How to: Seat levers on outside (swap seats)

[travisgarrison]

Originally Posted by RobertSmalls

I took the seats out of my car today (unrelated) and thought I'd see about moving the levers to the outboard sides.

The seats are not symmetrical. After the mod, your seat belt recievers would be a little lower. Also, you can either lose the driver's side seat belt sensor, or break off the metal tabs that keep the reciever from rotating through more than 50° of motion (e.g. falling over and ending up on the floor).

I'll put it back together tonight, but I'm not sure in what configuration.

This is why you need to keep the seatbelt, buckle and mounting hardware on it's respective side. I was able to unclip and fish the sensor through the drivers seat and then refish it through the passenger seat (after swapping) without any modification to the seat belt sensor. In that right they are exactly symmetrical.

when you swap the seats the outside bolt (where the belt attaches to the seat) is a little bit lower, but I didn't find the inside (receiver side) to be lower... or at least if it was, it wasn't noticeable.

As for the metal tab, I did break that off (read my writeup), but I have yet to have the receiver fall on the floor because of it.

As for symmetry the only thing I noticed is that the seat is facing slightly more toward the middle of the car, but we're talking a degree or two... not enough to affect driving or leg comfort. The seats are also slightly closer to the doors (about 1-2"). I actually like this though because it leaves more space between the two seats.

[Need4Speed]

I did the seat swap and was disappointed in that there does not seem to be any more space between the seats. Was nice to get the seat levers on the outside, but the outside of the original seats seems to be thicker and longer and did not seem to make any more room for a console. Looks like the original config actually came in a little by the shifter console and swapping them makes them tighter.

Has anyone done anything to actually move the seats farther out? Looks like there is still close to an inch available.

[Rush]

Great writeup! I've taken the seats out and washed the covers before. The seat 'ear' foam on the driver side was half torn off, I taped it back up and reinstalled the seats. Now with all the getting in and out, the 'ear' feels as if it is totally broken off, so I'm going to change the driver for the passenger.

I also find that the seat belt buckle, on the inside, since it is a solid bracket, tends to bother me on long trips (my wide ass...), so I've gotten some soft belt attachments that I'm going to substitute.

[Need4Speed]

I didn't like the fact that after swapping the seats they were angled in towards the center of the car. I also wanted more room between the seats. I made up a piece of metal to offset the front of the seats. I used a piece of metal from a garage door opener arm. Used a carriage bolt for the new fastener. I spaced the holes 1 1/2 inch apart. The seats are straight now, but offset to the left of the steering wheel. The front is also about a quarter inch higher than before. A side benefit is that the drivers door arm rest now is usable, was too far away before.







As a side not I ended up messing up the threads on both rear bolts just enough to keep them from going in, and also messed up the threads in one of the rear holes. One I messed up just finger tight. Had to order a metric tap and die from grainier.

[TopFuelTim]

I appreciate the posts. This is another mod in my future .

My 0.02 worth,
Tim Glover