[HO455]

Now the lower side was set up time to finish the side plates and the seat back latches. I made some little angle iron pieces that are held down by a pair of the carriage bolts for the floor. (Photo #1)

The plate is held in position with three 1/4-20 screws on the bottom and 5 sheet metal screws on the top. The plate goes under the trim for the side panels.

I then bolted the larger of the two seat backs in position so I could position the latch for it. I used a angle meter to set the latch position. I measured the angle of the back of the factory front seat and came up with 70 degrees so that is the number I will use for the second row. Getting the latch positioned was straight forward. I just laid the seats back to slightly more than the 70* the front was. ( I am planning on getting new rubber bumpers so that should make it right at 70*.) I marked the back hole of the latch while holding the seat at the correct angle. Then I drilled that hole and reassembled to make sure it was correct then marked the outline of the latch. After removal of the plate I drilled the last two holes and reinstalled the plate with the latch mounted.

Getting the latch to work was much more work. Since I removed the spacers under the loop for the latch the latch wouldn't fit under the loop. (Photo #2) It took at least five tries to get the latch to work. Disassemble the latch, grind the hook a little, reassemble latch, bolt to the plate, lay seat back, stare at seat latch, remove latch, and repeat as necessary. I went slow as I didn't have any spare parts for the latches. I tried to add one of the shims to get things to work but then the loop hit the latch base. Anyway photo #3 shows how much material I removed to get it to work. See the faint blue outline of the unmodified hook under the modified hook.
Photo #3 shows the latch mounted and photo #4 shows the mounted latch and the seat back with the angle meter.

As much as I love the 3 door life. This particular project has tried my 3 door patience deeply. I no longer refer to the sides as the passenger or the driver's side. It's now the easy side and the HARD side.