Yep, I'm looking to do the same. Tons of recent Jetta seats available according to car-part.com, many with seat heaters already.
COMPILED - 80 Series Seat Swap Thread (4 Viewers)
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Yep, I'm looking to do the same. Tons of recent Jetta seats available according to car-part.com, many with seat heaters already.
alia176
SILVER Star
I'd love to find a pair of manual 80 seats for crying out loud. That has been a challenge for me. I so hate power and leather seats and all of my cars come with them 
voodu3
SILVER Star
I just installed the procar elite seats in my 80 with the planted brackets. I went with these after two failed attempts with other seats. One CL find and some Audi A4 seats that I couldn’t figure out how to make work. These turned out ok but they werent the plug and play I had hoped for. The brackets fit the 80 perfectly but the seats didn’t fit the brackets without some modification. After a few hours of measuring, cutting and drilling they are in and they are a big improvement over my old seats.
I'd love to find a pair of manual 80 seats for crying out loud. That has been a challenge for me. I so hate power and leather seats and all of my cars come with them
Don't discount the 91/92 seats. There seem to be more of them around and they bolt straight in. You do have to hog out the seat belt receiver hole to swap in the FZJ seat belt receiver and the metal tab is about .2mm thinner. Some people are squeamish about doing this, fair enough. It is also an area that is easily reinforced if you feel comfortable welding metal on the thin side.
I love my manual FJ80 seats. My only complaint with them is they don't sit as erect as the FZJ electric seats. I've gotten use to it though.
So I have serious question here. I applaud your ingenuity and creativity to make a seat from another vehicle fit your LC. virtually every seat featured on this post, has some type of modification to mounting brackets. The steel brackets and mounts on the OEM seats are very beefy and designed to fit to the molded floor. So my question is, from a safety and engineering perspective, do you really know if that mounting bracket or mounting design can withstand the impact of a collision, similar to the OEM mounts?
I understand that any impact severe enough will break any mount, but very few of us are engineers for Toyota that designed those seat mounting brackets.
I want to change my seats just as much as anyone else here, but I'm concerned about the safety aspect of using a different seat and mount.
I understand that any impact severe enough will break any mount, but very few of us are engineers for Toyota that designed those seat mounting brackets.
I want to change my seats just as much as anyone else here, but I'm concerned about the safety aspect of using a different seat and mount.
I for one am not the least bit concerned about the safety of properly mounted seats, assuming the seats are mounted to well-constructed brackets. The brackets I've used in the past are at least as beefy and strong as the brackets I've taken out. If anything, I'd be more concerned about my 22 year old airbag, or lift, or non-factory bumpers, or hundreds of pounds of expo gear in drawers, etc. To me, seats are pretty low on my list of things to worry about.
Most factory parts are designed by engineers to accomplish two things 1) meet design parameters for performance or safety 2) minimize material costs (i.e. use as little metal as necessary). Most people designing their own brackets are using far thicker metal than the stock stuff they are removing. As long as you're not a goon, and have reasonable mechanical aptitude, not hard to design something perfectly safe. My $.02
alia176
SILVER Star
These seats actually look to be affordable. What are the major pros for these seats besides the price? These caught my eye, the wallet still screamed but not as loudly Procar Elite Lumbar Seat | Procar by SCAT | Custom Seating Solutions
voodu3
SILVER Star
I looked at every aftermarket seat out there and these looked like the best option for the price for me. They are comfortable, fit the space well, and they had good reviews. The only drawback for me was the slider had a 90* mounting bracket that I ended up cutting off. It just added some extra work I wasn’t planning on. Overall they look great and are comfortable. Time will tell how well they hold up but my 80 isn’t a daily driver so they should last for a few years.
So the seats in my 91 work fine and aren't rotted out or anything. I also have nice custom seat covers made for them. But I got some wrx seats for free so I am trying to decide if I should swap them. Do you all think the wrx seats are that much more comfortable that I should swap them in, or should I leave my old ones?
Dirty Koala
SILVER Star
I picked up a pair of 2012 wrx seats yesterday, I havent installed them yet, but sitting in them on the ground they feel great.. plus they recline completely flat.
Anybody?
That's a question that only your butt can answer.
Which one is more comfortable to you?
shermantank55
SILVER Star
With my BMW seats I just clipped the wires to the airbags and left them in the seats.
My DD is a 14 WRX. They've been pretty nice on a 45 minute commute.
I felt the same way about my manual seats. I bought some 1” aluminum spacers for the drivers seat rear mounts and it fixed that feeling. The seat back feels like it’s at the perfect recline now when fully upright. I wish the seat would slide back another inch or two Now.
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Does anyone make a universal bracket to mout seats to for the 80? I would love to just bolt things together or just make the seat mount flat so it can bolt to a bracket that's made for the 80?
I'd love adjustability and especially lumbar support on both passenger and driver side if anyone has suggestions I'd appreciate it. So far lexus and some audi is all I've found
I'd love adjustability and especially lumbar support on both passenger and driver side if anyone has suggestions I'd appreciate it. So far lexus and some audi is all I've found
voodu3
SILVER Star
I got these and they fit the 80 perfectly. I did have to drill a couple of holes to get them to fit my seats but other than that they worked well. Planted Seat Bracket- Toyota Land Cruiser 80 Series [J80] (1990-1997) - Driver / Left
ranma21
Supporting Vendor
So other than cost rebuilding factory leather seat and requiring special seat such as Sheelmann seat, what is the main reason you all replacing the factory seat for? I have rebuilt of my LX 80 seat with new leather and new factory seat foam (top and bottom), and I find that it is very comfortable, huge improvement before and after. In fact it is way way better than my LX570 seat, don’t like it at all.
