NYB rear seat removal

Today I needed to remove the rear seat of my '77 NYB. I couldn't find any helpful info in the Haynes/Chiltons repair guide, so I'm hoping this info might help someone else, make their rear seat removal an easier process. Sometimes pictures are worth a thousand words. Here is a view of the seat after lifting it off of the floor hooks, showing the floor hooks, and the under-seat springs.

There is a bar under the seat that hooks into the hook on the floor, and to lift out the lower part of the rear seat, you have to sit sideways on the floor in front of the back seat, with both your legs hanging out of the door. With your bottom on the floor (where the rear passengers would put their feet) You then have to push your hip against the front lower part of the rear seat (about 8"-10" in from the door opening) pushing hard against the bottom of the front of the lower seat (pushing towards the rear of the car) and trying to lift the whole bottom section of the seat UP with your hands at the same time. It took me 2 or 3 tries to get the seat to lift and unlatch from the hook part on the floor, but you can definitely feel it come loose once you have pushed it back and upward to unlatch it. You have to do this on both the front left and front right of the lower part of the rear seat. If the rear seat is velour fabric, or vinyl, or leather, try not to rip the fabric as you push it rearward. There is a metal bar that runs just behind the fabric and across the front lower part of the rear seat along the floor, just push your hip against this metal bar and try to lift it with your hands. Once the seat is loose, you can lift it out of the car and set it aside. Be careful not to snag it on the hooks protruding from the floor. It weighs about 20 lbs. You will then see the lower part of the rear seat back exposed, and (2) 7/16" bolts are exposed under the lower part of the rear seat back. (one on the left, one on the right)

Loosen the (2) 7/16" bolts and then grab the bottom part of the rear seat back and force it straight upward to unhook it from the upper hooks securing it to the top of the rear window area. The hooks are up near the top, behind the rear seat cushion. Once the backrest portion of the seat is loose, lift it over to one side, and out the rear door of the car, being careful again not to snag it on the hooks on the floor, while lifting it out. The backrest portion of the back seat weighs about 25 lbs. Installation is the reverse of the above.
-Michael Howlett, October 2007