Original 78 FJ40 front seats?

petefj40 · Post by **petefj40** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 6:12 am

Does anyone know where I might source some orginal front seats for my new 78 FJ40? The ones that are in it suck. Sure they look the part but when it comes to lifting my leg up to put on the clutch or brake? The seats are so high that my leg pushes into the steering wheel. It's dangerous. :shock:

They have to go.

petefj40 · Post by **petefj40** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 6:15 am

Here's another look at them.
This thing has been garaged for most of it life. Still can't believe the condition it's in. :shock:

petefj40 · Post by **petefj40** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 6:18 am

While I'm posting pictures of it I may as well post this one as well.
The good old 2F 4.2 aye! Smokes a bit when you first start it up (sometimes) but is still a bloodly good runner!

kaney · Post by **kaney** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 9:13 am

wow you got that cheap! thats real staight. good buy

Steve_t647 · Post by **Steve_t647** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 9:51 am

You could go to a car apol um apul um seat cover maker and get them to trim out some of the foam and re-stitch them.

I had that done on the Bikes both the Yamaha R1 and the Fireblade so I could grip the tank and bike better and roll on the corners better.

wow I miss those bikes, I dont miss the speeding tickets tho! and their fuel economy was about the same as a car. But you did get there faster than anything else and overtaking was so easy.

niblik · Post by **niblik** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 2:52 pm

depends in what condition you're wanting the stocko seats fella.. theres a passengers seat in my garage, and theres the 2 stockos from rusty...

poor rusty...

thought i better add that the seat in shed looks ok, not mint (from memory), and the drivers from rusty has the usual war wounds. could try and get pics if curious..

petefj40 · Post by **petefj40** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 6:03 pm

niblik wrote:depends in what condition you're wanting the stocko seats fella.. theres a passengers seat in my garage, and theres the 2 stockos from rusty...

poor rusty...

thought i better add that the seat in shed looks ok, not mint (from memory), and the drivers from rusty has the usual war wounds. could try and get pics if curious..

Don't worry about pix Jase. As long as the frame ain't buggered is the main thing. I'll be getting them recovered anyway mate.

I'll be in touch. CHEERS!

petefj40 · Post by **petefj40** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 12:29 pm

petefj40 wrote:
niblik wrote:depends in what condition you're wanting the stocko seats fella.. theres a passengers seat in my garage, and theres the 2 stockos from rusty...

poor rusty...

thought i better add that the seat in shed looks ok, not mint (from memory), and the drivers from rusty has the usual war wounds. could try and get pics if curious..

Don't worry about pix Jase. As long as the frame ain't buggered is the main thing. I'll be getting them recovered anyway mate.
I'll be in touch. CHEERS!

Thanks for that offer Jase. Pitty they weren't the right ones.
Here's a better look at the model I have. I desperately want the original seats.

petefj40 · Post by **petefj40** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 12:32 pm

And the drivers side.
Any help would be greatly appreciated! I'm not to worried about the condition as they'll be getting recovered. They just have to be structurally sound.
Cheers.
Pete.

Sadam_Husain · Post by **Sadam_Husain** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 1:07 pm

You'll need pre 1980 seats, they changed from the small petrol tank in the drivers side floor well to the large petrol tank that went accross to the passengers side and the seat mounts changed with it.

northland_pajero · Post by **northland_pajero** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 1:11 pm

I had the same problem with my FJ40 (sold to buy a trail bike now wish I never did that!!!) I solved it by changing the steering wheel to one from a toyotal corrolla, take the FJ40 one off and straight replacement.
I didnt have power steering but the corrolla wheel was still big enough so that turning (and angle parking) were not an issue.

petefj40 · Post by **petefj40** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 1:57 pm

Thanks guys. So I'm after a pre 1980 model seat. I could rearrange the steering position to make it work. But what I'm looking for is a completely stock 40. My other 84 fj40 is anything but. I want the best of both worlds.

I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope someone has one. :shock:

skid · Post by **skid** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 4:08 pm

fuk that Pete. you'll fall off a standard seat when you go round a corner.

http://www.nzkw.com

a sexy race seat with no padding under the thighs will be the answer.

or better still, new race seats for the off road 40 and the old ones into the road 40.

petefj40 · Post by **petefj40** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 4:34 pm

skid wrote:fuk that Pete. you'll fall off a standard seat when you go round a corner.

http://www.nzkw.com

a sexy race seat with no padding under the thighs will be the answer.

or better still, new race seats for the off road 40 and the old ones into the road 40.

