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Junkyard seats

Hyde

Andgoseek
Joined
May 26, 2020
Member Number
1468
Messages
160
Loc
North Idaho
Can we get a thread going for decent seats that could be found in the junkyard or part outs?

My Ranger has some 2000s aftermarket ricer seats in it that are pretty beat down and busted. I missed out on a set of $75 wrx seats on Craigslist so that got me thinking on what else might have seats with decent bolsters, easy to find and cheap.
 
Picked up a set of 2014 WRX seats for $100, put them in an LJ, and plan to get a set of Iggee covers.
WRX seat.jpg
 
Old school ones to look for were honda prelude or crx.

Since those are probably blown out by now, I'd just look at any sporty car in the junk yard.

On the other end, our 96 Sonoma had some cushy ass bucket couches in it :grinpimp:

What about benches? I'm looking at putting a bench in my samurai (lame, I know) so I can fit my family of 5 in it. It's 47" at the b pillar. The Toyota bench I have here is 48" wide, which should work, but it's in kinda shitty shape.

Any tips on a 60/40 from a small truck? Nissan, ranger?

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For a decent in between among comfy, sporty, and easy-ish to find, Subaru Imprezas have decent seats, many of them heated, not so hard that they're uncomfortable, and not really a sporty car, so people don't go after the seats as any kind of an upgrade. More of an accountant-mobile, and they made (still make) a lot of them. Crosstreks are just Imprezas with lift kits, same seats, heated seats were standard in most Crosstreks. The WRX is just a sportied-up Impreza, but often the used market parts prices reflect that. I'm getting old, WRX seats are too hard to be comfortable for me.

Toyota MR2 seats are nice, as are Honda Prelude seats, but they haven't been made in a while, so what's out there is pretty beat by now.

Little Kia seats are surprisingly nice too, I'd watch out for the side airbags though. IIRC, Subaru puts their side impact bags in the pillars/body, Kia likes to put them in the seats, which may not be an issue if you're putting them in something else, but if you're going after a still-powered-up car, be safe. The bigger Kias have more like bucket couches, which, if you're larger, could be a good thing.
 
If you can find ones that aren't totally fucked, mid '00's Accord buckets were good, decent bolsters but not quite as hard as WRX or Evo seats, they also don't have the WRX/Evo tax associated with them. The problem with the late model seats anymore is power driver's seats being standard. Airbags are there in some of em but they're not really something to worry about unless you're big on shoving power into random connectors, any car you find in the junkyard is already going to be missing the battery anyway, and even if it isn't you've gotta try pretty hard to set one off.
 
01 to 05 Civic Hatchback were made by Recaro and are very comfy. E30 BMW seats are really nice.
 
I got a set of RX8 seats in my baby crawler, super nice but hard to find. Hyundai seats in my little Samurai, really comfortable, driver seat has armrest.
 
Just go to the junkyard and sit in shit until you find something you like. It's not rocket science.
 
I have some out of a newer Dodge Dart. They are comfy and have decent bolsters in them but the height of the cushion to mounts is kind of tall. With a stock floor it would make it tight on head clearance if you are 6' or taller.

1yvWIIF.jpg
 
I have some seats out of my wifes old dodge caliber. It was a 2007. They are manual adjust and the mounts are flat. Dont seem that tall really. Decent bolsters and are fairly comfortable. Going to use them to replace the ones out of my 98 tahoe. Will save some room over those wide cushy factory seats. I will grab a pic to put on here.
 
I have some out of a newer Dodge Dart. They are comfy and have decent bolsters in them but the height of the cushion to mounts is kind of tall. With a stock floor it would make it tight on head clearance if you are 6' or taller.

1yvWIIF.jpg

What's that in? Looks like a Ranger. Is your seating position pretty high up?
 
What's that in? Looks like a Ranger. Is your seating position pretty high up?

Yes it is in a ranger. They do sit higher than factory seats, so they may not be good for taller people. These are mounted to the factory seat tracks which does add about a inch or two to the height but I needed the adjustment for the wife. A helmet with a cage above your head would not work with these in my opinion.

I am planning on using them in my new build but I will not be working with factory seat tracks or floor, so I can make the mounts lower.
 
My '99 Ranger uses Escort ZX2 seats. Cheap, comfy and not hard to make mounts for. MUCH more room than the factory 60/40! 7K miles in 9 days on last years adventure and not a peep out of the GF about uncomfortable seats.
 
I have been thinking about AC And heated seats From a Cadillac or something to be more effective hvac in rigs with no top or doors.
 
Old school ones to look for were honda prelude or crx.
<snip>
Any tips on a 60/40 from a small truck? Nissan, ranger?
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I did the Honda into my old FJ40 back in the 90s.

I did 2000 Tacoma 60/40 into my FJ55. I liked the seat in my old 99 Tacoma as well as my current 01 Tacoma. I did many trips from the Bay Area down to San Diego.

The bitch with the Tacoma 60/40 is the seat sliders are at different levels. Which means if you want to do an "easy" tube mount, it isn't easy. It really pissed my fab guy off :p

*edit pictures*
Here is finished install:
seats1_sml.JPG

Here is weird height difference:
seats3_sml.JPG
 
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I swapped seats out of my 99 camry DD that I sent to the scrapper into my 2002 tacoma. Power and damn comfy! They sold like a million Camry's a day since the dawn of time so they should be easy and cheap to find.
 
I put Cobalt SS seats in my scout. Just the standard ones but I think the higher end ones had Recaros. Impala SS also got them.
 
It's just sitting in there for now. I wanted to get and idea of the size difference in the stock ones and the caliber seats.






Looks like it fits in there pretty well, do they flip forward to access the back seat? My current ones don't and it's a pain
 
Looks like it fits in there pretty well, do they flip forward to access the back seat? My current ones don't and it's a pain

Well the whole seat doesnt flip forward. It was a 4 door. The backs do lay forward. They both have manual slides and recline. Headrests are removeable as well.


That thing had big fluffy wide, power leather seats in it. So these will save some space all around the seats and allow for a bigger console. Maybe even an arb type fridge in the middle.
 
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The best factory seats I have ever sat in were Honda Del Sol seats.

I have a set of 02 Corolla S seats In my SJ410 they are perfect for it. I even mounted the passenger side to the factory flip forward brackets. I was able to leave the Toyota sliders on both so they both slide too. They are wider than Suzuki seats but not too wide for the SJ. The door closes right against the seat.
 
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