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I’ve seen this done before a few times and I wanted to share mine. I just did the rear sear fold-down mod on my 1995 Maxima. I went to the junkyard and found ABSOLUTE GOLD. A 2003 Infiniti i35 with dam near pristine rear seats. I carefully took everything apart and loaded them up in a janky shopping cart that was missing a wheel in the front. I paid $80 for everything, which I think is amazing. I almost bought 2001 i30 rear seats for $400, thank god I didn’t.
As soon as I got home, I began taking out my OE rear seats. It was easy. The hard part was sawing off the 3 seat backing mounting brackets. It took a while and I got metal shavings all over the interior, but I finally got it done and then started mounting the i35 seat backing bracket.
The bottom 2 bolts line right up, it’s almost perfect. No other bolts line up. You have to drill holes for the top 5 bolts. I messed up on 2 of them by making the holes too big, but I still had 3 holes to work with so I did those properly. Not too bad just time consuming getting the hole lined up properly.
Next I started working with my adult lego set and put the seats in. Bottom cushions snap right in, perfect fit. Then I put the sides. They seem just the slightest bit too wide but still fit in there fine. Finally I put the backings. I started with the single seat because the double seat has an essential bracket on the side that bolts onto the single seat. It also lines up to one of the bolts in the frame, but the other hole has to be drilled. I decided it wasn’t necessary and skipped that.
Once everything is lined up, you just squeeze it all in there and everything just kinda pops right into place. It’s crazy how perfect it all fits together. It’s so much nicer having actual head rests and not just little bumps.
The final step is to simply line up the plastic panels and clip them in. 2 holes line up, the others do not. It looks so clean and professional if you don’t mind the small gap between the seat backing bracket and the frame. No one would notice anyway.
The only issue really is also the main issue… The clip-on brackets for the seat backings don’t line up to the frame very well. You also have to drill holes for it, plus use a dremel to create a notch for the bracket. It’s hard to describe because I’m lacking some brain cells but once you see it, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. I’ll have to tackle that another day I’m exhausted and sweating like a pig.
All in all, this was very worth the time and money. I would do it again in a snap. The 4th gen seats are okay, but having some fold down seats is so much more practical for my purposes. I also really like having actual head rests.
