MX3 to 91

MX3 to 91-96 Escort Seat swap Information/How-to

Disclaimer: *This guide is intended to show you what you need to do to make MX3 seats work in your car. I won't be held responsible if you break anything or if anything happens to your car.

I will say right now that the rear MX3 seats don't fit perfectly. There is about a 2" gap on either side of the lower cushion. Also the seatback may look weird to some people since it doesn't quite line up perfect to the escort's panels.

This should be the same for swapping ANY year MX3 seats into ANY 91-96 Escort. But don't get mad at me if you find out it won't work on your car for some reason.

I have put both the front and rear seats from a '93 MX3 into my '91 Escort.

The front seats are simple. Just unbolt the old ones, disconnect the plug under the driver's seat, and bolt the new MX3 seats in.

The rear seats are a different story. You will need to get the following parts off the MX3 to make the swap work:
1. Rear seat back (upper section)
2. Rear seat lower section
3. Two plastic clips that hold the lower section to the floor. These are a different style than the escort ones.
4. Two metal clips that hold the seat from folding down. The MX3 clips are about 1" higher than the escort's:

seatclips.jpg (32830 bytes)
MX3 clip on the left, Escort clip on the right. (These are the left side clips.)

5. I also recommend a piece of matching carpet or fabric to fill the crease between the lower and upper cushions. There is about 1.5-2" gap where you can see the bare metal floor and you probably want to cover that.

So now we come to the actual work on the rear. First remove the stock lower cushion by pressing the clip button on each side. These are located under the front edge of the cushion, one on each side. After that then you can take the cushion out. Now fold the back down and take out the two bolts on each bracket for each side. Then the back will come loose and you can remove that also.

Now you will need to get a hacksaw, dremel, or something else that cuts metal. Remove the small white clips that held the lower seat cushion on. Now you need to take the clips from the MX3 seats and measure the size hole they will need. Then take your metal cutting device and make some bigger holes for these new clips. Make sure they fit tight so the seat holds in!

You'll now need to remove the trunk panels to swap the rear seat clips. It requires trimming the plastic to get it back together also. You will need to trim both panels that go over the clips. Trim them like this:

newclip.jpg (19484 bytes)
This is with the first panel installed.

newclip2.jpg (12968 bytes)
After the second panel is trimmed and installed.

After installing the new MX3 rear clips and trimming the plastic you can put your interior panels back on and make sure the seat will clip back. It will leave a gap between the false hatch and the seatback, so you'll need to find something to fill that if you want to. The finished product will look something like this:

newseat.jpg (46418 bytes)

I hope this guide was helpful. If you want more info or have some questions you can email me at mikelpsx@yahoo.com.

Any posting or distribution of this guide without asking me first is not cool. So don't do it.