Shorten Seat Pans

One thing that has changed since classic Mustangs were new is average human height. If you’re on the tall side (taller than 6 feet), you may have a problem with headroom in your vintage Mustang, especially if you’ve installed later model high-back or aftermarket bucket seats. What do you do when the headliner touches the epidermis? Lower your seat pan height by 1 inch so you can see the road.

We wish we could lay claim to this idea, but we can’t. Mustangs Plus thought of it many years ago and put it into practice with most of its classic Mustang projects. When we saw this idea in the Mustangs Plus newsletter recently, we had to try it ourselves. We called Jerry Choate at West Coast Classic Mustang in Reseda, California, for help on this one. A very tall customer needed his seat pans lowered in order to drive his Mustang safely and comfortably. Jerry was there with the expertise.

The folks at Mustangs Plus have a different approach from West Coast Classic Mustang for lowering the seat pans, but the result is practically the same: improved headroom for tall people. Mustangs Plus suggests cutting the seat pan and creating a new lip. This lowers the seat height with minimal cutting and welding. The folks at West Coast Classic Mustang cut the pan and move the lip to achieve the same result. Regardless of how the seat pan is lowered, it must remain a structural member for floorpan stiffness and platform integrity. Bench seats are other important items to remember. Lowering the seat pan in Mustangs with bench seats will not work because of driveline tunnel interference midseat. Keep this in mind when you’re thinking about getting really low down.