A good seat for off-roading has to do a number of things all at once. It has to be comfortable for extended periods of driving. It has to support you in the right places to keep you comfortable on the trail. Its got to have some sort of internal suspension to keep you from busting your butt every time you go over a bump. It has to have bolsters (raised sections) on the edges of the bottom and back to keep you from sliding from side to side. Finally, it has to look like you want it to look and be covered with some sort of fabric you're willing to sit on.

All of these things contribute to making the off-roading experience more fun. Reducing fatigue and proper support also contribute to safety, as a tired, uncomfortable driver who is slamming around the cockpit at the limits of his or her seat-belt isn't going to be very alert to the hazards our sport sometimes throws our way.

Lots of Samurai owners are needing or wanting different or rebuilt seats. I was no exception, as Suzushi's seats had definitely seen better days. Here's what I found.

Rail measurements are bolt center to bolt center, with the exception of the driver's side rail length, where the measurement was made from the front of the transverse support on the body to the center of the rear bolt. Seat width was measured at the widest point of the horizontal portion of the seat. Seat depth is the distance from the center of the front edge of the horizontal portion of the seat, straight back to the contact point with the seat-back.

In making measurements, I found the most critical dimensions to be the rail spacing and the available space from tunnel to sill. You can monkey around with the rail length and the seat depth is a "user preference" sort of thing. The tunnel to sill distance is going to determine how wide the seat itself can be and the maximum distance apart you can fit the rails. Sheet metal is going to be in the way for rails that are too wide, and a seat bottom much wider than the tunnel to sill distance is gonna interfere with closing the doors, using the handbrake or t-case shifter, or all of the above.

Recovering/Rebuilding

Having the existing seats rebuilt--new foam as needed, stiffeners and springs fixed, new cloth fabric, etc. was quoted to me at anywhere from $75.00/seat to $140/seat. Most often quoted was $125/seat. In each case I asked only about cloth seats, from a selection of whatever the shop considered "standard" fabrics. Most shops consider the "standard" fabrics to be the sort of fuzzy-surfaced cloth usually called "plush". Vinyl prices are similar, leather prices are far more.

There are a wide variety of fabrics available. All sorts of vinyls--both smooth and textured, various types of cloth in both plush and "woven" styles and even leather for those with money to burn. You can choose a corded or non-corded edge. I originally set out looking for Cordura nylon (like the material that backpacks are made from), as it should make for a tough, weather-resistant seat covering. DuPont (the manufacturer of this fabric) had told me it is available for seats and being used by some shops, but I couldn't find any shop working with it. A number of shops even told me Cordura couldn't be used.

Quality upholsterers will replace foam that needs replacing with high-quality foams of varying densities (depending on the position of the foam in the seat), will straighten and re-anchor stiffeners as necessary, ensure internal springs are correct (and replace as needed) and will then custom sew the covering in your choice of fabric. Additional bucks will get you things like zip-off, two-tone, multi-fabric (vinyl and cloth, leather and cloth, etc.) or "upgraded" vinyl or cloth covers. Many upholsterers can even have things like logos or vehicle names embroidered into your seat backs if you want.

Boneyard Seats

Used seats from a wrecking yard: $25/pair to $300/pair or more, depending on make and model of the donor vehicle and which seat fabric (vinyl, various cloth grades, leather). Although there are deals to be had out there if you've got time to wait and look, my informal survey showed a pair of seats in near-new condition to be priced around $100. This will buy you seats that are better than the equivalent money will buy you when spent in an upholstering shop rebuilding your OEM seats.

I was told at two wrecking yards that seat rail spacing was standardized in a range from 16-17 inches, but my observation showed that this was only true in vehicles prior to about 1992. After that time it seems that the changes in body styles and construction caused manufacturers to "innovate" in the way they mounted seats. In almost all cases, seats from American auto manufacturers had too much "manufacturer innovation" to be easily transferred to the Zuk.

