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Got a 96 with 58,000 miles on it. Runs pretty good.

 

However, the previous owner must have been pretty heavy. The drivers seat feels like I'm riding on a piece of plywood. Passenger seat is just fine.

 

I live in Olympia, Wa. I'm aware of the Subaru junkyard in Oregon. Hope they are still in operation. But I'm not too concerned about keeping it 'stock'. If another seat from another Subaru will fit it, I'd be willing to go there as long as I can get a comfortable seat.

 

Anybody know anything about the seats from 96 on? Pretty easy to get out, but I need it to fit into the existing bolt holes.

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Pretty much any seat from a Legacy Impreza or Forester will fit. 1990 til about 2009. Possibly even up to the current model year Impreza and Forester.

Just swap the belt latch to the new seat.

The leather seats in the 96-99 Legacy Outback models hold up well and are very comfortable.

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You are telling me that the seats from all of those cars can just be unbolted from the floor and put into the 96? That would be pretty sweet. I'll just write that data down and take it with me to the junkyard... with a measuring tape and specs.

 

It would be nice to know, as well, if I could customize the car by putting the electric seat on the drivers side... and how to get power to it.

 

As far as replacing the foam... the previous owner was REALLY heavy. The springs are bent into a concave position... that, and the foam is flat. They did a number on it, I'll tell you that!!

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I found some nice leather seats from a 97 OBW, that were in a wrecking yard. Only 5 bolts secure the seats to the floor, so it is easy to swap seats in.

 

From my experience in removing the seats from the car, I would recommend either wrapping the bolt hole tabs with duct tape, or wrapping with a rag, when removing through the door opening. Otherwise, it is very easy for the tabs to scratch the paint on the door openings, as the seat passes through. I learned this the hard way by needlessly scraping my door openings.

 

As mentioned by others, lots of seats will fit your car from other Subarus, but the seat buckle from new seat may not latch the tongue from your existing seat belt system. The solution is to swap out the buckle from your old seat to the new seat. They very easily bolt on. This is what I encountered when installing 97 OBW seats into my 99 OBW.

 

If you can find them, Subaru leather seats are much more comfortable then the standard cloth seats. Many of the leathers are heated seats, so that feature can be added to your car. I paid $75 for a pair of front leather seats in good condition to give you an idea of cost, though I may have gotten a good deal.

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This past fall I jammed a set of Forester seats into my Impreza for a bit of an upgrade for very cheap. The rails had to be swapped so the seats would mount in with the correct height. As with many things I do I made a little video about it explaining some of the finer points:

 

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From my experience in removing the seats from the car, I would recommend either wrapping the bolt hole tabs with duct tape, or wrapping with a rag, when removing through the door opening. Otherwise, it is very easy for the tabs to scratch the paint on the door openings, as the seat passes through. I learned this the hard way by needlessly scraping my door openings.

 

My method for avoiding this is to slide the seat forward, remove the rear bolts first, then slide the seat back and remove the front bolts. The seat should now be easy to remove without the tracks getting hung up on the door frame. It also helps if you do NOT fold the back forward.

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