Any pictures? I might put this into this winter's schedule.

 

On my 8 the pan head internal hex fasteners for the sliders round out even when using moderate pressure on a short 3/8 drive ratchet. There's five fasteners per seat. The fasteners look to be about an inch long so if I drilled all the fasteners on both seats that would be 10 inches of drilling. If one was to go this route they would then have to use an oversized tap to re-thread the holes – probably English thread and new fasteners. The channel the fasteners are in is half an inch wide so the fastener head has to be this size or smaller with internal drive. Also, to avoid interference, the fastener head would have to be low profile.

Also, there is a post on this site where someone has removed the upholstery on the seat back and further down in the same post someone had gotten all of the upholstery and padding off a seat without removing the sliders. The first problem I encountered is removing the rubber/plastic liners for the shoulder straps. There are clips inside the seat that need to be released. With hours of probing with small screwdrivers – fail. Also, on the seat side with the seat belt clip there is metal that covers where the plastic clips hold the upholstery to the seat.

Anyway, before painting myself into a corner, I didn't want to be left without a seat for driving, I decided to order seats out of a 9. The OP was able to remove the sliders on his 9. So maybe I will be able to do this swap on the seats I ordered as they will also have wear since they are used. Or, I can install them and go back to work on my OEM seats without worrying about having no seat.

No repair is inexpensive on an Evo.

 

Sweet. I've been curious about this. Thanks for posting pictures please

 

x10

 

Oops, totally forgot to post up pictures. Mine are all installed now and the new bolster edge is much firmer than the old side. Really sucks to hear the hex on the VIII is stuck so bad. I would probably just use a dremel to grind off the heads on all 4 (8 for both seats). Then slide the sliders off over the remaining stud. Then some visegrips should have no problem breaking the studs loose.

 

The 9 seats showed up this morning. They are out of a SE and there's only a tiny bit of wrinkling on the drivers outside seat bolster. Other than that, new condition. And, they were shipped with the sliders removed. Anyway, it looks like my seat problems are over for a long time into the future.