The closest match to a Samurai's seat mounts are those found in most Mazdas, but especially the 323, 626 and the Protege. The rails are similar to Samurai seats and the center to center rail spacing is almost exactly the same. Look for "Sport" trim-lines of these cars to find a variety of deeply bolstered bucket seats in various colors and fabrics. Mazda seems to have kept using the same seat rail assemblies all through the 80s and 90s, from what I saw in the vehicles I examined.

Jeep Cherokee and Wrangler seats appear to be a reasonably good fit, as they have a narrow mounting pedestal, with adjusting rail(s) attached on some models. The pedestal is about 12-14" across. The primary draw-back with these is that every boneyard that I found that has any available in good shape thinks they're worth gold. The minimum price I was quoted on any Jeep seat was $200/pair for lower-end Cherokee seats; no dickering.

Toyota Paseo seats look to be a great seat. Decent fabrics, well made, steel "bucket" (the "skeleton" of the seat bottom), deep bolsters and comfortable. They suffer from two obvious drawbacks (as did most Toyota seats I saw): the rail spacing is 18" and often the outboard rail is mounted from the side of the seat instead of from underneath the seat. MR-2 seats are similar.

Accura Integra seats also appear to be a good fit and are really cool seats. Sport versions have deep bolsters, a variety of fabrics, and solid construction. Rail spacing is about 17", but at least they're both mounted to the bottom of the seat, which should make modification easier than the Toyota ones. Seat width is about 21". Some Integra seats also have driver-side lumbar support adjustment and back-of-the-seat pockets. The big problem with the Integra seats was in finding any that weren't in "Yuppie Tan", something that definitely would've looked bad in a gray and black Samurai.

So, which did I choose? Errr... none of the above. The winner, as far as I was concerned, was a Mitsubishi Eclipse. It has seats that have a steel bucket like those in the Paseo, deep bolsters like the sport seats in many of the earlier mentioned models, nice semi-plush fabric in two-tone black and gray (in the case of the ones I chose) and some have driver-side lumbar adjustment. They won out because they have mounting rails that are almost totally flat (no "tabs" bent at either end) and only 13 inches apart. With some custom "spacers", these should be easily mounted in Suzushi.

Some wrecking yard notes

Some yards aren't real interested in doing business if you don't know exactly what you want and aren't ready to buy right then. My recommendation is to say "Thanks, anyway" and move on to the next one.

Wear proper clothing. These places can be hazardous. Solid shoes or tennies, at minimum, are a must.

Bring a small tool kit and safety glasses. Some places will give you an additional discount if you're willing to pull your own parts.

Be warned, you're probably going to get filthy.

Yard policies vary. Some will let you cruise around and check out what's there. Others want you escorted at all times. Some won't let you look around at all. I got very helpful results by explaining up front that I wasn't sure what I was after, by explaining what it was I was trying to do, and then being willing to wait until someone was available if an escort was required. These guys are all trying to make a living, and sometimes they're real busy. In a couple of cases I offered to stop back if another time was better, and when I did, I got lots of help.

If the yard requires you to be escorted, don't dawdle. Try and do your preliminary legwork in a yard that allows you to wander.

Be prepared for something I found really bizarre. Most yards don't sell many seats, ever (as one talkative employee mentioned to me). As a result, these (formerly) great seats sit out in the wind, dust, rain and snow and rot. Worse, lots of perfectly good seats go to a scrapper with the carcass of the vehicle if the vehicle is one that gets stripped quickly.

So you'd think these guys would sell seats, if you find some you like, really cheaply... but NOoOoO. Some yards, as soon as you ask, quote you some ridiculous price. Don't be afraid to try and haggle. The yard doesn't depend on seat sales to make money on the wreck. Their "bread and butter" is the sale of mechanical components like engines and drive trains, so they'll often be willing to deal on seats or trim items as money made from that stuff is (usually) gravy.

Finally, spend some time and try and get an "eye" for the part you're interested in. It's probably gonna be much dirtier looking than you'd like, and make your assessment of it's value much lower than theirs.

If you find what you need in an almost totally stripped wreck, you may get a bargain. If they're getting ready to get rid of or crush the carcass, they'll sometimes sell more cheaply just to make a little more on it before it's gone.