ehh.. i think i should make a thread.. drilling holes, hammering stuff, jb weld.. i don't like this. lol.

I'm gonna goto the garage tonight, and make some info sheets on the stock seats, and come up with an effective, safe solution.

 

I did something tonight for my seat.

Pulled the rails off and noticed the brackets that hang the rear of the seat are held on with a rivet and a spot weld.

What you'll need:

Ratchet
10mm/12mm/14mm sockets
Hammer/Sledge
Drill
Center Punch
Small Bit (for a pilot hole)
Speed Bit (or 3/8" bit)
Welder or JB Weld
Chisel
Vise
Grinder/Dremel
Semi-gloss Black Spray Paint
Paint Pen

Start by removing the seat, 2 12mm bolts in the front and 1 14mm bolts in the back. DON'T FORGET TO UNPLUG THE WIRING UNDERNEATH THE SEAT! There are four plugs and a wire stay. Once the seat is out, find a good solid AND CLEAN place to work on the seat. To get to the driver's side rail, you'll have to remove the plastic cover. To remove the plastic cover, you will have to remove the lever handle. It just pulls off, but it's a stubborn one! Then you'll have 2 14mm bolts on the driver's side and a 14mm bolt on the passenger side. Once removed the top should pull out to the driver's side of the seat. Then you'll have a 14mm bolt on each side and a 12mm nut on each side underneath.

Now that you have the rails removed, put the rail you are working on in a vise. Now begin removal of the rivet and spot weld on the rear bracket. I used the center punch to give me a good place to start in the center of the rivet and spot weld. After you have punched the centers, grab the small bit and drill a pilot divot for the speed bit. Once you have a good divot in the center, use the speed bit to drill out the rivet. It should just fall out when make it through the head. Next, move on to the tack weld. You just need a 3/8" hole in the center, then get the chisel and wedge it behind the bracket from the top. The bracket should pop off the rail.

So, now you have two holes in the rail that are in-line, top-to-bottom. I took a standard Honda 10mm head bolt about 10mm long and a nut. Put the top hole on the bracket through the hole drilled for the spot weld, this should give you about a 1" drop. You will probably have to c-notch the driver's side bracket to clear the release mechanism for the forward/backward movement. Place the bracket in-line with the two holes and use a paint pen (or other marking device) to mark on the bracket where you'll need to remove material, Then grab your grinder/Dremel and remove the material slowly until the bottom hole on the rail lines up with the top hole on the bracket and the mechanism is not obstructed. Next, install the 10mm bolt loosely, and reassemble the rails to the seat and tightened down the nut and bolt that attaches the rail to the seat bottom. Once those are torqued, tightened the 10mm bolt and nut installed on the rear bracket. Then disassemble again and put a tack weld (or JB weld) at the top and make a spot weld with the bottom hole. Spray paint the new metal and reassemble.

The process took about 2 hours, but I bet it would take me only an hour to do it a second time. A friend of mine hopped in and I think he wants me to do his, too...so I'll try and get some pics.

 

I need to do this... but besides using sponges, does anyone have any info on repairing the bolster?

 

I went on e-bay and found the cheapest seat bottom cushion I could find... in my case it was for a Nissan Xterra.. total cost $22 shipped. I cut and patched in what I needed and used duct tape to hold it all together= feels like a new seat.

and I still have plenty of seat bottom foam for any future projects.

 

Im bringing this back....I plan to do this mod this week and I was wondering if anyone can confirm the size and thread of the nuts that need to be relocated once the new holes are drilled. I would wait till it is all apart and just bring the bolt to the the hardware store to find a matching nut, but I won't have a second car and was hoping to pick up the hardware before hand.

Thanks!

 

nice.

 

From my post a couple above yours.

 

Forgive me for not reading all 8 pages, but will this work on 06+ seats?

 

resurrection! all the pictures no longer work, some one wanna post them back up? PLEASE?

 

Glad that this Topic is still in the mixture!
1. a motivation for lowering a stock seat is to try and conform with Time-trials or 'driving events' on a racetrack. Clubs and event Organizers seem to be ever-more concerned with liability of even stock convertibles that are in a nearly "stock prepared" state and insist that the Honda [plastic clad] roll-hoops are too low and not structural enough in the event of an upside-down situation. Sure we can argue this technicality, but they are insisting more than ever for a 4-point-anchored roll structure. AND more to the point, they want my helmet to be a full two inches below the roll structure. And this [hard-dog] roll structure is already lower than my convertible roof. So my concern/question is if anyone [approx 5'11" tall] has any experience with lowering the stock driver's seat - - maybe by purchasing the Backyard Rail/product to get him/herself that much lower than a racetrack roll structure? Any of your buddies? Any questions? Any advice?

2. I did try experimenting on my passenger's side to remove seat-bottom foam and to re-configure the mounting by relocating the front attachment points almost an inch higher [on the frame/bucket sides] AND by cutting generous holes where the rear, stock rail-to-seat-bucket bolts together - - fabricating a couple of brackets that theoretically will allow the seat bottom to move downwards to be sitting on the carpet. But has anyone with the patience to do this sort of mod noticed the following:
a. there is a wire embedded in the seat-bottom cushion that runs down both sides and connects at the back [under the cushion-stitched-seams] that seems to give that seat bottom most of its shape and the seams are hog-ringed to this U-shaped perimeter wire? And in creating any sort of lowering bracket [anything that will lower the seat-bottom more than say 3/8inch [8mm?] that the brackets themselves, will definitely interfere/collide with this semi-structural upholstery wire? There are several photos on previous pages of this thread that show pieces of 1x1" sq-stock tubing and another where the author claim that this is a superior route to gaining maybe an inch of lowering. But it makes very little sense to me when this ?3mm? thick steel-wire is designed to locate so close to the bottom of the assembly. Effectively moving that area up an inch or more would require cutting this wire out of the [inside] seat cushion. And cut wires in a foam seat could mean puncturing the leather and/or my posterior.
b. the alternative [just leave that embedded upholstery-Wire intact and hope for the best] seems it would result in some weird re-contouring of the seat-cushion where the seams are forced an inch higher - - thus reducing the nice/deep seat bucket's design for me to be "in" the seat rather than "on" the seat and this re-contoured seat-cushion would not feel nearly as comfortable as stock and most likely it would bend the wire where it hits any sort of bracket and not allow me to lower myself much at the end of the day.

Is this making sense to anyone with actual experience in taking our seats apart? Anyone else notice this discrepancy?
Thanks for any clarification.
-jeff