Outback to Gen 2 Brat seat swap

[hanyou]

I have seen a lot of other methods to go about this with fairly elaborate fabrications being done, just wanted to throw this out as an idea... Our main goal was to get it done without requiring any welding as neither of us know how to weld and wanted to keep the costs down. The only welding done was by our shop to get us the 18"x18" sheet as he did not have a single piece of that size.
 
 
 
 
A lot of mistakes and learning were done on this..
 
Brat seat rails are 13" long with 11 7/8" distance between center of bolt holes, rails need to be 16" apart. We attempted to bolt to the original holes on the Outback seats and put the Brat rails in between but in my haste I put the 16" distance from edges of rails instead of bolt center.. seat ended up balanced wonderfully but does not line up with rail system of the vehicle so we are currently back to the drawing board. The Outback bolts interfere with the rails if mounted underneath them and some lengthening of the rails needs to be done to attach it to the seats.
 
Hope this helps give someone an idea on how to do this better, it makes the height of the finished product less of an issue by not having the traditional tubular steel/aluminum.

Edited November 23, 2013 by hanyou

[Turbone]

I assume you removed the Outback rails?

[hanyou]

Yes, the Outback rails have been removed to make this project as bolt on as possible.

 

 

 

Based on my measurements I am going to just drill into part of the seat rail and attach the left side of the rail direct to the seat between the original holes. Doing the passenger seat first as proof of concept, then finishing out the others at a later time.

Edited November 23, 2013 by hanyou

[Gloyale]

When I do them, I bolt the inner rail front hole to the stock hole in the Outback seat.  Drill a new hole in the rear for the back bolt

 

Then I use 2 strips of 1/8th in. steel with holes 1" apart. for the outer rail.

 

Trim some plastic off the lower part of the side skirt to clear the door sill area. 

 

Done.

[hanyou]

Ended up putting the one rail where it was and put the other rail in between the Outback rail holes.. threw on 3 washers between the rail and the steel piece so the seat release now clears the plastic. Everything looks great and still has the low height.

 

Rest of the seats should take 1/4th of the time at best. Very happy with the project but dang that leather is cold this time of year

[Gloyale]

Passenger side easier than drivers. drivers has height adjuster mechanism takes some grinding of welds to remove.