How to raise the driver's seat
 

I searched for the subject and saw a few thread whereas people commented the seat position is a little low but couldn't find instructions on how to raise the seat w/o spending money on a higher bracket. I'm 5'11 and the seat fits me perfect but I'd like my GF to drive the car too and she's only 5'3. What I need is to raise the seat 1" in the front and maybe more in the back. Can plain washers and long seat bolts be used safely? Has anyone done this mod?

phone book works.

RAISE the seat?

If anything I want to lower the seat!

If you can get longer bolts of the same grade (I assume grade 8?), I would use nuts instead of washers if you could get nuts of the right height. That way you could assure that there won't be stuff shifting all over the place.

I would also space the lift over where the bracket meets the floor and the seat mounts to the bracket. That way things are a bit stronger.

Very easy to do. I didn't like the angle of the seat (felt like I was always trying to lean forward), so I raised the back 1 inch. Got all the hardware at Lowes. No need to use a bunch of washers, they have some nice SS spacers. Torque specs for the bolts is 32 ftlbs. BTW.

Pics attached.

Hope that helps.

In an accident the seat bolts will encounter more tensile stress than shear since you being strapped in makes it top heavy, so Web9 has the right idea. Good work sir.

Web9,
I thank you for my GF who's only 5'3 and really need to sit an inch or two higher for her to feel comfortable seeing out of the car. What size bolts did you get from Lowe's?

Thanx I will do this on my day off! :)

Thanks for the pics.

Did this help with the sensation that getting a good seating position is easier? I have a hard time getting a seating position that doesn't put me very upright (shortish arms and legs, longish torso).

I don't know the exact size, but I just removed a bolt from the seat first and took it with me to Lowes to find a larger one. All the materials were in the nuts & bolts section (metric). From top to bottom I used a lock washer, then regular washer, then the seat bracket, then another washer, then a spacer and a final washer. The bolt ended up going in slightly deeper than stock. The spacer was 1 inch. Pick the highest grade available.

And with covers back on, you can't tell at all.

For me it helped a lot. I didn't like the rake (downward slope) of the seat cushion front to back. Also felt like I was sitting slightly too low. This solved both issues. Since there is no up/down adjustment, spacers or different seat rails seem to be the only options.

my wife is the same height and she doesnt have problem

how about this or something similar lol

@ ch3njiawei
That what my wife uses to drive my Evo and she is 5'4"

add a cushion. I knew a Viet girl that was 4'9" and she had 2 just to drive her corolla.

She tried that but the cushion compressed too much so it really didn't raise her enough. I need a more permanent solution and the spacer/longer bolt seems to be the solution. I'm thinking of raising the front also and will play around w/ it after I'm done w/ my income tax, yeah deadline to file for those who filed extensions is next week. :rolleyes: