Front Seat Replacement

[Ben Stratford]

Either I have a strange shape back, am too tall or the seats are uncomfortable - or all 3!
Anyway, I would like to upgrade the front seats at least, rear too if not too difficult on my HJ60.
I can see other's have done this - are there any easy conversions - perhaps from an 80 series or surf?
Cloth seats are the target, the seats in my previous 80's were excellent. Would a swap to these be difficult?
Thanks for any help in advance.

 

[Jente]

Hello Ben,

Seat replacement with an 80 will not work without modifying bracket as far as I recall.
I got a set of Recaro's installed in mine, and it took me a fair bit of time to make a bracket to fit the seats in.

I heard Jeep Cherokee's fit well, but are quit high. BMW X5 or X3 also works, but are something different then an 80's seat, and require a bracket aswell.

 

[Ben Stratford]

Thant looks awesome Jente, thanks for your reply. How did you resolve the electrical supply to your seat, did you install a 24v to 12 v device?
I was thinking of retaining the original seat bracket and mounting a new seat on to it. Is this less favourable to the proper bracket for the new seat? Would the jeep Cherokee seats fit the original seat bracket?
It would be very unlikely for a new seat bracket to line up with current bolt holes. Could I just drill new holes and add reinforcing plates and weld them to the floor pan and weld some nuts underneath the floor for the bolts?
Many Thanks

 

[AndycruiserguyLomas]

In one of mine someone has fitted a pair of Mazda sports type front seats. They are cloth, not heated and look like they were a doddle to fit. They are multi adjustable (manually) and sooo comfortable. I think if I was starting from scratch though I'd be looking at Lexus or Volvo but there are a plethora of seats which will transpose into a roomy cabin.

 

[moggy1968]

The brackets are the problem because the frame doesn't fit flat to the floor, one side bolts to the transmisison tunnel if I remember correctly. It can be done, but you would need to mod the brackets. I had a pair from an alfa I was going to fit but in the end couldn't be arsed! eventually, when I can afford it, I'll just get the originals retrimmed and repadded.

The rear is sculptured around the wheel arches so I had to move the ones I fitted inboard significantly, which gives problems with the seatbelt fit and limits you to 2 seats, which are what you might call an 'interference fit'!

 

[Ben Stratford]

Yes i thought about retrimming but as they are too low at the back, i worry that they may still be uncomfortable.
So it may be a grafting of new seat on to old mounts somehow. Will give it some more thought and advise how it goes.
Thanks for your input fellas

 

[Jente]

There are also versions of the 60's that came with height adjustable frame, or at least that has a spring mechanism. This might give you some comfort, and should fit right in..

 

[Thom Thinn]

Either I have a strange shape back, am too tall or the seats are uncomfortable - or all 3!
Anyway, I would like to upgrade the front seats at least, rear too if not too difficult on my HJ60.
I can see other's have done this - are there any easy conversions - perhaps from an 80 series or surf?
Cloth seats are the target, the seats in my previous 80's were excellent. Would a swap to these be difficult?
Thanks for any help in advance.

Hey Ben ~I'm a little late getting in the game here, but check out the thread I started about resto vs mods for 60 series "Dubious Interior mods. .."

 

[Ben Stratford]

Hey Ben ~I'm a little late getting in the game here, but check out the thread I started about resto vs mods for 60 series "Dubious Interior mods. .."

View attachment 111768

Looks awesome Thom, what have tiu put in there?

 

[Ben Stratford]

I have purchased a nice interior from a BMW X3 and only want the front seats. These are black cloth and have manual adjustment for everything. Will need to find some black BMW seat belts and make them fit too.
Not sure how they will fit yet but pick them up next weekend.
May use fabric from the back seats to update the door cards, not sure yet

 

[Ben Stratford]

Just got my seat brackets from Torfab (usa) and they fit perfectly. Need to sort out the X3 seatbelts now.

 

[Michael Montgomery]

View attachment 140807 Just got my seat brackets from Torfab (usa) and they fit perfectly. Need to sort out the X3 seatbelts now.

Great one step closer there Ben

 

[Richard Turner]

Look good! Do you need specific X3 seatbelts or will any belts do? Have you got a picture of the buckle type you need?

 

[Ben Stratford]

Both seats now installed


Yes Rich, wanted new seat belts so got the X3 matching belts as the seats had the stalk end attached already.
Its not going to be straight forward though. Now need to fabricate a bracket to attach the spool end.
Drivers seat still has old seatbelt for now hence the 2 stalks visible.
Getting there.

 

[Richard Turner]

They look really good in the truck! Making a bracket for the spool of the seatbelt sounds like a pain though, can't you just use the landcruiser seatbelts and unbolt the X3 stalks from the seats?

 

[Ben Stratford]

Yes but the originals are so worn out it would be great to change them.
Cant get new originals anywhere and i want black to match the seats so the decision has been made Rich.
Passenger seat belt currently removed so I need to get on with it.

 

[Ben Stratford]

Fitting the bmw x3 seat belts was actuslly very simple and took an hour.
Ok so i cheated a bit. I took the old and new belts to a local fabricators yesterday and after mentioning the magic word ... cash, and that i needed them done by 3pm, they made a couple if adaptor brackets that bolted on to the bmw seatbelts (the black plates) below to mimic the originals.



They also needed to bend the plates at the end of the belt by 90 degrees that attach to the floor


A superb job they did too and the claimed 3 hours lanour was very reasonable



The body fitted perfectly in the existing hole with no modification needed




The bmw bolt had a 14mm pivot then a 10mm thread whereas the original bolt was 12mm threaded all the way. So i ordered a piece of tube which arrived yesterday that was 14mm o/s diamenter and 12mm i/s diameter. Chopped off a 7mm bit that acted as the pivot then it bolted in nicely and moves freely.
I left off the bmw trim piece which looked horrible and prefer it like this.

 

[Iwan]

Great adaption with the parts you have fitted Ben! It's great that the seats are manually controlled and they look fantastic and I bet they're very comfortable. Awesome mate

 

[Ben Stratford]

They are Iwan, had similar in a 525 and 320 so knew what i wanted. Didnt want the electric stuff for weight reasons but even so these weight at least double the originals.
Im sitting a couple of inches higher too

 

[moggy1968]

I'm wondering if a range rover sport rear seat would fit in the rear, anyone tried it?