As promised on the facebook page I'll do a writeup with some instructions on how to fit these seats in the 80 series, It took me around 10 hours to do across two days, results may vary.
You need to know how to weld for this project.
Tools used: Grinder, 3" cut off wheels, a high quality drill set, MIG welder basic hand tools and common sense (your interior might catch fire)
First things first i started with the passenger side, you should too. Worse case scenario if you run out of time you can always strap a cooler where the seat was.
once the seat is taken out you need to drill out the spot weld and rivet on each of the feet/brackets on the rails. Do not mangle these because you will be grafting them onto the new seats. REMEMBER WHAT FEET CAME OFF WHAT PART OF THE SEAT! they all have their place.
next do the same on the lexus seats, remove the feet/brackets off the rails. be careful not to drill all the way through and snag the ball screw.
You will need to notch the rail that the seats bolt into in the cabin. This rail is pretty damn beefy and didn't move when i was persuading it with a 2lb hammer. No i didn't swing like my younger brother.
Double check the spread across the rails of the lexus seats, i think mine measured 19" and the LC measured about 14.5-15" thats a difference of 4.5" across the whole seat, so 2.25" roughly 55mm per side. I had a chunk of 3" square tube with .125" wall that was perfect for the widening of the LC brackets.
all in all 3x2.25x.125 should be perfect.
put some good tack welds on them and bold them back onto the floor. these is just to see if everything is lining up
After bolting the new brackets in put the lexus seat back into the cabin and try and mock everything up to where it should sit. here are my results. Everything sits like it belongs there, nothing rubs and plenty of clearance underneath.
Yeah those are googly eyes in the door compartment. Don't judge me.
once the seat is mocked up you need to go in and tack the seat onto the brackets, or figure out a way to make everything stay perfectly. I don't think clamps will fit anywhere, i just had a fire extinguisher handy, i also wore two condoms and had 911 dialed and waiting. you cannot be too safe.
After tacking everything up pull the seats out and give it a good weld all around. The seat should be pretty damn solid at this point. Throw it in, bolt it up and it should be good if you did all the measuring right.
Next comes the wiring, I haven't had time to wire everything in yet, but on the passenger side only two wires need to be connected for the seats to work, It should be a thick blue wire (Battery +) and a thick white/black stripe wire (Battery -). I used the rear heater plug for temporary power to move the seats around.
This is basically it. I know the vent seats (the reason i got it, got waaaay to hot in the desert) need only a battery + and a switched - (little orange wire) to operate. The driver side is done exactly the same way, the plug is a little more complex but ill have a good diagram when i have the time. I'm limited on the amount of pictures i can upload so ill have a google drive link on here with all the pictures.
The seatbelt buckles need to be reused from your old seats! unbolt them, break the two tabs off, bend the steel straight and bolt them to the new seats!
if you have any questions or need help please ask, be extremely safe while grinding and welding.
Thanks for dropping by, enjoy!
Pics:
LC 80 seats - Google Drive
You need to know how to weld for this project.
Tools used: Grinder, 3" cut off wheels, a high quality drill set, MIG welder basic hand tools and common sense (your interior might catch fire)
First things first i started with the passenger side, you should too. Worse case scenario if you run out of time you can always strap a cooler where the seat was.
once the seat is taken out you need to drill out the spot weld and rivet on each of the feet/brackets on the rails. Do not mangle these because you will be grafting them onto the new seats. REMEMBER WHAT FEET CAME OFF WHAT PART OF THE SEAT! they all have their place.
next do the same on the lexus seats, remove the feet/brackets off the rails. be careful not to drill all the way through and snag the ball screw.
You will need to notch the rail that the seats bolt into in the cabin. This rail is pretty damn beefy and didn't move when i was persuading it with a 2lb hammer. No i didn't swing like my younger brother.
Double check the spread across the rails of the lexus seats, i think mine measured 19" and the LC measured about 14.5-15" thats a difference of 4.5" across the whole seat, so 2.25" roughly 55mm per side. I had a chunk of 3" square tube with .125" wall that was perfect for the widening of the LC brackets.
all in all 3x2.25x.125 should be perfect.
put some good tack welds on them and bold them back onto the floor. these is just to see if everything is lining up
After bolting the new brackets in put the lexus seat back into the cabin and try and mock everything up to where it should sit. here are my results. Everything sits like it belongs there, nothing rubs and plenty of clearance underneath.
Yeah those are googly eyes in the door compartment. Don't judge me.
once the seat is mocked up you need to go in and tack the seat onto the brackets, or figure out a way to make everything stay perfectly. I don't think clamps will fit anywhere, i just had a fire extinguisher handy, i also wore two condoms and had 911 dialed and waiting. you cannot be too safe.
After tacking everything up pull the seats out and give it a good weld all around. The seat should be pretty damn solid at this point. Throw it in, bolt it up and it should be good if you did all the measuring right.
Next comes the wiring, I haven't had time to wire everything in yet, but on the passenger side only two wires need to be connected for the seats to work, It should be a thick blue wire (Battery +) and a thick white/black stripe wire (Battery -). I used the rear heater plug for temporary power to move the seats around.
This is basically it. I know the vent seats (the reason i got it, got waaaay to hot in the desert) need only a battery + and a switched - (little orange wire) to operate. The driver side is done exactly the same way, the plug is a little more complex but ill have a good diagram when i have the time. I'm limited on the amount of pictures i can upload so ill have a google drive link on here with all the pictures.
The seatbelt buckles need to be reused from your old seats! unbolt them, break the two tabs off, bend the steel straight and bolt them to the new seats!
if you have any questions or need help please ask, be extremely safe while grinding and welding.
Thanks for dropping by, enjoy!
Pics:
LC 80 seats - Google Drive
