WRX Seat Conversion
When I did the ZJ seat conversion, it was because I've read that it's easy and the front seats are much more comfortable than the XJ seats. Since install five years ago, I've been trying to find the comfort in the ZJ seats that "everybody" talks about. Maybe I got a bad pair or maybe my definition of "comfortable" is different that other folks'. My wife and I think the seats in our Saabaru are quite comfy and offer good bolster support, so I picked up a pair of 2005 Subaru WRX seats from a salvage yard.
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They even came with the seat warmers from the factory. As I was testing the warmers to see how I might be able to use my aftermarket switches from the Chinese warmers I've had, I accidentally let the smoke out of one WRX warmer. So, I decided to move the warmers from the ZJ seats.
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The first step was to remove the covers so they can be washed.
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After removing the Subaru rails, I realized an adapter bracket will take a bit more work to make as the Subaru seats attach to the rails horizontally and the XJ seat mounts to the rails vertically. I started out by using 1/8-inch flat bar, made some holes and then welded some spacers for more support.
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Here's a rail inverted to show the spacers.
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Then while setting the new seat on the rails, taking careful measurements and building supports for leveling, I ended up building an adapter bracket. I had to tach-weld in awkward positions while the seat was in the vehicle so I put down plenty of cotton shirts to cover the carpet and such. The bracket was made from 1/8-inch flat bar, 3/16-inch flat bar, 1/8x1-3/4-inch angle iron, and 1/8x3/4-inch angle iron.
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The seatbelt buckle had to be bent differently to clear the bracket (not shown). The driver side followed the same process, but it was a bit trickier because it has a height adjustment mechanism that I wanted to retain.
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Put the seat warmers and covers on and voila.
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So long, ZJ seats!