How to Lower Front Seat

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11/19/2012, 03:56 AM
mrtew

How to Lower Front Seat

I remember an old thread about by a guy who was pounding down the floor mounts for the front seat with a hammer to get his head away from the roof but I can't find anything about lowering the front seat using the search function now. When it was my only car I got used to it but now that I have a Camaro and a Caddillac I really notice the ridiculous driving position when I get in my VX. Just lowering the back of the seat cushion a half inch or so would make all the difference. Does anyone know of any method for achieving this? Gosh adjustable seats would be nice!
11/19/2012, 04:06 AM
tom4bren

Here Ya go. Take to heart the opening comment ... it's not a mod for the faint of heart as it requires cutting and metalic deformation to complete this job.
11/19/2012, 04:53 PM
mrtew

Wow that looks like way too much for me!!! I guess I'll just keep slouching. Why the heck did Isuzu mount the seats so freaking high? I almost wonder if they used different seats in Japan or if maybe Japanese people are shorter or something??? I guess they're the same ones but with cool cloth pattern... eek!

http://img03.carview.co.jp/trade/img...1400551/12.jpg

That front mount looks like a real problem but I'm thinking that I don't even need to lower the front; it just feels like the rear is too high, like I'm tipped forward and could slide forward under the dash compared to my other cars not to mention my head being too close to the roof. When I look at the rear of the tracks it almost looks like the attachment bracket on the back could be removed and flipped over and bolted back on and would drop the rear of the track all the way to the floor, exactly the inch or so that I'm looking for!

http://imageshack.us/a/img69/6079/rearbolt.jpg

This picture of the rear of the seat track is taken from the side looking in the driver's door. I'm talking about flipping-over the bent black bracket that's bolted onto the floor with the green bolt and attached to the seat rail with a rivet and welds according to the description. It looks like there's just enough room on the floor for it to be flipped (although you can't tell in the picture) and if not maybe it would be easy to just replace the bracket with a straight piece of metal. Can someone else please try it first and tell me how it goes??? ;-]
11/19/2012, 06:26 PM
Ldub

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrtew

http://imageshack.us/a/img69/6079/rearbolt.jpg

This picture of the rear of the seat track is taken from the side looking in the driver's door. I'm talking about flipping-over the bent black bracket that's bolted onto the floor with the green bolt and attached to the seat rail with a rivet and welds according to the description. It looks like there's just enough room on the floor for it to be flipped (although you can't tell in the picture) and if not maybe it would be easy to just replace the bracket with a straight piece of metal. Can someone else please try it first and tell me how it goes??? ;-]

I see no reason why that procedure wouldn't work. Especially if you're willing to have some flat "keeper tabs" fabbed, to hold the rear seat mounting to the floor.

Personally, I've taken it one step farther when I installed my racer boy seats, by drilling the spot welds/rivets to remove the rear mount, thus lowering the rear of the rails all the way to the floor. That gained about 3/4-1" IIRC. For my application, that wasn't enough...so I scribed a line parallel with the floor, from the top rear of the slider to about 2-3" fwd on the bottom of the slider rail. Then I got out the mini grinder & cut a pie shaped cross section from the rear of the slider, lowering the rear about another 3/4".
Then it's just a matter of fabbing some keeper tabs that'll hold down the rear.
They need to be shaped like a big keyhole, so the skinny part can overlay the very center indent of the slider rail, & the round part will go under the bolt head.

:luck:.:smack:
11/19/2012, 07:35 PM
pbkid

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrtew

I almost wonder if they used different seats in Japan or if maybe Japanese people are shorter or something???

LOL is that a real question? ;)
12/20/2012, 06:46 AM
jdm monkey

Nooooo! don't hammer it! I'll fab you a set of lowered seat brackets!
12/20/2012, 08:15 AM
mrtew

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdm monkey

Nooooo! don't hammer it! I'll fab you a set of lowered seat brackets!

COOL! I'd love that!!! I'll pay you!!! Hurry; I'm looking for the hammer right now!
12/20/2012, 09:03 AM
JoFotoz

x2

I may well be interested in a set.

Any details?

Thanks

Jo
12/21/2012, 08:28 AM
evillecutter

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoFotoz

x2

I may well be interested in a set.

Any details?

Thanks

Jo

uh yeah me too details please...
12/28/2012, 10:27 PM
jdm monkey

To lower the seats, the "wedge" seat mounts have to be trimmed down 2". This picture illustrates the "wedge".
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8364/8...cb360b57_b.jpg
12/29/2012, 05:30 AM
mrtew

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdm monkey

To lower the seats, the "wedge" seat mounts have to be trimmed down 2". This picture illustrates the "wedge".

Wow that sound interesting! Has anyone done that yet. Seems like that would be tricky!