Over time, the seats of any vehicle can deteriorate, and the Suzuki SJ is no exception. A good seat must do a number of things. It must be comfortable, it must provide proper support, and it has to look good. But most of all, it must be SAFE. There are a number of alternatives when this happens. You can either have the seats re-covered, fit aftermarket seats, or find replacement seats.

Due to the various number of cars on the market today, the new seats that you choose, may not fit the existing runners. If the seats that you want in your SJ do not fit, the easiest solution is to fabricate a set of runner adapters. Once these are fitted to the vehicle, almost any seat can be bolted onto them.

Vehicle seats ...

The closest match to a Suzuki SJ seat mounts are those found in most Mazdas. The 323, and 626 are a particularly close match. The rails are similar, and the center to center rail spacing is almost exactly the same. An advantage here is that you can sometmes find "Sports" seats at a reasonable price.
Here are the original specifications for the Suzuki SJ.

All rail measurements are bolt center to bolt center, except for the driver's
side rail length. Here the measurement was made from the front of the
transverse support on the body to the center of the rear bolt.

Apart from the already mentioned rail spacing, we still need to take into account the space available from the sill to the tunnel. The sill to tunnel distance is going to determine how wide the seat can be. If the seat is wider than this distance, there will be interference with the closing of the doors, the accessibility of the handbrake, etc.

Installation ...

Typically the seat runner is bolted directly to the floor of the SJ. However, the new seats may have different mounting holes. What we are trying to achieve here is a universal adapter that can be drilled to fit the new seats, and then bolted directly to the SJ. The new seats will then be bolted to the seat runner adapters

The seat track adapters are constructed from steel bar stock 1" by 1/4" thick. This steel bar stock is cut to a length of 15" for each of the four runners.

Depending on the age of your SJ, the seat runner mounting holes may be on the side of the channel, or on top. If they are on the side, you have two options. Either drill a hole in the top of the channel and bolt the adapters to the channel using this hole (this is where the needle nosed pliers come in handy). Aletnatively, if you have access to a welding machine, a small piece can be welded on and the original holes are then used. Once all of the holes have been drilled, and chamfered (using the 10mm drill bit), spray on a few coats of the paint primer, allowing to dry between coats according to the manufactures directions. Then give the seat runner adapters a few coats of paint with the black spray paint, once again following the manufactures directions. Bolt the seats to the adapters, and the adapters then get bolted onto the vehicle.

Seat runner adapters

Breaker Yard Tips ...

Breakers yard policy varies from yard to yard. We found that it was best to explain that we were not sure what we were looking for, and then explained what we were trying to do.

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

Once again, please remember to do your homework first. Read up as much as you can about the project you have in mind, and remember to put SAFETY FIRST