Discovery 2 seats in FJ62

[hygge]

Nice job @Aravind Dileepan ! Impressed by how it all looks. I have a 2 year old and like the idea of having a LATCH system installed on my 89.

Plus I am sure my wife would LOVE heated seats with motors.

Would the disco seats work for someone that is 6'3" or am I too tall ?

 

[Randy88FJ62]

I'm 6'5" and I have a driver's front disco LR2 seat. Fits me fine. I modified the manual brackets so the seat is further away allowing more space for my legs.

 

[D21FJ60]

So those front seat pictures?

 

[Aravind Dileepan]

Finally, here are the pictures of how I've done the front seats (for now).

I had to use a cutoff wheel and a die grinder on the Disco seats to remove its stock mounting points and clean it up for the install. I covered as much as I could with plastic but metal shavings still got everywhere underneath the seat. Thankfully, compressed air got most of it out.

We cut the front and rear feet off the stock seats and bolted them back to the car. The rear feet, marked by green arrows, are labeled in paint pen in the pictures (DOR, DIF, DOF, etc (for Driver Outside Rear, Driver Inside Front, etc (although I mislabeled on that's in the picture (it should be DIR, not DIF))).

The parallel green lines sandwich a piece of flatstock that we welded across the feet perpendicular to the car, so from left to right. This was to secure the feet in relation to one another and the mounting points in the floor.

Finally, we rested the seat on this new bracket of sorts, made sure it was lined up straight, and tacked its slider to the flatstock. Then we removed the whole thing and did a full weld (marked by red arrows).

The next picture shows the view from the side. I have not yet secured the controls to the seat skirt, so they just hang out below the seat.

This is the view of the front mounting points. The green shows the flatstock and the red is the weld point on the inside foot.

Two problems with this setup:

1. If you're not careful about getting it square, you could bind up the motor, which has happened on the passenger side.

2. It makes the seats sit really high.

As it turns out, @torfab 's brackets for BMW 3 Series seats appear to fit the dimensions of these seats and will obviate the need to use the "feet" from the stock seats. That means that both my problems will be solved.

I'll have to grind these brackets off and then either weld (or hopefully bolt) these seats to the Torfab brackets.

Once I do that, I'll post pictures.

Best,

Ara Dileepan

 

[tschuszl]

Finally, here are the pictures of how I've done the front seats (for now).

I had to use a cutoff wheel and a die grinder on the Disco seats to remove its stock mounting points and clean it up for the install. I covered as much as I could with plastic but metal shavings still got everywhere underneath the seat. Thankfully, compressed air got most of it out.

We cut the front and rear feet off the stock seats and bolted them back to the car. The rear feet, marked by green arrows, are labeled in paint pen in the pictures (DOR, DIF, DOF, etc (for Driver Outside Rear, Driver Inside Front, etc (although I mislabeled on that's in the picture (it should be DIR, not DIF))).

The parallel green lines sandwich a piece of flatstock that we welded across the feet perpendicular to the car, so from left to right. This was to secure the feet in relation to one another and the mounting points in the floor.

Finally, we rested the seat on this new bracket of sorts, made sure it was lined up straight, and tacked its slider to the flatstock. Then we removed the whole thing and did a full weld (marked by red arrows).

View attachment 2190637

The next picture shows the view from the side. I have not yet secured the controls to the seat skirt, so they just hang out below the seat.

View attachment 2190640

This is the view of the front mounting points. The green shows the flatstock and the red is the weld point on the inside foot.

View attachment 2190642

Two problems with this setup:

1. If you're not careful about getting it square, you could bind up the motor, which has happened on the passenger side.

2. It makes the seats sit really high.

As it turns out, @torfab 's brackets for BMW 3 Series seats appear to fit the dimensions of these seats and will obviate the need to use the "feet" from the stock seats. That means that both my problems will be solved.

I'll have to grind these brackets off and then either weld (or hopefully bolt) these seats to the Torfab brackets.

Once I do that, I'll post pictures.

Best,

Ara Dileepan

Any word on the Torfab brackets?

 

[Aravind Dileepan]

Any word on the Torfab brackets?

They work. It's a much cleaner process than welding. You'll have to drill holes into the rails on the seats, but that's it.

I had some trouble with getting the holes to line up properly after I installed the brackets. I think what I should have done is dry fit the brackets on the cabin, place the seat on top, mark and drill out the holes in situ, then bolt it up.

Instead, I attached the brackets to the seats then bolted them to the cab. I had to wrestle to get the mounting points to line up.

I'll post up pictures later.

 

[FozzyBear]

Do you have the electronics for the front seats connected and working?

 

[Aravind Dileepan]

I do, although I'm not sure if the seat heaters actually work (the light turns on when I turn the switch on but I don't feel much heat.

To wire them, I pulled as much of the harness as I could when I got the seats. I identified hots and grounds and ran them to a buss box I have under the hood. The buss box is for my headlights, but it had three extra relays for future additions. I used one relay to both seats' motors and another relay to control the heaters (I believe).

 

[dbleon]

I cant believe im just seeing this mod for the first time! This is now at the top of my list. They look like a perfect fit! and the fab looks simple the way you did it. Bravo!

The factory 60 seats SUCK! beyond the extremely annoying and infamous rear seat rattles.... they are beyond uncomfortable.

Have you figured out the seat belts???

 

[Aravind Dileepan]

I'll post pics of the front seat brackets and the seatbelts this afternoon.

For the front, I'm using the stock belts and receivers.

For the rear, the buckles (female end) are integrated into the seat. I was unable to devise a way to install the belts themselves from the Disco because they're designed to be perfectly aligned vertically to work properly. I cut the male ends off and sent them to Seatbelt Planet to make adapters, which they did, and I also bought FJ62 rear shoulder belts from them. I have threaded C pillars, so I just need to install the retractors I got from them onto the wheel well and I'll be set.

The adapters are necessary because the Toyota style buckle shape isn't compatible with the Disco's, and the Disco's female end is integrated. It adds a little length to the setup but I don't think it'll be a problem.

 

[FozzyBear]

I’m eager to see the pics of final product. I think that I have added another item on my “62 ToDo” list

 

[Aravind Dileepan]

I still owe a picture of the rear seatbelt system, but here's the best I can do with the front seats.

Torfab's brackets (for BMW 3 series seats) just run under each seat, from left to right, one across the front and one across the rear. One of the pics below shows the rearward bracket. The middle picture shows how it bolts to the rails on the seat itself.

This is a much cleaner installation than what I had previously and it doesn't require welding, only a drill. Also, it keeps the whole seat lower than the bracket I made previously.

I also ran the electric controls to the center console, like they are in the Disco. It was easier than fabricating something to attach it to the outside of the seat. Also, the way they mounted, it pushed the entire seat about an inch toward the outside of the cab, so there's very little room between the seat and the door.

 

[Aravind Dileepan]

Here are some pictures of the buckle adapter that Seatbelt Planet made me. I needed these because the bench has integrated Land Rover buckles and I was unable to use the Land Rover belt itself (I couldn't get the orientation correct for it to function correctly).

This required a phone call and an RMA number to send in the donors. The donors were there male ends of the belts I couldn't use.