Matrix seat swap in my 98 xtra cab

Wonder how close to the newer Versa seats these are. We took a huge road trip and rented a 2013 Versa and those were the most comfortable bucket seats I've ever sat in. I'd love to see a swap with those.

 

I'm always looking for some replacement bucket seats for my truck but whenever I find a pair they are always mistreated by either the previous owner or those at the junk yard. Plus I hate having to pay more for airbag seats that I'm not going to hookup.

 

so your saying you just drill out the rivets to pull off the mounting brackets and then rivet the new seats onto the Tacoma seat brackets using the same holes?

do you use screws or rivets to reattach? I would think heavy duty steel rivets are not a home friendly thing to install

 

You can do it that way but I found it was easier to weld them vs trying to drill holes and rivet them. As far as rivets go, if you planned to fasten them that way it would be much easier to use nuts and bolts in place of rivets.
It would take a long time to drill out the factory rivets as they are hardened steel. Much easier to use an air hammer and pop the heads off the rivets then use a punch to knock the remaining portion out.
You would have to drill new holes on the new seat rails because the existing holes in my case didnt line up. Like I said its much easier to weld them in place.

 

well that's if you have the skill and access to a welder.

in my case it would be the drill a hole and nut and bolt it method.

is there some rule of thumb which seats will or wont work? like should I limit my search to rav4 and Tacoma or any Toyota will work?

I see scion seats have been used but he swapped the bottom rails out which I don't think I could do with my limited resources and tools and then these matrix seats would work but lets say I walk into a junk yard and say I want brown cloth bucket seats from .... what do I list for those choices that have a good chance of fitting?

there is only one junk yard within 80 miles of where I am (no tacomas at all and when a wrecked one comes in, all good parts are gone within 4 days) and the selection isn't much better for other vehicles because everyone goes there for parts.

my best shot is a not so popular type vehicle that might still have parts left

 

Ahhh yes, pretty rad idea! I did the same thing on an 07 frontier le i had. Swapped in altima leather power heated seats. Was pretty easy since the seat tracks were the same width, all i had to do was transfer the feet off of my frontier seats n bolt em in. Same with the seatbelt things too. Took me bout a half day. All the plastics fit too. Was a fun mod n ive been thinkin bout what to swap into my 13 DC in front since i took the back seat out thats all i need are fronts.


I also did the leather on the door panels front n back.

 

Haha ive lurked on your build many times now Madjik! You have actually inspired me to source out a pair of subie seats! Still lookin >=\

 

Just got a 2000 Tacoma from a friend. The seats in it are pretty much shot. Came across this thread one day and really like the idea of the folding pass. seat. Was at the junkyards this past weekend looking for fenders and came across a Matrix. Still had its seats and they were in pretty decent shape. So I brought them home! Never did find my fender though. ha! Anyway, How is the room between seats? Enough for the center console? Don't really have access to a welder so gonna have to consider all options for swapping out the mounts. Big Thanks for the idea!

 

Plenty of room for a console.

 

This is so awesome. I think I may just do this to my truck. Don't really like running around junk yards but I gotta do what I gotta do