I know this has been done before and let me thank everyone I contacted who gave me ideas and troubleshooting. Unfortunately, while this has been done before I thought it could be done better. In the past people have either installed the seats too high, used an insecure mounting system, the seats wouldnt slide and so on and so forth. The biggest issue with the Cobalt seats (as we all know if you are reading this) is that they are too wide for the J tubs. The first pic is a standard Cobalt seat while the second is the Cavalier seat.
Cobalt Seat
Cavalier Seat
As you can see from the pics the Cobalt seat is about three inches wider.
I originally fabbed a bracket which raised the Cobalt seat out of the J tub so that it would fit. The only issue with this is that although the sit fit cleanly into the tub it sat too high. I'm 5'8" ish and my head was about an inch from the headliner with the first bracket I fabbed up.
I thought to myself, if only the track wasnt so wide! So the next thought was to cut the inner track from the cobalt seat, move it in 2" and reweld it.
The below pic is the Cobalt seat after the inner track was cut, moved in, braced with steel tubing and rewelded. In addition, I had to fab up new mounts/legs for the seat cusion to sit on the 'original' frame since they no longer lined up properly since everything was brought in 2".
Pic of Cobalt seat with rail brought in 2"
If you compare the above pic with the first pic of the Cobalt seat you will notice the substantial difference in width.
The bracket was fabbed up using steel tubing and angle iron. The front has square tubing which the Cobalt legs slide into. The Cobalt seats were designed for the front legs to slide into the floor board. With the bracket, the seat legs slide into the bracing then securely bolted to the bracket.
The below pics are to give an idea of the mounting of the bracket into the stock Cavalier floor bolts.
Outter rear
Inner Front
Inner Rear
Inner Rear
Pre-Bracketery
Pre-Bracketry (since entirely cut up and redesigned)
Excuse the lousy cell phone pics. Again, I realize this has been done and some may call me crazy for cutting and welding a perfectly good Cobalt seat. In my opinion, this is the only way to do this properly and safely while being as close to the ride height of the stock Cavy seat as possible.
If anyone is interested I can get some quality step by step pics and a How To since I have only completed the passenger side. I used the passenger side as the test seat to ensure everything was (1) feasible and (2) secure before moving onto the driver seat.
Front the front (excuse the dirt/salt)
In the car - perfect fit with no rubbing
Thoughts? Feedback? The usual JBO harsh criticism? Please and thank you.
Right place, wrong time, right person, wrong situation
Very nice, now make me up a set pronto!!!!!!
2009 Ford Mustang V6
Thanks. While I cant wait to get the driver side done I also cant wait for this to be over. I initially read that it wasnt that much of an issue with fitment but as you can see, dont always believe what you read. If there is enough interest I will post a how-to when everything is completed with higher quality pics, step by step instructions and materials needed. Thanks again. Love your ride BTW.
Right place, wrong time, right person, wrong situation
WOW i want!! Very nice work!!! Put these into a group purchase heheh
]:-> 287 TimeSlips In Hand. Car Still Runs Strong... 3 Differentials Later ]:->
i would love to see a how to with better pictures it would be nice to upgrade the seats to a set of cobalt seats
It is hard to judge without seeing the car and sitting in it in person how well it turned it out.
FORGET GIRLS GONE WILD WE HAVE GOVERNMENT SPENDING GONE WILD!
i love those seats!!!!!
8 psi with m62 and IAT under 100
get that drivers seat in there lol
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Primer Counts as Custom Paint Right?
BTW: This is my Sig.
Looks great! A+ on that project!
cobalt ss seats, check
brackets needed from you, missing.
see my problem?
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Sweet... Me next! Me next!
" To study and not think is a waste. To think and not study is dangerous. "
Does the seat sit lower than the stock J seats now?
The stock seats still sit way to high for me, I would like to find something lower and also sits back a little further.
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Hahn Stage II - Mitsu TD06-20g |3" Turbo-back Exhaust | 61mm Bored TB |
HP Tuners | Innovate WB02 | Spec Stage 3 | Team Green LSD | TurboTech Upper | Full Addco Sways | Sportlines & Yellows |
z yaaaa wrote:cobalt ss seats, check
brackets needed from you, missing.
see my problem?
ditto.
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my carDomain updated 8/2/08 Forged B-day!
Now go get NEW nuts and paint the frams so they look good.
Very nice job.
Thanks for all the comments and feedback.
Everyone that wants brackets I will be posting the diagram complete with measurements and materials no later than tomorrow night. While I would love to be able to fab up brackets for everyone keep in mind that even once I did the brackets you would need to cut the inner rails of each seat and move them in. This also means cutting the slider bar (the bar that moves the seat forward and back) and rewelding it. Finally, since the whole track is moved you need to fab up legs that remount the seat cushion onto the track (since the track has been pulled in, the factory holes no longer line up). Also, with the driver seat there is another thick bar across the front that raises and lowers the seat cushion - this must also be cut and rewelded. So to answer your questions, I will not be doing anymore brackets but I will provide all the necessary information for you to (1) do it yourself or (2) print and take to a metal shop. The hardest part of this project has been getting the bracket to where the seat not only fits but is at a comfortable level.
