DIY seat brackets for cool seats

Having an SR5 means I'm blessed with flat, unsupportive seats. In fact I actually have trouble staying centered in the seat even sitting still due to lack of bolstering. So a bucket seat is a natural upgrade when the handling limit of the car is whether I can hold onto the steering wheel and stay in the seat.

So a new seat needs it's own mounts since aftermarket seats are universal. You can buy AE86-specific seat mounts, and that's all well and good, if you have a couple hundred bucks to spend. But think about this: what is holding your current seat in? Aha! This is how to disassemble a stock seat to obtain the bracket/slider combo, and save you an asston of money.

Step 1: remove the seat. 4x 14mm head bolts hold it down. If you need a picture and help with that, do yourself a favor and buy Buddy Club rails.

Step 2: turn the seat upside-down so you can how the sliders work. Mess with the levers so you understand how it works and how it all works together.


Step 3: remove all the side stuff. There are a handful of tiny Philips screws that hold the two plastic side covers on. The knob on the left side is held in with a spring clip. It'll shoot off and knock a little hole in your drink cup if you're not careful. Underneath those covers are 2x 12mm bolts on each side. Take them out, these 4 bolts hold the butt cushion to the frame.


Step 4: drill out the 6 rivets that attach the seat frame to the seat sliders. There are 3 per side, plus a special hidden spot weld on each side towards the back. I used a 1/8" drill bit for a pilot hole, then a 3/8" bit to rip the heads of the rivets. A hammer and punch will knock out the rest of the rivet. I used a broken screw driver and pry bar to separate the sliders from the frame. I'm pointing at the surprising spot weld I'm this picture, you can see the 3 holes drilled out and the slider separate from the frame.


Step 5: once both are sides are separated, you can reinstall the rails into the car using the original hardware. Try to keep the two sides even with each other, they can slide and lock independent of each other now that the frame is off. This is not a bad thing because your new seat will tie the two together just the same as the original frame.


Step 6: attach your mounting brackets to the seat and set the seat on the brackets in the car, then mark where your holes will be and take the seat back out. Drill the holes and bolt down the mounts to the sliders, bolt the seat to the brackets, then put your butt in the seat and grin like a dumb baby cuz you just made somethin that costs 200 bigguns.

I don't have pics for step 6 because my seat hasn't been delivered yet. Stay tuned!

good right up, i may do this for my MOMO seats

this is awsome dude! cuz i didnt wana pay a couple hundred bucks for those
aftermarket mounts so me and my wallet THANK YOU!

Hey no problem. Now I don't know what kind of seat you guys have, or will have, so you'll have to engineer a bracket to attach the seat to the sliders. I am going to get these Nagisa Auto brackets and try them out. These would be the easiest solution for the seats assuming width and offset and all that stuff works out.


Another fancier (read: more expensive) option are prefabbed brackets like these.


I bought some 4"x4" angle aluminum to carve out if the Nagisa brackets don't work out. I was offered the Nagisa brackets for only tjw price of shipping, so it's worth a try! I have a plan for the L stock if I use the Nagisa brackets, i'm going to use them to make rear hatch bar brackets.

Went to Lowes and got carriages bolts that key into the Nagisa brackets from the top since the seats sit so low to the brackets. Then I went to Ace and got longer bolts and spacers for the seat sides. Got everything I need except time.

Seat is in and done. Total cost is around 25 bucks, suck it Buddy Club. Here's the rest of the pics of stuff. These are my longer seat bolts with their spacers.


Mount the brackets to the seat, measure the spacing so you can drill out the rails.


Carriage bolts holding the brackets to the rails. They were 1" long, I had to chop a little off the shank, maybe use 3/4" long bolts. Too long and the slider gets stuck. Remember to keep your work area clean and organized.


Throw it all in the car and hammer down.

good write up man im looking forward to doing this when i get my seats!!

I don't think I put a link for the brackets, buy these. They're $29 shipped and will save you a bunch of work.
http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewitem?itemId=260964162896&index=3&nav=SEARCH&nid=32205748935

You still gotta measure the width of your seats' bases, then the brackets' centers gotta be 16" apart.

Looks great. Only thing I would suggest is switching out your Lowes hardware to rated hardware. Last thing you want to happen is your seat snapping out and tossing about the cabin with you strapped/strangled in it!

Get at least Grade5, Grade8 would be best. If it we're me I'd take no chances.

It is. SAE 5 and the metric bolts are 8.8, which is about SAE 5.