You haven't got it confused with the other V8 40 of mine have you skid? I mean, you'd find it hard to throw yourself about in the seat of the stock 4.2 FJ40. I love it, but it's a slug. No race seats needed there skid.
I want this new 78 40 of mine stock as. That's the goal.

skid · Post by **skid** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 4:54 pm

petefj40 wrote:
skid wrote:fuk that Pete. you'll fall off a standard seat when you go round a corner.

http://www.nzkw.com

a sexy race seat with no padding under the thighs will be the answer.

or better still, new race seats for the V8 40 and the old ones into the standard 40.

You haven't got it confused with the other V8 40 of mine have you skid? I mean, you'd find it hard to throw yourself about in the seat of the stock 4.2 FJ40. I love it, but it's a slug. No race seats needed there skid.
I want this new 78 40 of mine stock as. That's the goal.

fixed it

petefj40 · Post by **petefj40** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 9:50 pm

When I said, "I want the best of both worlds". I re read it and to me it sounded arrogant. I hope that doesn't put anyone off selling me some spare parts. I feel I'm very lucky to own 2 special fj40's.
I just hope I don't end up buying another one for spare parts. That's what I brought the second one for. :shock:

If you do have some pre 1980 seats in sad condition pm me. Even if you're up north. I'll pay for the freightage to get them here. I don't like driving it with the bucket seats. It's actually dangerous. Ask SupraLux/Steve. He's driven it. He's bigger than me. He had to drive it with the drivers door open so he could lift his leg up to hit the brake pedal. :shock:

Oh well. Fingers crossed.

pug · Post by **pug** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 6:20 am

pete ring warren at total upholstrey 0274 530532 its in wellington but i think he has some

petefj40 · Post by **petefj40** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 7:24 am

pug wrote:pete ring warren at total upholstrey 0274 530532 its in wellington but i think he has some

Cheers for that pug.

Sadam_Husain · Post by **Sadam_Husain** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 7:51 am

pug wrote:pete ring warren at total upholstrey 0274 530532 its in wellington but i think he has some

aka Cruiser Spares Ltd

petefj40 · Post by **petefj40** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 8:30 am

Sadam_Husain wrote:
pug wrote:pete ring warren at total upholstrey 0274 530532 its in wellington but i think he has some

aka Cruiser Spares Ltd

Very helpful guy is Warren.
Just spoke with him. He thinks he may have a set. :bounce:

petefj40 · Post by **petefj40** » Sun Nov 11, 2007 9:31 pm

Can anyone tell me what the original seat arrangement looks like in a 78 40 series? My fj40 84 model has a bench seat setup where three people can be seat belted in the front. Is the 78 original setup the same or similar?
Thanks for any help.

Pete.

gimmemud · Post by **gimmemud** » Sun Nov 11, 2007 10:10 pm

my 78 had a single drivers seat and them a kind of half bench seat on the passenger's side which could fit two. i had intentions of changing them also before is sold it though because i almost shat myself when i had to brake in a hurry cause i had to force the steering wheel back to get my foot on the brake. and im 190cm

petefj40 · Post by **petefj40** » Sun Nov 11, 2007 10:29 pm

gimmemud wrote:my 78 had a single drivers seat and them a kind of half bench seat on the passenger's side which could fit two. i had intentions of changing them also before is sold it though because i almost shat myself when i had to brake in a hurry cause i had to force the steering wheel back to get my foot on the brake. and im 190cm

So you're saying it could of seated a 3rd person in the center of the front?
How it is at the moment is dangerous for a person over 6ft to get his foot on the pedal of the brake or clutch in a hurry. The steering wheel gets in the way big time! But in my 84 model it's no problem coz the seat is positioned a lot lower to the floor than the 78 model.

gimmemud · Post by **gimmemud** » Mon Nov 12, 2007 6:19 pm

it could seat two children but you'd struggle with two adults. and after looking at those pics again that seat looks pretty much the same height as standard so you would still need a smaller steering wheel or modify the seat rails to get it a bit lower. hope that helps

petefj40 · Post by **petefj40** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 5:49 am

gimmemud wrote:it could seat two children but you'd struggle with two adults. and after looking at those pics again that seat looks pretty much the same height as standard so you would still need a smaller steering wheel or modify the seat rails to get it a bit lower. hope that helps

Ok. After driving my later model 40 (with no issue). I struggle to believe that they would have had the original seating setup the same dimension as it is now. As anyone over 6 foot in height would struggle to drive it safely.