Dirt Quad 500 Boat Seat Upgrade Installation Instructions

If you have a grinder or cutoff tool, you can trim the plastics without removing the handlebars. Use a blade for cutting plastic if you have it, metal cutting blades will melt the cut plastic and it will cool off right back in the line you just cut. If you are using a jig saw you may want to completely remove the fairings by removing the handlebar along with all the screws that attach the fairings to the frame. 

These instructions for trimming the plastics are specifically for the boat seats recommended below. If you use a different seat, the amount of plastic you need to remove will be different, but the main objective is to trim enough off the sides to allow the plate to sit flush on the tube. 

Camo Boat Seat: https://amzn.to/3XfNmRp
Black/Charcoal Seat: https://amzn.to/3AxR7Zq

Boat Seat Mount: https://www.livelivegear.com/collections/e-ride-parts/products/boat-seat-mount-for-razor-dirt-quad

When you remove the seat you will see a line in the plastics, this will be your first cut, so mark your line with a marker and a straight edge. Bring that line straight down 3/4 of an inch into the side of the plastics. Mark the corner at back the fairings, then make a line from the corner to the end of the first line. Repeat on the other side. Make your cuts. 

You can choose to leave the original seat area open, or you can cut the seat in half and use it as a child's seat if you want to take a little one on a ride with you. 

Cut the seat at the dotted line below. You will see that the bottom of the stock seat pan has grid lines you can use as a guide. Remove any staples that you may hit with your cutting tool and make you cut through the seat pan, foam and seat cover. 

Once cut, you will them need to trim out some of the foam. Remove enough staples, near your cut line, so you can peel back the cover about 2 inches to access the foam. Cut about an inch off the foam and restaple or tape the seat cover back in place. Trimming the foam will leave a bit of plastic to tuck under the lip of the boat seat and put the half stock seat flush against the new boat seat. 

For this set-up, you will use the first two holes to mount the plate to the frame using the stock holes. For other builds, you may choose to use the two center ones or the two back holes, depending on how far forward or back you would like to position the plate. 

The kit will include 4 hex bolts, lock washers and flat washers for mounting the seat. The flat washer should always be against the mounting surface, and the lock washer is between the hex head and flat washer. Getting the screws in the two front holes of the seat may be the trickiest part, due to the front lip of the seat raising it up. I have found it easiest to install the two back screws first and hand tightening them down as much as possible. This lowers the front holes enough to be able to get a few threads into the front two holes and then tightening them down with a socket wrench. I would avoid using an electric wrench as the threaded holes in the bottom of the seat are just inserts in the plastic and can easily break. 

The half seat may need to be zip-tied to the fairings in the front, if the locking tab keeps popping out. I just drilled a hole through the fairing and the tab on the seat and ran a thin ziptie to lock it in place.