Passenger Seat Irritation

[chrisingrassia]

Hi everyone, this is my first thread after buying my Saleen in September, and I'm already looking for some help. I look forward to being able to contribute to others as well!

The passenger seat in my '04 Saleen vert is rubbing against the passenger door panel, and it's irritating the heck out of me. I've tried moving the seat forward and backward to see if maybe it would help, but no dice. The Saleen seats are wider than those used in regular GT's and V6's, not much, but enough to make this leather-seat/panel-vinyl rubbing squeak. Anyone have any ideas of how I can fix? Does ANYONE else have this problem? It's only rubbing just barely, but when someone sits in the seat it gets a little louder because of the increased weight on it. I've just run out of ideas. Any help?

[Dave]

A few people of 2003-04 Saleens that featured these then new performance seats built off of Ford frames have reported passenger seat rub against the door panel.

Maybe someone can check if there was a TSB issued for this?

Anyway, I think one way to fix this is to take the seat to an interior pro and have the bolster sucked in with minor mods to the exterior cover to match.

BTW: Welcome to the forums and enjoy your new Saleen! :smile: What color did you buy?

[Jim D.]

Welcome to the Saleen Forums, Chris!

I'm not familiar with your particular problem, but you might try a vinyl dressing to help minimize the "squeak."

[chrisingrassia]

Ooooo....I was afraid the fix would result in me having to take it to an interior shop. I think if I'm gonna go that route, I will just live with it until I can find dual heated seats for an 04 Saleen and then just swap'em out. I'll have to see what I can find as far as "vinyl dressing" goes, not familiar with that. It's just frustrating that it's only my passenger side and not the driver's too. Oh well.

BTW, I bought an '04 Saleen convt S281-E in Candy Apple Red. Absolutely gorgeous.....this is my third mustang (a 2001, then a 2003, and now only have an '04). I love the 99-04 body style, and couldn't wait until I found the deal I needed on a Saleen. I'm excited to become part of the Saleen family! I'm gonna start searching this site for all the info I can on obtaining original stickers and certifications from Saleen, I'm sure someone started a thread on that already.

[Dave]

If you picked up an Extreme, it's a rare car. Most would say "leave it as it stands."

Any aftermarket seat with a correct model specific seat track will fit the 1994-2004 Mustang. Saleen, to date, has yet to offer a heated seat option, but there are kits available in the aftermarket that will add this feature to most any seat.

Vinyl dressing would be like Mothers Protectant, AMSOIL BriteSide Vinyl and Leather Cleaner, and Armorall.

[onempty]

You could try some thick washers under just the far side of the seat rails. The 2 bolts that hold the rail closet to the door is where you would need to add some thick washers then bolt it back down. Because you only raised one side of the seat it should rotate it further away from the door. I hope that I have stated this is a way that is understandable. If not let me know and I will do a better job with my explanation.

[ZR5.0]

You could also remove the seat and slot the holes where the track bolts to the floor and if needed where the track bolts to the seat.
If the issue is more about the seat no sitting straight in the car, the shim idea (as suggested above) should fix you up.

[wotbill01]

Thanks for the good ideas. I have an 03 with the same problem. I have decided it not really a seat problem, but an exhaust problem. The exhaust is not loud enough. My neighbors disagree.

[orange04s281]

before slotting the holes(which does fix the problem) i would just loosen all 4 bolts and push the seat towards the inside of the car and retighten it, there should be a little bit of play to allow some movement

[chrisingrassia]

haha...that's funny. I never thought about the exhaust situation....my stereo pumps out 3000 watts, but I can still hear the dang squeak from the time a song ends to when a new one starts. And it's only for like 2 seconds, but it still annoys me!! :P

I will try loosening all 4 then pushing over and re-tightening. If that works I will be very pleased.

[chrisingrassia]

Moving the seat over 1/8" worked like a charm. Thanks for the replies gys and gals......saved me a fortune I'm sure! Now on to figuring out how I can get heated seats for my Saleen..........

[R05S281]

Congrats on your success! It's always nice to be able to lean on each other for solutions!

[chrisingrassia]

OK, so I figured I'll just keep adding to my original post since it contains the word "irritation" in the heading, which is what Im still gonna be commenting on.

I have two more frustrations that I'd like to bounce of ya'll and see what you recommend:

1. My drivers seat belt seems to be installed backwards. It's bolted to the floorboard right, and there's no twists in the belt, just the actual buckle part is backwards. When I get in and go to buckle up, I have to twist the buckle 180 degrees. There's that little nub button thing in the actual cloth belt, does that thing come off somehow so I can turn the buckle part around? It's starting to bug me that I can't just grab my belt and buckle it right in.

2. I put in a Pro 5.0 short throw shifter with my Saleen contoured knob, and it rattles!!! But it only rattles when I'm not touching it.......if I just put my one finger on it, it stops. So irritating!!! Thank god I installed my stereo so I could 95% drown out these annoyances (shifter, seat squeak, tweeter movement). There's no doubt that the actual length of the thread count on the short throw is less than that of the stock shifter mechanism, but I feel like there's gotta be something I can do to eliminate that rattle from the shifter knob. Any ideas?

Hope everyone has a good new year!!

[Dave]

1. My drivers seat belt seems to be installed backwards. It's bolted to the floorboard right, and there's no twists in the belt, just the actual buckle part is backwards. When I get in and go to buckle up, I have to twist the buckle 180 degrees. There's that little nub button thing in the actual cloth belt, does that thing come off somehow so I can turn the buckle part around? It's starting to bug me that I can't just grab my belt and buckle it right in.

When I read this, I thought back to my late-teens/early twenties. I "think" I can picture what's happening since something similar would happen to me in an old late-model daily driver.

The material belt would fold, then the buckle would spin 180. So, I would either fold the material belt and work the buckle back to the front... or I would leave it and some point it would spin back. This happen enough times to me that I eventually became use to it. Recall, daily driver... in and out of the car 2-4 times a day.


2. I put in a Pro 5.0 short throw shifter with my Saleen contoured knob, and it rattles!!! But it only rattles when I'm not touching it.......if I just put my one finger on it, it stops. So irritating!!! Thank god I installed my stereo so I could 95% drown out these annoyances (shifter, seat squeak, tweeter movement). There's no doubt that the actual length of the thread count on the short throw is less than that of the stock shifter mechanism, but I feel like there's gotta be something I can do to eliminate that rattle from the shifter knob. Any ideas?If this is the slip-fit Momo knob Saleen installed, maybe purchase a new Momo knob install kit. It includes a variety of rubber spacers, and new Allen headed set screws. I can't recall the 2004 knob.

Anyway... the Momo knob in the 351 was loose, at 9,3XX miles, and a new rubber spacer from a Momo install kit made the knob a solid fit on the shift lever.

[wotbill01]

had the same thing happen spontaneously. You have to fold the belt over on itself at a 90 degree angle and force it through the opening. A WATER soluble lubricant helps. HEH...I work at a hospital, ok.