Look here for help first!
So I'm 6'3" and I don't fit in my T4 that well. I didn't think it would be a problem but I drive about 50 miles a day and I developed a nasty muscle knot from my gas/brake leg always being cocked at an angle.
I was looking for seats that would directly swap in or someway to extend the stock seat. At Petros' suggestion, I got some angle iron and "rigged something up." Thought I'd make a post if anyone else want's to extend their drivers seat.
First, pull your seat (obviously), remove the trim panels from both sides and unbolt the seat bottom (4 bolts).
You'll find the slider mechanism (that's attached to the brackets that bolt the seat to the floor) is riveted to the seat frame in five places...3 large rivets and two small rivets.
All of the following pictures are from the inside rail but it's the same process for the outside rail as well.
These are the rivets that need to be drilled out.
I started with a small bit, then a larger one, and finally a 5/16" bit popped the rivet out completely. Start with one end on the large three rivets and drill all the way through. Then move the slider to get the other outside rivet. For the middle rivet, drill carefully and stop as soon as you're through. A piece of the rivet will pop off and get trapped inside the slider which you'll work out by moving the slider back and forth while it's upside down after you drill out the two small rivets. The two small rivets (maybe spot welds?) don't go all the way through so you can go straight at them with the 5/16" bit and stop as soon as they pop.
When you're done, it'll look like this...Slider separated from the frame.
I used 1 1/4" x 1/4" angle iron cut to 20" which will extend your seat back 4" when it's all done.
Mate the front edge of the angle iron with the front edge of the slider (which will make the angle iron extend 4" to the back of the slider) and mark the two holes. Make sure the angle portion is on the inside of the seat so that your trim will bolt back on. Then drill the holes out of the angle iron.
Next you'll set the seat frame on the angle iron so that the frame goes to the very back edge of the angle iron (forgot to take a picture here but it's pretty straight forward). Mark the three holes on the angle iron and drill them out. At this point you'll temporarily bolt the angle iron to the seat frame using the two outside holes. Then flip the seat over and drill through the seat frame for the back slider mount hole.
Now you should have four holes through the seat frame and it's time for assembly.
First bolt the angle iron to the seat frame using three 5/16" x 3/4" bolts, a washer, a lock washer, and a lock nut on each.
It ends up looking like this.
Next you bolt the slider to the angle iron using two 5/16" x 1" bolts. Put the bolt through the slider and then stack 4 washers (to compensate for the bolt heads on the previous step) before running the bolts through the angle iron and securing them with a washer, a lock washer, and a lock nut on each. (Sorry for the blurry pic)
Now you need to notch the angle iron so that the rear seat pan mount will fit back to the original bolt hole. It should look something like this:
I didn't want to cut all the way through to the angle of the angle iron (and compromise the strength) so I notched the rear seat pan mount a bit so that the angle iron would slide into it.
Repeat the whole process for the other rail, then you bolt the seat pan back in, reinstall the trim panels, and install your seat back into the car and it ends up way back there!
The passenger seat is stock in this pic:
My leg angle before the extension:
My leg angle after the extension:
I took it on a decent drive and it feels fantastic...what a relief!
I've also realized that you can put just about any seat you want into your car using this process. I saw some nice black leather Pathfinder seats at the junk yard that I'll be snagging soon.
Hope this helps someone!
