Honda Odyssee seats into Class A

[tmsnyder]

I recently (today) changed out my old tired 1990 seats for newer 2003 Odyssee seats.  Other websites said it was an option so after walking around in a pick-a-part yard for an hour or so I came up with a plan.  The idea is that the original seat base is attached to the base of the new chair.  So the base should be level with the seat, and there should be a way to attach the base, some steel showing that would provide a surface to mount the base on to.


The Honda minivan middle row seats looked like they could be made to work.   Also Ford mini-van middle row seats looked like an option.  And Mazda minivan seats looked good too.   Chrysler/Dodge definitely wouldn't work.  Of all the ones I looked at, the only ones that were leather were the Honda seats, so I went with those.  For $27 a seat I figured it was worth a shot and a little elbow grease to clean them up later if it did end up working. 

Disclaimer:  If you make this or a similar modification to your seats, you'll be changing the way that the seat is mounted to the vehicle and the way that the seatbelt is mounted.  They may not perform as originally designed in the event of a collision.  Do this at your own risk.


Parts needed per seat: 


1-1/2"x 1-1/2" unistrut, 19.25" long, 3/8" holes drilled 3/4" from each end - 2 pieces
5/16" coarse unistrut channel spring nuts, 4
2" piece of 1/2" black iron pipe, ends faced on lathe, 1 for drivers seat or
1" piece of 1/2" black iron pipe, ends faced on lathe, 1 for passenger seat
3" long 1/2" grade 8 bolt for drivers seat or
2" long 1/2" grade 8 bolt for passenger seat
1/2" grade 8 washers - 2
1/2"NC nut and lock washer- 1
3/8" x 1"long grade 8 bolts, nuts, lock washer, 4 sets


Here's what the bottom of my old seat on the left and the new seat (after peeling back the bottom cover) on the right look like before any work:



First thing to do is remove the swivel base/pedestal from the original seat, these were 4-1/2" size hex nuts and 4-5/16" round head, phillips drive screws.  :





And from the new seat, remove 6-12mm nuts from underside of steel edge of seat:





Set the channel in place running from side to side and drill 3/8" holes in the seat frame to mount the unistrut channel, the distance between the holes should be exactly the center to center distance of the holes on the sliders.  Drill one hole being very careful not to run the drill all the way through the foam and out the top of the seat!. Bolt the one end in place with one 3/8"x1" bolt, get the strut square to the seat then use the other hole in the strut as a drill guide.  Drill it and bolt on the unistrut:





Pop in the 5/16 unistrut spring nuts and place them 8" apart in each channel.  Stretch the bottom cover back over and reattach in its channel, then cut open the spots where the 5/16" bolts will attach the sliders:





Here's the seat belt components from the old seat:





Cut the hard plastic cover from the latch side and bend the end as shown.  On the reel side, drill the rivet that holds a steel bracket which maintains the reel pointing upward, preventing rotation on the mounting bolt. The new spacer and bolt is shown:





Attach the sliders 8" apart on the unistrut, making them square to the seat and parallel to each other. Push the bent bracket through the seat slot and attach the seatbelt latch with the bolt from the old seat and a 1/2" nut and washer:





Attach the base to the sliders:





Attach the seatberlt reel using the 1/2" black pipe spacer to get the reel located outside the chair.  Use locktite to prevent the bolt loosening and the seatbelt reel swiveling on the bolt later on down the road.  Torque the bejeezus out of it.  On the drivers side, the 2" piece and 3" bolt was fine with the seat centered in the unistrut.  On the passenger side, I had to offset the seat 1" to the center of the RV and use a 1" spacer pipe and 2" bolt, otherwise the reel was hitting the side wall.


Install in the RV:





The seats are very comfortable, height seems good, angle of seat feels good, and best of all they have their own cupholders!! 

Now to clean off 14 years worth of goo from the seats!! Luckily they are leather so they will clean 

[Winnebago Warrior 94]

Im liking it  ..great job 

[Rickf1985]

The seat mounting is fine but I worry about the seat belt mounting. Having the retractor all the way out at the end of a long bolt with no outer support is a no-no. That will snap right off in an accident where the forces on that belt can reach upwards of a ton, literally.

[TerryH]

My opinion -
Seat pedestals, pedestal to floor mounting, seat to pedestal mounting, seat belt mounting for individual seats, all of the mounting provisions, hardware, bolts, nuts etc. for seats, pedestals and seat belts are very strictly governed and engineered for obvious reasons. Any change can and may put you and yours at a severe risk of injury and/or death.
I would strongly recommend you research and do due diligence prior to any change you make.
These older units do not have air bags. Primary collision safety comes from the correct and engineered seat, pedestal and belt installation.

[tmsnyder]

You'd have to see it to understand, the bolt is far stronger than the stamped steel arm it's connected to.


The arms are over 12" long on each side, I added 2" to one and 1" to the other, that's only 17% and 8% extra torque  on the arms, well within any factor of safety on the design of those arms. 


If someone wanted to do this without the extensions, the plastic shroud at the base of the seat could be hacked open to fit the reel.  I choose to extend the arms slightly.


Primary collision safety in these comes from the fact that it weighs 12000 lb and is most likely going to be hitting a 3000 lb car LOL


You are absolutely correct though, this modifies the seatbelt and also the mounting of the seat to the pedestal, I'll add a disclaimer to the description of what I did.

[LJ-TJ]

 i?? Where'd the pictures go???

[tmsnyder]

I think my photo hosting site shut down!