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Swapping driver's seat of 1988 GL + two seat stories


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I'd like to swap out the driver's seat for something newer and more comfy. I don't care what it looks like but I don't want to do a lot of modification. Are there any particular seats I should consider looking for at the PnP?

 

I DID managed to add some comfort to the butt-pad part of the stock seat a few years back by trading the butt-pad from the passenger side seat however newer car seats are much more comfortable on my blobby shape. It's the same pad, but(t) you just need to switch the plastic trim to the other side.

 

Historically I have not been shy about periodically removing the seats/backs, taking them to the DIY carwash and pressure sudsing then rinsing them. Same with the carpet.  Funky smells be gone!

 

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I just swapped some 99 outback seats into my loyale. I wish I didn't get a set with height adjust. I had to cut all that out. Get some newer Subaru seats with 17" rail centers just like your GL and you might have to drill a couple holes and get some nuts, bolts and washers. It was real easy aside from the height adjust stuff. Use your old rails and just bolt the new seats onto them.

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I know you don't want to do a lot of mods, but your butt will thank you if you do. I've got seats out of a 07 Jeep Patriot in my 87 gl and they are awesome! I personally don't like subaru seats at all, even the nice outback ones. Even in good shape they just feel like the seats on the mid 90's community transit buses I rode on as a kid.

 

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/130988-just-put-07-jeep-compasspatriot-seats-in-my-87-gl/

 

Josh

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I installed 03 Impreza RS seats in my Brat back around 04-05. Yes, I had to do very minor fabbing but they are awesome seats. Two holes lined up and two had to have a 1" tab installed. Mine were new take outs from a rally car down in Fla. Exactly like WRX seats without the air bags.

 

Don't mean anything by it Josh but to even think that a Jeep seat comes close is beyond me. I have sat in a Liberty though it was an early model, maybe 03 Patriot. They are no where near as comfortable to me as mine or my wife's seats in her 2011 Forester XT.

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I installed 03 Impreza RS seats in my Brat back around 04-05. Yes, I had to do very minor fabbing but they are awesome seats. Two holes lined up and two had to have a 1" tab installed. Mine were new take outs from a rally car down in Fla. Exactly like WRX seats without the air bags.

 

Don't mean anything by it Josh but to even think that a Jeep seat comes close is beyond me. I have sat in a Liberty though it was an early model, maybe 03 Patriot. They are no where near as comfortable to me as mine or my wife's seats in her 2011 Forester XT.

 

Hey its all good, to each their own right? I guess what I was trying to get across was that the OP shouldn't be limited by staying with subaru seats, but instead it turned into a rant about my dislike of subaru seats. Any seat will work that physically fits in the car, you just have to make it work. I've heard a lot of guys that talk highly of newer subaru seats, especially the WRX/STI seats, so maybe my butt and back isn't built for them.

 

Josh

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That wasn't a rant, more like a review. We test drove a Patriot, Legacy and Forester back in 2003. To our butt (wife and me) the Legacy was hands down winner in the butt department, lol! The Patriot and base Forester were much closer with the Forester edging the Patriot out mainly on ride, the Patriot seemed a little harsher to us.  I guess when you talk nearly thirty year old cars about anything from late 90's and up should be a massive improvement. My Brat seats got so bad when I went across rail road tracks it felt like my butt contacted metal sometimes. Plus I was vacuuming little bits of foam up from under the seats on a regular basis. An old drink crate might have been better, you remember the old wooden ones for glass bottles!!!

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On the 03 Impreza RS seats the installation was very simple. The front inside tab bolts in, the rear inside arm on the seat I had to shorten with a sawzall. Drill a hole for the bolt were the seat belt bolts in on the transmission tunnel. The outside only required cutting a small piece of flat steel ( I think maybe 2" long, 1/4" thick, 1" wide), bolting to the seat and drilling a new bolt hole in the flat steel to mate with the factory bolt location. If you have access to a drill and a sawzall it is an easy 3 hr. job to remove old seats and install new.

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