What is the best replacement seat for an 87 Suzuki Samurai?

Answer 1

Depending on how inventive you are, a wide range can be used. There used to be 3 running samurai's in my family and I replaced the seats on each of them, sometimes more than once. What worked best IIRC was a Hyndai Excel 2 door: It was about the same size, was readily available at the time (maybe 8 years ago) in "pick your part" junkyards, and since it was coming out of a 2 door car it would have the seatback release to move the seatback forward so one could climb into the back seat. I used case hardened bolts and fender washers to bolt these seats into place. Be aware the Samurai had a raised platform for the driver side, and did NOT have it on the passenger side. So if you take two seats out of an Excel and manage to put them into the Samurai, the driver seat will sit a few inches higher than the passenger seat. No big deal, you probalby look down on whoever is willing to ride with you anyway. :} Be cautious: You will be drilling through the floor (at least for the passenger seat) and using bolts and washers to hold the seat in. You will likewise be drilling through the raised metal platforms on the driver's side. YOU WILL LIKELY HAVE A WEAKER SEAT MOUNTING THAN ORIGINAL...and the seat may well pull loose in a collision. WARNING: DANGER OF INCREASED INJURY OR DEATH. DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK. There, caveats aside... Besides the EXCEL seats that I found worked best, at one time I put Mercedes Benz seats in one. Another time I took leather bucket seats out of a BMW 5 series and put THEM in. (Very comfy...but they really squeezed together and made it hard to use the emergency brake...also, since they came out of a 4 door car, the seat backs would not pull forward. Ultimately for mine I got an air suspension seat out of an old big rig, and fabricated a platform on top of it to which I bolted my driver seat. By adjusting the air in the bladder under the seat I could literally "float" down the road...but had to be careful as anyone taller would hit their head on the tonneau bar when they went over a bump and the seat floated up. Hope this helps!