MY/Brumby seats

General Subaru Talk - Media / News / Stories ...
User avatar
mattw
Junior Member
Posts: 189
Joined: Fri Oct 07, 2005 10:00 am
Location: Adelaide

Post by mattw » Tue Jun 06, 2017 11:10 pm

A topic I have been coming back to recently also.
From memory, Brumby seat to rail bolt holes are 16 inches in width. FIIK why it is not a straight metric width.
I spent some time in U-Pull-It measuring up some options a while back. i'm not that OCD that I measured all of them.
Some options I've seen or measured up for the easiest fit. Everything I have read still uses the original MY rails though, or questionable mods to the seat rail mounting.

2008 Suzuki Swift - apparently straight bolt on to original rails. Not confirmed myself
1998 Mazda Astina - bolts are within 5mm width-wise. There is some nice well bolstered sporty seats to choose from. My partner owned one for years, great seats.
Early 00's Commodore (yuck!)
Early Lib and Impr (non-height adjustable) - rail bolt position is 1/2 inch wider (yes imperial) so need to make a plate adaptor for one of the outside rail, and reposition rear bolts length-wise. Lib seat base is longer than the Brumby rails
Early Lib, later Lib, OB etc height adjustable. Can't easily modify the seat for the original rail, so (illegal) mods to the Lib rail legs to align with the Brumby mount points or floor.
Forester seats are nice, but sadly too high.

But after all that, I'm excited to see the 86/BRZ seats. Easy as, and awesome!

User avatar
pedroj
Junior Member
Posts: 85
Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2015 10:45 am
Location: Tanunda South Australia

Post by pedroj » Wed Jun 07, 2017 10:14 am

Have contacted Benny in Sydney and he has some seats there, Leather, Suede and Cloth. I have 1st dibs on the pair of cloth seats at a not to frightening price and he is happy to freight them, seems like a nice person to deal with.

ben@bennyscustomworks.com

call / text : 0415 522 512

So looks like my Red 92 will be getting an upmarket touch of class in the seat department anyway, now just need to replace a rear wheel bearing, windscreen and exhaust... Oh and new brake pads all around (long pedal travel)

Peter

User avatar
majordad1
Junior Member
Posts: 55
Joined: Thu Apr 03, 2014 8:48 pm
Location: Thornlands QLD

Post by majordad1 » Thu Jun 08, 2017 4:57 pm

I have just taken out a the Brumby a pair of Liberty seats and replaced them with RX Turbo seats, the chequered variety. Both required a deal of modification to fit the Brumbies mount points. Majordad

User avatar
dfoyl
Junior Member
Posts: 717
Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2006 12:13 pm
Location: Victoria eastern suburbs

Post by dfoyl » Sun Jun 11, 2017 9:19 pm

I took the plunge on a set of GTS86 seats yesterday, and it is definitely not just a drop-in solution. The 86 seat rails are mounted on a thinner gauge base with 3 to 4 studs per rail (3 on each except one side of the drivers seat has 4). These studs are extremely difficult to remove (on the drivers side, the passenger side is pretty easy), I ended up drilling 2 out - this may be unique to the GTS with the adjustable height, not sure if the standard GT is the same. Once the studs are out, the entire bottom frame can be removed and the holes slotted in the chair base (I milled the front hole about 4mm back). I re-used the factory (86) studs, but only 8 of the 13 - not really happy with that solution but I can't see a way to fit additional studs without reducing chair travel (possibly welding threaded bar to the MY rails so it doesn't interfere with the channel). I have spot welded the 4 studs. I could have used standard bolts but wanted to stick with the factory design where possible.

The seats are now in - sort of. The plastic shroud around the bottom of the seats interferes with the plastic door frame trim. On the drivers side it clears but rubs, so sliding the (newly greased) MY rails isn't smooth but does work. On the passenger side I can't get the back outer bolt to go through. Haven't decided whether to grind back the plastic to clear or trim the Subaru plastic.

All that said, from the drivers seat it is much better than the factory seats in terms of support. A little tight around the waist and I don't think there is any gain or loss in terms of space. I haven't refitted the centre console (fitting an MY touring wagon console, which will house the heated seat buttons in place of the electric window switches), but I think it will be fine for width.
1989 Brumby - Shiny new red paint, stroked EJ20 phase 2 SOHC with Darton sleeves bored to EJ22, Wiseco high-compression pistons, Delta 2000 grind cams , EJ/XT6 5 stud with WRX 4/2 pots, 5-speed, 86 GTS seats and so much more.
Contact me for reproduction XT6 hubs...and EA82 rear discs.

User avatar
Cliff R
General Member
Posts: 1061
Joined: Sat Feb 07, 2009 11:07 am
Location: Muswellbrook/NSW

Post by Cliff R » Sun Jun 11, 2017 9:32 pm

Also seem to recall someone stating in the forum that Ford Laser seats (KF model) may be an option for the MY's.
Anyone confirm this ?

User avatar
pedroj
Junior Member
Posts: 85
Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2015 10:45 am
Location: Tanunda South Australia

Post by pedroj » Wed Jun 14, 2017 4:47 pm

So, while I wait for the BRZ seats, I had already agreed to buy a set of seats from a "Subaru Liberty Gen 1 S 2 GX" that were on gumtree in S.A ($50)
Picked them up on Monday, now these are not a straight drop in as the runner spacing is about 430 mm and not the needed 405mm and the brumby seat runner is not long enough to pick up the rear mounting point of the Liberty seat. I have a cunning plan to adapt them that consists of two 400mm lengths of 50x6 mm flat bar to so all the bolt points will be picked up and the rail spacing meet the needed 405mm.

If it works, I will post more details and some photos as the Liberty seats are rather nice and seem to pop up at low prices. I might even on-sell the BRZ seats if the Liberty ones end up fitting.

Peter.

User avatar
Cliff R
General Member
Posts: 1061
Joined: Sat Feb 07, 2009 11:07 am
Location: Muswellbrook/NSW

Post by Cliff R » Wed Jun 14, 2017 6:49 pm

I wont be able to deal with this for a while but my daily driver is a 98 model Suzuki Grand Vitara.
With talk of Suzuki Swift seats being a fit for an MY I might look into the GV seats and see if they at least look promising when I get a chance.

User avatar
pedroj
Junior Member
Posts: 85
Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2015 10:45 am
Location: Tanunda South Australia

Post by pedroj » Wed Jun 14, 2017 10:44 pm

Well its 10 pm and I am dog tired, been at it since 5pm with a short break for dinner, both seats are in and fully functional. The passenger seat was a doddle to do, cut two 395 mm lengths of the 50x6 flat bar, then fit the outer seat runner in a new position.

Well the driver seat, now that is a whole other story, the Liberty seat runners are bolts at the front but at the rear they are 8mm rivets and two BIG spot welds. Arrrgh that was so tiring and awkward to get them apart and not bugger up the height adjust mechanism. All working, height adjust and lumber support and a smooth slide fwd and back, sheer luxury.

The fruit is in the testing and boy I have to say the original MY seats are going to be sacrificed to the gods over the week end. too tired to do photos tonight, hope to do soon.
Peter.

Web page showing photos and some extra info

User avatar
pedroj
Junior Member
Posts: 85
Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2015 10:45 am
Location: Tanunda South Australia

Post by pedroj » Mon Jun 26, 2017 3:31 pm

Pulled apart my original MY seats over the weekend so the metal could be recycled and found it interesting to see what had failed and what could be repaired. In my case several of the springs had fractured and a third one had become dislodged, when I went to put that one back into place, then end just snapped off about 30 mm back, so it looks like that is the killer. The foam in my seats was still quite good it seems it was just the metal letting down the side.

Looking at the construction, spring sections from another dead seat could be swapped into a bad one as each of them appear to be universal and the clips just hold together with a basic band of metals that can be opened and closed again.

But hey who would not want new seats when they are so affordable and plentiful these days.

Peter.

Post Reply

Return to “Subaru Chat”