As a 40ish semi-old guy my back isn't what it used to be. I've been spoiled by volvo seats for years and the simple padded slabs in my mini were not friendly to my spine. I'm 6' 190lbs so I also need space. Measured the originals and headed to the wrecking yard. I figured I would need to install the padding and fabric from another seat to the original frame to retain access to the front of the engine. Happy to report I found a near perfect replacement. the lucky doner was a 1993 Toyota Paseo(might as well retain the family DNA). Removed the seat covers and separated the bottom from the seat back(on the Daihatsus seats). Removed the lower cusion from the Paseo with fabric attached. Sweet jesus it was made for this swap!! trimmed a tiny bit of foam off so the daihatsus frame would fit and hog ringed back nice and tight (5 mins start to finish).[/URL][/IMG] On to the back..I cut off the bottom 6 inches of the original backrest(I refuse to call that a seat )to retain the pivots where the attach to the base. The Paseo seat backs are held onto their frame with 2 12mm bolts on each side and are a few mms from the exact width of the diahatsu's original back rest frame. If you are shorter than me or short legged you may be fine with just bolting the seat backs onto the original frame as in the pic I've included .[/URL][/IMG] If you place the back into your truck and have sufficient room then you DO NOT need to remove the covering on the new seatback..just a few hog rings on the bottom to get access to the side bolts.. If you are tall or long legged you will need to perform a little surgery. The process involves cutting off the top (built in headrest) of the paseo seat and stretching the fabric back down over the sliced off part(obviously don't cut the fabric while slicing the back off just the foam and frame) the nice thing on these seats is the centre panel (the greyish flecked section) is separate from the side bolsters..it slides up and off the main seat back. I also trimmed a bit of foam off the very top of the seat back so it would fit back further against the rear cab wall.finished seats as shown (the paseo headrests have enough fabric left after the surgery to cover the original headrests but I haven't gotten to that yet)with recovered door panels in 4$ worth of tweed fabric..[/URL][/IMG] sorry for the long winded write up Cheers
This is exactly what a lot of us want to see, mods and changes to our vehicles with easy to read explanations on how we did them. My hats off to you (sorry for the chrome dome shine) and keep it up. Robert
I'm guessing the problem might be in finding a wrecked Paseo they weren't too numerous in their day....unfortunately I was in the biggest wrecking yard in Ontario that still lets you into the yard and in 3 hours these were the only seats that were anywhere close to the dimensions I needed...only $45 cash for the pair...I'm wondering if other mini seats are the same size or is this maybe only useful for D-hats (tired of typing Daihatsu lol)
OK.. seems I'm getting the bug to fix up my wee beasty. After re-reading this thread I think I'm going to hunt down some seats to rebuild mine in similar fashion. It's time anyhow... my passenger seat is split at all of the seams (musta had a fat guy as co-driver as only the stitching is gone the vinyl is still good). I'd love to see if jetta seats could be made to fit, I had some in my blazer and found them sooo comfy! Loved the high side bolsters on the seat bottoms! Jeez I miss having some lumbar support as well! z
Hey fupabox.... It would be kinda nice to know what your specs were on what actually qualified those seats over others?? Was it things like external dimensions or more like the depth or thickness of the seat or maybe the framework is the seat still adjustable? Not that many people would ever have to pull the seat up in these things but just curious What about the passenger seat?? In my Acty, the seat base on the passenger side flips up Don't know if other makes do that but if so does yours still do it?? Yea, Jetta seats are nice, some suzuki seats are nice, heck even hyundia seats are nice compared to what I have now and all are pretty small Let us all know k
Another popular seat for this type of thing is a Honda Del Sol. They also have the added benefit of being water resistant (the Del Sol is a convertible)
My main consideration was width and seatback thickness..any thicker than the stock ones and it will push you towards the steering wheel (I never came across any Del sols in the wrecking yards so I never had a chance to measure them ,but Ironraven may be onto something I think they are quite thin from what I remember)...I also needed to keep the seat bottom separate so that I can get under the seats..I used the original Daihatsu seatbottom frame and sliders and just swapped the padding from the Paseo seats..The tops of the original Daihatsu seat back frames were cut off and the lower original seat frame was bolted and welded to the Paseo seatback frames so that they could still flip down and up as on the originals..The only adjustability is the stock seat sliders,but they never seem to get moved no matter who drives it..Passenger seat was done the same way..on The Hijet you need to access under both seats for routine servicing...there is a strap on the hijets by the seatbelt that holds the seat up when you are under there working,and it still works as it did with the stock seats.
Naughty, If you notice at the bottom of fupabox OP, the date is Aug 10, 2009, and the last post was, Aug 16, 2010. FYI! Just wanted to make sure that you noticed that, and if you click on his name, it tells us that he was last seen on, March 5, 2021. Which isn't that long ago, so you might be in luck with a response! Limestone
I'd love to see pics of your mini, as I'm sure others would, especially with the Hydraulic tailgate! I'd be interested in seeing the rear suspension supporting the rear gate, as I'm assuming it's aluminum! Limestone
Limestone sorry the late respond, but I did a seat Swap again I took out the Hyundai Sonota seats and changed 2002 Ford Explorer rear 40,20,40 to leather seats and left or the 20 seat. I’ve included a picture of the tommy lift gate and it’s not aluminum, all steel.
