New Seats for the old Troopy

There probably will be good advice coming up here. As a total non expert on this, I learnt lots by going to Willshires in Adelaide and talking to them about it. ie if it is not a job you can do yourself, find your local professional for advice. On our Toyo 60 series we learnt that not all seats are suitable and you need to know what you are doing to get compliance and therefore be covered by insurance. We finished up with second hand Honda seats that cost almost nothing but the fitting was about $800. The seats have been great and have made long distance and off road driving a pleasure. If you can, try to check your seats of choice fitted in another vehicle. Some feel good in showrooms but cause hassles when getting into/out of car because of the height of the bolsters on the seat section. Great for racing drivers, less great for daily use. We found the side bolsters at the back of the seat do much to hold you in securely in the rough stuff. I was surprised at how much effort I was putting in before to keep myself braced in the seat.

OK, will have to take shots later today. When we took out the original seats it left us with quite a gap in the middles as the buckets are considerable narrower.
Not wanting to pay for a centre console (i'm a cheapskate whenever possible) I simply bolted a $25.00 tool box between the seats and it made a big, practical and cheap centre console.

I replaced my 60 series seats with Ford Fairmont ones with lots of adjustment and support.
I had a to relocate the pyramid supports in the back but that was easy. Hi tensile bolts with a plate under the floor. When you drill out the spot welds, don't go through the floor; as you can fill up the depression with solder.

I had to cut a section out of the front support so the seats sat down onto the floor (reduce the height) but they also only needed a plate underneath to reinforce the bolts.

Passed the Blue Slip Inspection first go.

Found a centre console in a Landrover aka Discovery that fitted perfectly.

Added more insulation under the floor carpet and the final result was good.

Cost of seats - $100 pair.

Hi Gaz,

WE went around this loop a couple of years ago, hoping to find bucket seats that would also fold forward. As we have a bed base set up when travelling we need the seats to both slide and fold forward to give access behind the seats. We didn't have much luck, and in any case there was the additional hassle of getting engineers certificates for non standard seats to be legal etc.

In the end we stripped the original seats right down, tightened the springs, re-glued any of the broken foam padding and added a bit of extra padding on the seat. The vinyl covers are in good shape as we have always used fabric covers (sometimes 2 layers) for comfort and to stop us sliding around. We were lucky to find on eBay some real sheepskin covers at a bargain price and these have been excellent both for comfort and to stop sliding.

We have never found Troopy's seats to be as bad as some people seem to think they are, and now they really are pretty good. We're past retirement age and have clocked up about 300,00km sitting in them which maybe says something.

Because Troopies are already high off the ground having to get over a bolster at the edge of a bucket seat could be a real issue especially if you have short legs. We both have long legs, and our Troopy does not have a lift, but we wouldn't want to have it much higher to be able to get in and out comfortably. As we do stop a lot and get out to take photos etc that is a real consideration.

Cheers,

Val

Hi Gaz,

I know this may be a little late however it may be of some help.
The is a mob in Brisbane, I think they are called "Seats R Us" from their adds on the wireless it seams they do all types of seats.
Best of luck.

Steve

My 2003 EX Ambo Troopy came with stratos seats fitted. For the gap between the seats I knocked up a plywood console and sanded and sprayed it to match the rest of the decor (Colour that matched the trim was ironstone colourbond spraycan) Can't upload and image sorry, not a full member.

Hi Gaz
Sorry I was late in posting the photos. just too busy before heading off on Xmas trip. If you check the forum thread you will find the shots posted. Let me know if you have questions.
Mike