I stumbled onto a really great deal on some seats from a 2011 VW Jetta in the local classifieds. They are leather, heated and power recline seats from a MkVI Jetta. I had been looking for some different seat options for quite a while to replace my stock seats. My stock seats are actually still in ok shape with no tears in the leather like you see on so many stock 80 seats. But they just weren't very comfortable. The rails on these VW seats are much wider than the Cruiser ones so I was a little worried about them working but the deal was good enough that I couldn't pass them up. If the didn't work for the cruiser they would have worked in my son's pickup.
.
They required fabrication of new mounting brackets but that was pretty straight forward. I didn't need to cut anything off or anything like that, just built a couple pieces that ran side to side and bolted to the rails so I could weld the mounting feet on to the right widths.
.
If you own an 80 and consider swapping to some of these seats,
PLEASE NOTE: The raised
rib in the floorboard for the front mounts needs to be modified (flattened out) a bit toward the center where it begins to go vertical over the transmission hump. If this isn't done, the seats will be off center and will also be to far to the outside and the doors won't close. I just did some hammer work but the rib could also be cut out for proper clearance.
Also, these
will require removal of the rear heater unit under the passenger seat. This wasn't a big deal to me since I don't think I've ever used the rear heater in either of my 80s over the past 20 years. It's not a bad mod to remove it anyway since the hard lines under the body can corrode and fail causing complete loss of coolant.
Obviously the seatbelt from the VW seat won't work so I modified the bracket so I could bolt on the Toyota one. No permanent mods needed to be made to the stock seats so I can always put the stock seats back in.
.
These seats sit maybe 1" higher than the stock seats depending on the positioning. They are much more comfortable than the stock seats IMO and I like the look. Makes me want to recover my second and third row in black leather with perforated centers. Maybe one day.
.
Front mount. You can see where the inside rail is right up against the trans tunnel near the console. This is where the floorboard needs to be modified.
.
Rear mount. Simple crossbar bolted to the rails with feet welded in the right spots.
.
.
.
.
.