DIY Samurai Seat Swap

[Luck_of_the_Draw]

Any interest in a samurai seat swap?

The samurai seat doesn't age well. To get a set redone usually cost as much as the samurai to begin with.

There are several seats from donor vehicles that will swap in as a cheaper replacement.

Dodge neon seem to be the most popular. Integra or Sunfire seats will do as well as others.


I'll be swapping in a set of Porsche 944 leather seats I pick up.



Into MYZUK




If there's any interest I'll post step by step how to pictures.


Please feel free to post other seats from donor vehicles that you know will work as well.

[bronco611]

Nice looking little truck, the Porsche seats probably cost as much as the wheels!!! Next you need to install one of those 500,000 watt stereo systems in it so that everyone will know you are on the way!!!

[stickerpatch59]

great looking sami. where did you get the fender flares?

[JonBoy]

Dude that is awesome! Tagging for later!

[gusman]

That's the best lookin zuk I ever saw and them are some nice seats

[Luck_of_the_Draw]

Removing the old seat rails.

Samurai's rails are 15" wide. These are 16" wide.

I'll attach the Sammy rails to the tabs and I should be set.

[Luck_of_the_Draw]

Samurai seat rails

[Luck_of_the_Draw]

Drivers side ready to go in.

I had to extend the slide adjustment.

[bronco611]

still tuned in. Can't wait to see this bad *** Samaria when you get it finished. Love thwe way it looks and the lift and stance really set it off!!

[Luck_of_the_Draw]

The passenger side is a little more involved. I lost the ability for the seat to fold forward from the rear. You can still fold it forward from the front for back seat passengers.


Now to get MYZUK back from the shop.

[Luck_of_the_Draw]

One more pic till the install

[Luck_of_the_Draw]

OEM dimensions Driver side Passenger side
Rail spacing 15¼"" 15¼""
Rail length. 14½"" 14 15/16""
Seat width (max) 19½"" 19½""
Seat depth 18"" 18""
Tunnel to sill 19¾"" 19¾""


Boneyard Seats
Used seats from a wrecking yard: $25/pair to $300/pair or more, depending on make and model of the donor vehicle and which seat fabric (vinyl, various cloth grades, leather). Although there are deals to be had out there if you've got time to wait and look, my informal survey showed a pair of seats in near-new condition to be priced around $100. This will buy you seats that are better than the equivalent money will buy you when spent in an upholstering shop rebuilding your OEM seats.

I was told at two wrecking yards that seat rail spacing was standardized in a range from 16-17 inches, but my observation showed that this was only true in vehicles prior to about 1992. After that time it seems that the changes in body styles and construction caused manufacturers to ""innovate"" in the way they mounted seats. In almost all cases, seats from American auto manufacturers had too much ""manufacturer innovation"" to be easily transferred to the Zuk.

The closest match to a Samurai's seat mounts are those found in most Mazdas, but especially the 323, 626 and the Protege. The rails are similar to Samurai seats and the center to center rail spacing is almost exactly the same. Look for ""Sport"" trim-lines of these cars to find a variety of deeply bolstered bucket seats in various colors and fabrics. Mazda seems to have kept using the same seat rail assemblies all through the 80s and 90s, from what I saw in the vehicles I examined.

Jeep Cherokee and Wrangler seats appear to be a reasonably good fit, as they have a narrow mounting pedestal, with adjusting rail(s) attached on some models. The pedestal is about 12-14"" across. The primary draw-back with these is that every boneyard that I found that has any available in good shape thinks they're worth gold. The minimum price I was quoted on any Jeep seat was $200/pair for lower-end Cherokee seats; no dickering.

Toyota Paseo seats look to be a great seat. Decent fabrics, well made, steel ""bucket"" (the ""skeleton"" of the seat bottom), deep bolsters and comfortable. They suffer from two obvious drawbacks (as did most Toyota seats I saw): the rail spacing is 18"" and often the outboard rail is mounted from the side of the seat instead of from underneath the seat. MR-2 seats are similar.

Accura Integra seats also appear to be a good fit and are really cool seats. Sport versions have deep bolsters, a variety of fabrics, and solid construction. Rail spacing is about 17"", but at least they're both mounted to the bottom of the seat, which should make modification easier than the Toyota ones. Seat width is about 21"". Some Integra seats also have driver-side lumbar support adjustment and back-of-the-seat pockets. The big problem with the Integra seats was in finding any that weren't in ""Yuppie Tan"", something that definitely would've looked bad in a gray and black Samurai.

http://www.off-road.com/trucks-4x4/tech/samurai-seat-tech-20354.html

[Daniel75]

Dang you! Where were those seats last season when we were "roughing it"?

[BillyBa]

I'm thinking about some SRT-4 seats out of a Neon

[Luck_of_the_Draw]

I'm thinking about some SRT-4 seats out of a Neon

Neon seats should have the same rail width. Just line up the front two holes and put a couple self tappers in the rear. You'll be set.