i finally got them in today. i put the passenger one in a few days ago, but the driver was a real pain. i ended up taking the rails, with the slider lock off of the ea81 seats and screwed them to the xt6 seats. i basically screwed the ea81 seat rails to the xt6 seats, where they lined up, and welded them where the holes didnt line up.

then i bolted the seats with rails secured to the holes in the body, closest to the shifter. after i did this, the other side was about 1.5 inches off, towards the doors, so i just welded that side to the body. they just barely fit, in fact, i had to cut the plastic trim, near the door seal, because it wouldnt go back on, and on the passenger side, the hatch lever, gets pulled off, when i slide forward. you could do this without a welder, a drill and tap would make it fit also, but im not that patient, and i own a welder.

 

i thought these things would bolt right into a ea81 with less trouble, like the ea82s they just fit right in. the ea81 is a pain in the rump roast. but...

now i have 6 inches more foot room than i can use, if i put them all the way back, and i am sitting 2-3 inches lower than the stock ea81 hatch seats. i dont think they would fit well in a brat, unless you drive like my dad, with the seat at a 90degree angle.

now my head wont hit the roof offroading, and my knees wont be bent too much on long road trips.

only thing that sucks, is i had to do away with the height adjustment, because it just wouldnt fit between the tranny hump, and hatch lever/brake lines. so i slammed it =]

works great with a 3inch shorter shifter.

 

worth the headaches though, i am now one with my hatch. if anybody shows interest, i can post somepics tomorrow.

They fit great in my '86 Brat. No issues with fit at all.

i was just thinking about the prelude seats i put in my old brat, and there was less room than with the little stock seats.

What mounting method did Qman use? Seat rail swap?

I was probably one of the first to do it so naturally I did it the hardest way possible. I should have just swapped slider rails like folks are doing now but instead I bolted the rear inboard mounts to the seatbelt hole in the tunnel. Then I made brackets to adapt the XT6 seat rail mounts to the EA81 holes in the floor pan. It worked and the positioning is good. But the process was about as much hassle as you describe if not more. I can still get at the hatch release lever but I have to joggle the lever slightly to clear the seat rail. They are nice seats but man the drivers seat with it's height adjust mechanism is heavy. Not a mod for the weight conscious.

I am thinking about doing this in my wagon, I would like to see the pics. Could u take a pic of the mounting? It might be hard sence its in a hatch though...

hey Ken.. can you give us some details about how you mounted your XT6 seats in your brat? I haven't put my XT6 seats in my wagon yet, and i might put them in my brat instead... thanks

yah, mike, thats what i did with the ea82 cars, but i just couldnt see it working out in my ea81.

and the weight... i dont have height adjustment, so i took all that metal out, and the xt6 rails are alot of the weight. i'll get some digis today.

pics

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Hey Everybody This is Jerry, i just got done installing a set of 88 XT6 seats in my 86 hatch. What i did is the same as i did in Ed brat and that was on the inner slides of the xt cut all the extra parts of the slides off. Then cut the mounting brackets of the xt slides so they are flat on the bottom. The EA81 slides cut them in half you use the bottom half only, the part that bolts to the floor. Bolt the bottom half of the slide to the floor then place the seat on the bolted slide tack weld the slides together. Then remove the seat and finish welding the slides together and rebolt back into your subaru. Thanks Jerry

how did you get your console parts black? are they painted or were they black from the factory?

thats a damn good idea too. but i was going for on the ground, low.

 

the console is painted black, if you look close you can see brown through a scratch, i think. its black vinyl paint, duplicolor makes it, not too tough, but i have a thin coat on right now.

Could a person put the height adjust onto ea81 seats? I like the feel of the older seats better but want the height adjuster.

i thought i liked the older seats, but then i got into these. the rx seats are still kinda hokey, but these feel like race seats, compared to others.

most of the height adjust is in the construction of the seats, steel hinges and pivots, it would be alot of trouble i think.