need to put it in with the flat parts against the strengthening brace and the slanted part towards you (the opposite way round to in the Orion). Work out where the bracket will need to go so that the base of the flange on the fixing tubes will be on top of the seat cover when reassembled, and so that the head rests will be in the centre of the dark stripe up the seat cover. Now mark the strengthening brace where the brackets go and mark on the brackets where to drill four holes to screw them in with. Do the same with the other bracket for the other side.
3. remove the brackets from the seat and drill out the holes to 5mm, then place the brackets back on to the seat where you made the marks from before, now mark the strengthening brace where the holes are in the brackets. Then remove the brackets and drill out the holes in the strengthening brace to about 4mm (these sizes are for use with No. 8 self tapping screws).
4. Next cut off the centre part of the bracket and the bits that stick out at each end, basically leaving you with the parts that the fixing tubes clip into (see picture below).
5. Now the brackets can be screwed into the seat, make sure you have them the right way round or head rest poles will not click into place. Once their screwed into place, clip in the tubes and make sure the head rests fit in easily and move in and freely, any stiffness means that the brackets are no straight. To get round this, unscrew the offending bracket and file the holes out slightly in the direction that it needs to adjust. Once they are straight, fully tighten the screws using a shake-proof washer on each screw.
6. Next you will need to pad out the brackets, this sounds a little odd... padding out the seat as opposed to cutting the foam to fit, but if you cut the foam then you can feel the brackets through it, so padding out is the best solution. You can use bed-roll foam for this, visit your local camping store or market and find one, they are usually only a few pounds. Cut off a bits big enough to go round the brackets and then use layers to build in up to the height of the brackets (see picture below). Make sure to stagger the layer like in the picture so that there are no "edges" inside the seat, that would be uncomfortable. Also get some sponge or leather and put it across the sharp corners of the brackets to prevent then from wearing through the padding. Mark the back of the seat where the centre of each bracket is.
7. Place the original foam onto the seat backing and with the head rests in place cut out notches from the foam for each of the fixing tubes to pass through. Then replace the seat cover, this will take a bit of effort due to the extra padding but patience gets it there in the end. Before you put the seat back in the car use a knitting needle or coat hanger to locate the brackets and then carefully make holes in the seat cover exactly above each bracket, insert the fixing tubes and put the seat back in the car.
8. If you are using the head rests out of an Orion then they will fit a lot better and clip in and out better you turn the bars round. Unclip the cover and pull the metal centre out. There are 2 screws which hold the bars in place, undo these screws then turn the bars over and reinsert. Do the screws back up again and replace back inside the head rest. The head rests should now fit correctly inside the seat, then will also move up and down and clip into place correctly and even tilt back and forwards.
