Well about a month ago I went to the junkyard and got a pair of seats out of a Dodge stealth to put into my pickup. Lucky for me the bracket was completely different. Dodge actually used an assymetrical bracket which required me to mount the bracket at an angle. Luckily I have enough scrap I didn't have to buy any metal, that boxed metal stuff is expensive.
I basically used a 1 1/4" square box steel to lift the rear mount up to the height of the front mount on the pickup truck. Then I just drilled 4 3/8" holes into the floor and mounted the drivers seat. It took me around 6 hours but tomorrow when I do the passanger side hopefully it will take less time.
The Dodge stealth seat matches the interior of the pickup perfectly and is much more comfortable. I can't wait to finish and post some pics.
I am preparing the pickup for a Christmas run to San Diego and I'll be damned if I attempt it driving on that bench seat again. The pickup is holding up well but I figure in two years it won't pass smog so I'm going to get it nice and enjoy it then see what happens in 2 years.
Now where was that guy wanting to race the hardbody?
In reply to benzbaron:
I have nothing of value to add here, but I have an '89 4Runner with terrible bucket seats and I desperately want the details on how you did all this. Is your truck an Xtra Cab? Part of my problem is that I need seats that will slide forward to allow access to the back seat. I need to preserve that thing where you just pull a lever and the seat flips forward and slides up on the track automatically,
Anyway, patiently waiting for photos.
I will get back tomorrow. My truck is a regular cab. I'm sure with a little imagination you can fit almost any seat into these trucks.
Shim
SuperDork
12/16/10 5:33 a.m.
I used saab 900 seats in my old toyota truck. They had butt warmers and temp control built into the seat.
Toasty.
Here we go, got the other seat installed in around 3.5hours, not a bad job. On the passanger side you have to watch out for wires and brake lines. One trick I used when I couldn't get the drill to go in straight was to hit it with a center punch which knocks a small hole through the sheetmetal. I would have taken pics of the install but I don't like touching camera stuff when I have grease on my hands.
red5_02
New Reader
12/16/10 5:15 p.m.
Buy Probe GT seats, they're a perfect fit.
These seats work really well in the pickup truck. I'm really stoked that it turned out so well.
It was weird getting into the seats and playing with the knob and levers to make the seat comfy. The bench seats suck and will be nice to get rid off. I actually found someone who want to buy the bench seat and cover for 40$ so I've gotten back half the cost of the stealth seats.
I posted this before, but here's my 86 Truck interior after I re-did it:
I put a layer of egg-crate cut off a mattress pad over the old foam, which was about shot. The material is Spanish leather. I sewed it all up on my grandmother's hand crank Singer. It is actually quite comfortable now.
Anyway, yeah, the seat did suck. We put 200K on it out of >300K. This is MUCH better. Not like the Lexus, but much much better than how it was.
Shim
SuperDork
12/18/10 11:49 a.m.
My original bench seat broke on me, like some of the welds on the frame of seat actually broke while going down the road.. Made me feel skinny that day.