BlackEco - while the seat sits about an inch lower than the stock J seats the SS seat has a thicker cushion so the difference is minimal. Once the driver seat is in I will let you know for certain since the driver seat has the lever to raise and lower the seat cushion. This may make a small difference. The seat does slide back about a 1/4 of an inch more so again, not much difference other than comfort and asthetics. If you however fabbed a bracket with extensions/longer angled legs from the main bracing to the floor studs the seat would sit back further and thus slide back further.
James - I spent today on the driver side brackets. You'll be pleased to know that in the process I pulled the passenger seat back out and painted the entire bracket system gloss black. Driver side the same. Much cleaner looking. This aint no junkyard chevy.
The biggest issue with a project like this is that I am a perfectionist and if everything isnt how I want it then I pull and recut and reweld and redrill. I redid the entire passenger side today so that it sits back in the tub a bit further.
Ill throw some pics up when I get them onto the laptop.
Thanks again for all your comments. This should be completed tomorrow.
Right place, wrong time, right person, wrong situation
sexy time
Working on obtainting an M-Class license... ?? Hint: 2 wheels.
The below pics are all related to the passenger seat assembly. The 17" tube is at the rear of the vehicle for reference as I failed to mention this when I notated everything in Photoshop. The center was cut from the front of the bracket so that the plastic duct work in the floor under the seat was not compromised.
Everything was fabbed using 1" steel tubing and steel flat stock
Bracket with measurements
Front of bracket
I then cut the inside rail of the seat at the point marked below. This was needed to move the rail in 1.5" to allow the rails to fit into the J tub.
Cut here
1.5" Angle Iron used to brace the track on the inside of the original bracing
You will also need to cut 1.5" out of the lever at the front of the seat which makes it slide back and forth. When you move the rail in, reweld and repaint this lever.
The front legs of the Cobalt seats sit atop the 1" steel tube legs and are then bolted in.
The rear Cobalt legs are bolted into the 1" steel tubing
Once everything is bolted to the bracket the bracket will fall/fit into the floor studs. If you can get all this then you can figure out where to drill the holes for that as I dont recall the measurements.
Ive never done a How To so I dont know if the above is helpful or not. I think the pictures speak for themselves though. The driver seat inner rail will need to move in more than 1.5" since the outside of the seat has more levers for seat adjustment and thus additional width other than the track i.e the plastic housing on the outside. If anyone wants to see the driver side I will post pics of that when ifs finished which should be Sunday afternoon/evening.
Also, the bracket in the first pic is different from the bracket in all the other pics in that the flatstock used to mount the bracket to the floor studs was redesigned. I decided I wanted the seat to sit back further which is why the flat stock in the front extends out 5" and the rear was moved from the outside of the rear tube to the inside of the rear tube in the first pic. You may be able to see in the other pics the flat stock was not as long in the front and was on the outside of the rear tube initially which didnt allow the seat to slide to my liking.
Let me know what you think.
Right place, wrong time, right person, wrong situation
definitely going to be bookmarking this thread.
you've been a huge help. thanks a ton.
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put a set of these in a jbody and THEN they will be done right.
the infamous fat kid friendly seats by GM Performance Division!
14.4 @ 101 Bradenton Motorsports Park 11/22/08
De Lara (Cortana) wrote:
put a set of these in a jbody and THEN they will be done right.
the infamous fat kid friendly seats by GM Performance Division!
If they tracks/rails are the same for the 2009 Cobalt, which I assume they are, then the bracketry remains the same so the above instuctions will still apply. I love the '09 seats but one set went for over $900 on Ebay and the other set, for whatever reason, ended early. There wasnt a 'Buy It Now' option and last I saw they were over $650. There was 4 days left in the auction before they strangely disappeared. Schram Auto has the '09s posted on EBay about 2x a month. I picked up my 2 fronts for $250 total not including gas from Pittsburgh to Harrisburg and back.
Also, there is the difference of leather v.s cloth/ultralux. Don't get me wrong, the '09 seats are sick but I wanted leather. Would have been sweet if Chevy has used the same material for the early 'Baults as they used on the Trailblazer SS seats which was leather/ultralux. You can tell from the engineering of the Cobalt seats that GM doesnt always do what they should. Honestly, Cobalt seats are sweet but whoever engineered the rails/tracks/bracketry had way too much time on their hands as they are designed like no other seat I have ever seen.
As for the driver seat, I'm off to the garage........
Right place, wrong time, right person, wrong situation
im pretty sure they didnt keep with the seats we got shawn because the driver side left hand bottom bolster always cracks like a MOFO and gets crushed down.
and omar, i freaking LOVE those seats, but im with shawn, rather have the leather.
shawn... get a real camera, man! you need to do a write-up on these with quality pics in the interior forum. so many people ask about doing it its not funny.
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