I removed the mounting feet off the 07 Corolla seat from the junkyard (my practice seat). Drilling through the spot welds has been the hardest. Here's the Corolla seat with feet removed. Required Dremel cutting, and some grinding. Lots of drilling, some chiseling and prying. Not too easy and is tedious work. btw, screwdrivers are great pry tools in a pinch. Next is to remove feet from junkyard Prius seat.
I've broken several drill bits so far. The steel of the seat rails and mounting feet is pretty hard. Rivets are easier to drill.
I'm pretty sure the seat rails and mounting feet are stainless steel or something like that. Makes sense as Solar-Powered used TIG welding with stainless steel rod. Cobalt bits can drill through stainless steel. edit - got 2 feet off the Prius rails ... 2 more to go
I like using the reinforced fiberglass cutting wheels in a Dremel tool for cutting steel. I don't believe that the feet are made from stainless, but they are probably pretty hard as a result of the deformation when they stake the feet and rails together. The engineering term is cold working.
I used the '409' cutting wheel which looked like emery. Makes nice little sparks. That seat rail material 'laughs at' Titanium and Black Oxide drill bits. The steel is pretty hard around the spot weld area. The Cobalt bits work ok. Still needed to drill little at a time, clean bit, put more oil, little more, etc... I got decent at it, but it's a bitch nonetheless.
And I think of jelloslug pulling the whole height adjuster mod in '1 part weekend'. I can't imagine. I'm whupped just removing 8 mounting feet.
They actually make special drill bits for drilling out spotwelds. Eastwood Co. - Spotweld Drill 3/8" Pro
I will probably bolt the Prius feet to the Corolla rails, put the seat in to get my kicks playing with the height adjuster. No driving though since can't plug into the Prius wire harness. I've been looking at a 2 1/2" shift of the rails on the mounting feet, equivalent to just over 4 clicks. So, need to hook up with a metal fab and welding shop. I'll have them practice on the Corolla seat. See how good they do. Might not need to bring the car to anyone if I can set the rails in the car with a spot weld or maybe JB Weld epoxy, then have the rails fully welded at a shop.
JB Weld is good stuff, but I would not count on it to hold my seat in place, particularly in the event of an accident. Seriously.
Ooops, my bad, post edited ... I would set the seat rails where I want them on the feet, in the car, JB weld them ... take seat out, get the rails tack welded to feet by a shop, check it again. If good, then have the shop fully weld the rails (plus front extenders) onto the feet.
Yes, that would be quite foolish. :nono: btw, so glad I'm doing this on a used seat. I have no idea how much I'll like the result.
I've removed the feet from my drivers seat, and relocated them 3" further forward. I had a bit of a hard time removing the feet from the rails too. I didn't have a practice seat to play with though. I crafted the extensions out of 1" X 1/2" u channel that mounted just unerneath the front of the existing rail. This raised the front of the seat slightly which does help. I'm 6'5" and the leg room is now perfect. Waay better than factory.
Great first post! I will look for U channel also. Stronger than flat steel. Gutsy move working on the original seat. I get dizzy from any thoughts of modifying my original seat, at least now.
