Figured I'd make my own thread and stop bogging down the other similar how-to thread. In short, I didn't want to simply swap the FiST and FoST bases, I wanted to retain the power movement on the driver side. On the passenger side I will, however, just be swapping the bases.
Off the bat, the base from the FoST wouldn't even fit in the FiST with the wonky way the one seat rail mounts. To get around this, and the other mounts not being correct, I had to do some modifications. First step was trying to see if I could easily remove the stock FoST mounts without destroying the rails, which is actually pretty easy. I used an air cut-off wheel with multiple 36grit cutting wheels and ground off the rivots of the existing mounts.
From here a slight whack with a hammer has them off. I had to move the rails forward to get to the back mount for the lead screw to be able to further grind off the rivots. Once these were all ground off, I slight enlarged the front holes so that the new bolts would fit. I went with all Grade 8 hardware, including the nuts and washers. I will attach a parts list when I get a chance.
From here, I ground off the rivots that held the stock FiST mounts for the front, and left the back ones attached (can't use em!) With them bolted to the FoST rails, I was able to set the seat bottom in the car. From here I was able to fabricate the rear mounts. I have the basic fitment for it, I need to grind them and round them some to be finished...
Back to the FoST rails. There are two problems with the back of the rails, 1. they're too long, 2. one side is longer than the other. They have a dimple on both sides at the same point which falls almost perfectly inline where they need cut off. This will not interfere with the mounting. The back mount that I fabricated is basically some steel stock with a hole to mount to the FiST seat mount hole in the floor, then two holes about an inch or so behind it to mount the FoST frame. I doubled up the back portion to be able to embed and weld the one nut in since it would be blocked by the floors sheetmetal.
I will be updating this thread as I move along, at this point, I need to cut the rails and finish up the back mounts before I can fully mount it, at which point I will swap over the FiST air bag and fully install the seat. Wiring up the seat motors should be simple, just need some power run to the side switch. As for the heated part, I need to do some more digging in the FoST service manual to figure out how easy it would be to get working since it's more advanced than the FiST. Am I crazy? Probably. Do I think it's worth a few days and $25 in parts to have a power base? Totally!
Base of Stock FoST Seat
Base of FoST Seat with mounts ground off
Base of Stock FiST Seat
FiST front mount on FoST seat rail with Grade 8 Bolt
FoST Seat base in FiST with Front Mounts in stock FiST mount location
Back mounts of FoST frame that need cut and my custom back mounts
Off the bat, the base from the FoST wouldn't even fit in the FiST with the wonky way the one seat rail mounts. To get around this, and the other mounts not being correct, I had to do some modifications. First step was trying to see if I could easily remove the stock FoST mounts without destroying the rails, which is actually pretty easy. I used an air cut-off wheel with multiple 36grit cutting wheels and ground off the rivots of the existing mounts.
From here a slight whack with a hammer has them off. I had to move the rails forward to get to the back mount for the lead screw to be able to further grind off the rivots. Once these were all ground off, I slight enlarged the front holes so that the new bolts would fit. I went with all Grade 8 hardware, including the nuts and washers. I will attach a parts list when I get a chance.
From here, I ground off the rivots that held the stock FiST mounts for the front, and left the back ones attached (can't use em!) With them bolted to the FoST rails, I was able to set the seat bottom in the car. From here I was able to fabricate the rear mounts. I have the basic fitment for it, I need to grind them and round them some to be finished...
Back to the FoST rails. There are two problems with the back of the rails, 1. they're too long, 2. one side is longer than the other. They have a dimple on both sides at the same point which falls almost perfectly inline where they need cut off. This will not interfere with the mounting. The back mount that I fabricated is basically some steel stock with a hole to mount to the FiST seat mount hole in the floor, then two holes about an inch or so behind it to mount the FoST frame. I doubled up the back portion to be able to embed and weld the one nut in since it would be blocked by the floors sheetmetal.
I will be updating this thread as I move along, at this point, I need to cut the rails and finish up the back mounts before I can fully mount it, at which point I will swap over the FiST air bag and fully install the seat. Wiring up the seat motors should be simple, just need some power run to the side switch. As for the heated part, I need to do some more digging in the FoST service manual to figure out how easy it would be to get working since it's more advanced than the FiST. Am I crazy? Probably. Do I think it's worth a few days and $25 in parts to have a power base? Totally!
Base of Stock FoST Seat
Base of FoST Seat with mounts ground off
Base of Stock FiST Seat
FiST front mount on FoST seat rail with Grade 8 Bolt
FoST Seat base in FiST with Front Mounts in stock FiST mount location
Back mounts of FoST frame that need cut and my custom back mounts
![[cool]](/images/smilies/icon_smile_cool.gif "Cool [cool]"){kind=icon}
