Hello,

I want to upgrade my 1200 ute seats to the Saas racing type seats sold at Autobarn and was wondering if anyone can tell me what mods will be required to the original seat rails or can I buy new ones?

Are there rail adaptors around or will I have to get some fabricated?

Cheers

The only bolt in adapters I have ever seen were only ever for Recaro seats, Other than that fabricate is the only option.

Usually best done by utilising the original seat rails fitted to the original mounts in the car and then either Welding mounting sections for the new seat or in some instances bolting on a fabricated adaptor to suit to the factory rails, Do not be concerned that adding more metal to the original rails will end up making the seat too high, More often than not they actually need to be raised higher anyway.

If bolting on metal adaptors that can often be just flat bar at least 4mm thick for strength then use high tensile cap screws as they need to fit inside part of the original factory seat rail to clear the sliding section and allow front rear adjustment by sliding the seat rails.
These Cap screw or Unbrako allen head type bolts are located central in the old seat rail so the fore aft adjustment works as intended, Often a good idea to test run for clearance before bolting in just to be sure it works Ok, Sometimes you have to linish a little bit off the top of those bolts or source Dome headed cap screws for clearance reasons.

Unbrakos are used as High Tensile are required because the seat is only held in place by four bolts and a point few think of if you spin the car out and go backwards off the road into something the only thing holding the seat and therefor you in place are those four 8mm shank sized bolts.

Seat Belts only work when you run into something front first if you are moving backwards when you hit something the seat belt does nothing and in a 1200 coupe or sedan those bolts become vital, That is why all late model roll cages now have a bar behind the seats that the seat is attached to, Of course when talking Ute's the cabin size means the seat moving backwards and spitting you into a Mixmaster inside the car is not a problem there is just no room for the seat to move backwards and break bolts.

Think mine are 180sx seats, they move back n forth and recline ok in my ute. Not sure if they are on original rails or the 180sx rails. They were in ute when I got em. Very cosy n snug and dont hit belts

I will also need to do this to my ute.

Steve that is a very good write up. Do you have any photos of your installation?

How about people who have done this before post some photos of your seat fabrications? It would be good to get a visual reference of what people have done.

My ute had Bride rails marked B122, so adapters do exist.

Cheers Steve,

Great info and plenty for me to look into. I found this site www.andysautosport.com and was thinking of buying the universal seat rails and trying to modify them to fit either the existing rails or the original mounts. I'll let you know how I get on and what I decide on.

Sherodat

Keep in mind that unless your under 5'6" most aftermarket seats are going to realy limit leg room in a ute. I'm only 5'7" and got the old ones reupholstered with a little extra side bolstering because they are thin and fit to the contour of the cabin back.
Interested if you find something suitably thin - upholstered fibreglass race bucket ???