How To: Celica Seat Swap (1st Gen.)

Doing this mod was greatly helped by this picture tutorial: I basically followed those steps but had to include an extra mod because of my stock 60/40 bench seat.


there are three options for new seats:

1. buy aftermarket seats and seat mounts.
2. buy used seats from another vehicle or aftermarket ones and have a weld shop fabricate mounts.
3. buy used seats and do all fabricating yourself.


cost:

1. $1000 - $1400
2. $500 - $700
3. $250- $$400


work:

1. easy peasy
2. easier
3. hard


Overview:

The feet on the Tacoma and Celica seats are not in the same places respective to the seats and therefor the Celica seats won't bolt right in to your truck. The most straight forward way to fix this is to remove the feet from all seats and then attach the Tacoma feet to the Celica Seats, maintaining the proper location. This involves carefully grinding rivets in hard to access places, drilling out welds, sanding paint, gathering and cutting other supplies, welding, and finally re-painting.


Considerations:

The Celica seats are 1" shorter than the Tacoma seats. In order to keep the same seat height as your stock seats, it is necessary to add 1" of rise to your Celica seats during the welding stage.

In addition, the 60/40 bench split seats have even shorter feet on only the outer driver's side. An additional raise is required on that side only, in order to attain levelness. The stock seats compensate for this discrepancy in the seat itself and not the feet. Thus, the need for correction.


Materials Needed:

-Celica seats.
-2 pieces of 1"x1" steel square tubing with a minimum gauge of 1/8" and 14.5" length.
-2 pieces of 1"x1" steel square tubing with a minimum gauge of 1/8" and 15.5" length"
-2 pieces of 5/8" thick flat bar, each 1.75" long (if you do not have a 60/40 bench seat, you don't need these parts.
-grinder
-drill
-assortment of strong metal drill bits
-wire brush
-primer
-paint
-arch welder
-grease and grease gun


Pre-Assembly Preparation:

Step 1.

Find Celica seats. Mine were from a 2001.

Step 2.

Remove plastic trim/bevels, plastic handles, and driver's side height adjust dial from seats. Bevels are held on by clips. They are easy to take off and difficult to put back on. Also remove the return spring on the passenger side seat.




removed bevels



Step 3. Remove the feet from the Celica seats, being careful not to damage the runner/rails. Each foot is held on by one or two rivets and a spot weld. Used a grinder to grind down the rivet heads. Use a drill to drill through the spot welds. On my Celica seats, some of the spot weld were rather large and took very large drill holes before separation.

When performing this step be careful not to damage the runners or structure of the seat bottom. You need a smooth surface on which to weld the feet from the Tacoma seats.




rivets and spot weld_____________________________________drilling madness



Step 4. Remove the metal return-spring tab from the passenger's side seat. If it is left in place, the runner will not have a flat surface and will prevent a good weld. This piece is to be welded near to its original location after the seats are assembled.

-careful not to allow the roller bearings to come out of the runners. They are free to do so without the rivets holding them in. Be aware of them throughout the rest of the process.

Step 5. Next remove the feet from the Tacoma seats, this time being careful not to damage the feet as they will be used on your newly fabbed seats. I found is easy to keep straight which feet go where, by bolting back into my truck, each foot as it was removed.

-careful to preserve the stabilizing pins that are part of the rivets in the front feet. They bear weight in the front and will be welded/secured during assembly.




stabilizing pin_______________________________________________wire brushing



Step 6. Use the wire brush drill bit to sand away the paint on the Celica seat runners and the tops of the Tacoma seat feet. This ensures a good weld with minimal impurities.

Assembly:

If your stock Tacoma seats were the 60/40 bench split, you need the extra flat bar for the outer driver's side. If you had buckets you do not need to include these in assembly.

Step 1:

Lay down some wet cloth on your floor carpeting. Wrap some wet cloth around the the Celica seats. This will help minimize any burning from the arc welder.
Bolt in the Tacoma seats feet back into the truck if you have not already done so. On top of the driver's side outer feet, position the 5/8" flat bar pieces on top. Now lay the appropriately sized square tubing, front to back across the all the feet and square everything up.




foot cleaned/bolted and ready for welding_______________________assembly supplies



Step 2:

Tack weld everything together. Then remove the assemblies and permanently weld them together. These are your new seat mount/rails onto which the Celica seats will be welded. This gives you the appropriate 1" lift on the passenger seat, and the asymmetrical 1" lift on the driver's side.

Step 3. Bolt the new rails into the truck. Take one Celica seat and place it on top of the rails. Now you need to position it square. You will notice 2 things:

-1. The newly fabled rails and the Celica seat runners are not parallel. This by nature of their design. You did not error.
-2. The newly fabled rails and the Celica seat runners are of differing lengths.

It is necessary to estimate the proper position. I aligned the front of my runners to the front of the rails. Then I worked out left to right balance, trying to keep the same level of tapering down each runner. If you have longer legs, the front alignment will work good. If you have shorter legs (and want to be able to scoot very far forward), you may prefer a back alignment.

Step 4. Tack Weld the seat to the fabled rails. Carefully remove the assembly and complete the weld, making sure to also reinforce the stabilizing pins.




completed weld on the outer driver's side - extra flat bar installed



Step 5. Complete steps 3 and 4 for the other seat.

Step 6. Weld the spring tab to the appropriate location on the drivers side seat.

Step 7. You must now somehow replace the rivet head that functioned as a barrier for the roller bearings, to keep them from freely sliding out when the seat is slid forward and back.. The placing is deep in the runners so that putting a bead of weld is difficult. Instead, I cut some flat bar the width of the runner interior and the length needed to reach where the rivet head should be, layed it in the runner, and welded it at the outer edge and through any holes that gave access.




flat bar installed to replace rivet head



Step 8. Cover the seat fabric/cushions with plastic and tape off. Prime and paint to taste, being careful not to get paint in the runners.




paint prep



Step 9. Replace the spring on the passenger's seat.

Step 10. Grease the roller bearings.

Step 11. Crack a beer and let breathe.

Step 12. Install your new seats.

Step 13. Drink beer and sigh relief.




Finished Passenger's Seat_____________________________________Finished Driver's Seat

 

So do the seats sit to low without the 1" lift is that why it is needed?


Nevermind you answerd it at the start.....

 

And nice write up

 

Thanks. Yeah, the Celica seats are about 1" lower than the Tacoma seats. I've read that some people leave the 1" lift out and just live with it, but if you want your seats to sit at the same height as your current ones do, you might as well add it.

 

What did you do about the seat belts? I have a set of celica seats for my 03 but the seatbelt clip from my truck does not lock into the clip on the celica seats...

 

Swap the stock ones onto your new comfy Celica seats.

 

Ditto that. Just swap the receiver ends. I didn't actually have to since the '01 Celica seats had the same receivers as my Taco seats. But if yours aren't the same, swap them.

 

Sorry to beat a dead horse but how did you manage to get the seats straight left to right? I've already got the front feet of my passenger side mounted but I want to get the drivers side in line with it.