Datsun seat swap in festiva

[Ninjawimp]

Came across an old Datsun today at the salvage yard. The tracks looked like it was made to be a perfect fit but of course my eyes fooled me. Its close maybe 1 inch off in length & 1 1/2 inches to wide. I started to grind the rivets off but didn't get it off cus my kid wouldn't lay in bed for a nap. So I'm done for the day

Would anyone have any pointers on this seat swap. At this point im thinking of swapping rails (if possible) but i dont have a welder. I tried uploading a pic of the seats but my phone wont let me upload.

[sketchman]

Those look really nice. I've done a custom bracket for the Festiva to use other car's stock seats. It's not fun, but it's doable.

Only tip I have is to set the seat in the car where you want it and try to shim it up to where you want it to set, then grab a tape measure and start measuring from the seat to the bolt holes, and see what you need to bridge the gaps.

[bravekozak]

Thread 23831

I used solid rivets, cut to length and then clinched. Make sure you hover over the words to discover links, as some are not blue. Let me know if you need some rivets for the sake of clearance.

[joshdavisjad]

Any seat will fit with a welder!

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[Ninjawimp]

Wait what.... Any seat will fit with a welder? I guess i will weld away with the welder i dont have that i stated above when making this thread. Face palm!

I got the tracks off & kind of looking at ways, i like the bridge idea & might go for it since it is the easiest it sounds. Although i could do the rivets but I'd need to make a stop at Harbor Frieght to get the rivet gun.

Its eating me cus the seat is so close to fitting but it wont! Maybe if i sit around long enough & think of ways i can just use gum to hold it down. Lol

[bravekozak]

Not hollow rivets. Solid rivets. You will need to borrow or rent an aircraft riveter and a bucking bar. Take a look at the picture of the 5/16" solid rivets again in post #3. You will be hammering on the button head and the bar will mushroom out the rivet shank inside the track on the opposite side. The gun trigger pops out when you connect it to a compressed air supply. The intensity of the strike is regulated by turning the trigger left or right. I have an Atlas-Copco gun, that uses .401 brilles.
I bought everything on eBay. I primarily use my gun to assemble the doors and letterflaps on my mailboxes.

[william]

Get a pair of jumper cables and some 6011 rods .. instant welder just don't let the rod stick it will explode the battery lol.

[Fecomatter]

honestly just hop on craigslist and spend ~50 on a used harbor freight welder. it will do the job and be forever useful.

[Flyin4stroke]

Try to keep the Festiva bases and just swap the butt cushion and back? That's what I did with my mx3 seats. And have done with protege seats.

[sketchman]

honestly just hop on craigslist and spend ~50 on a used harbor freight welder. it will do the job and be forever useful.

Yep, or keep a check on eBay. I got mine for something like $50 shipped. It was used, but it's flux core wire feed, and well, it's better than no welder.

[Ninjawimp]

So after messing around with the seats tonight i am going to drill out the rivets on both seats then grind & swap them. Maybe use rivets to remount the rail mounts or find a welder. I think my neighbor has one. I havent measured the rails since i left my tape at work but putting the datson seat in & seeing how it was a close fit. The rails itself are the same length. Its the mounts that are shy an inch.

I thought about switching the cushions but the festivas seat levers are small, ugly & cheap. The datsuns are nice.
As of right now im sitting on rivets, but i hate them & if i cant find one to rent ima have to find a welder.

For some reason my note 5 aint letting my add this photo of the seat mounts. When i get access to the laptop I'll throw it on

[Flyin4stroke]

just switched the cushions

[Ninjawimp]

I like them seats, i got them same speakers. In all honesty i wouldn't mind changing the cushions but the festiva rails are all choppy. Passengers side acts up once in a blue moon. Plus the Datsun drivers seat has a better slide rail handle, better tilt lever & 2 knobs to raise bottom seat & 2nd knob to harden or soften the upper cushion. Gotta make it wife accessible lol

[Ninjawimp]

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These are some pics, i just had placed the seat in to see what it looks like. The only rail mount set was used on the rear left mount, from there i was able to see where it was short from the mounts the right side track needs to be adjusted back but the rails are the same size as the festy.

I stated above the technique i was going to use to swap out the rail mounts to make the seat a secure fit. Will update this thread once starting project.

[Ninjawimp]

I got a start on it. I should be using rivets but I used grade 8 bolts. Grade 10 is suggested. I used what I had on me. Knowing the festiva wouldn't hold up in a accident or crash I didn't fear using bolts. I do plan on welding it in the future.

I drilled out the rivets on the festiva seat mounts to separate from seat frame & placed all of em to see which one worked the best. I drilled holes in the mounts to attach them to the Datsun seats. I used 1 feativa seat mount. I also used a 9g Galant seat mount.

The way the seat mounts on the Datsun are not exactly the same length although are close. I first put the seat in exactly how the festiva seat sat. Attached it all. Worked good but with the seat moved all the way back my long legs where in a bind lol. So I took the seat out & placed the seat on the back side of the original mounting points. Since I did that I had to drill in the original bolt spot & open a new hole on the back side. I then bolted it together.

I drilled in a newer hole in the back right mount. I used a festiva mount on the front left to adjust it too the same hieght as the front right mount. I then used a mount from the 9g Galant on the back left to keep it the same hieght as the right front/back mounts.

It sits level, I still need to go out & buy shorter bolts to replace the long bolts I used. I used washers to eat up the extra length on the bolt for now. Once I go back to replace with shorter bolts i will apply loc tight on all the nuts.

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