I've seen so many posts about these seats and how great they are for all us rather tall guys with more leg and head room, but what exactly is the reason for this? Is the 4th gen seat shorter? Are the rails shorter than the 3rd gens giving more head room? Is it a combination of both?

I like my seats just fine, and have alot of leg room, but want more headroom and don't want to install non-stock seats if I don't have to. If the rails are what does it, can I use 4th gen rails on 3rd seats?

 

they seem the same to me.

 

For me wasn't a matter of head/foot room, but just nice seats - my factory seats were shot (fabric) and 4th gen seats were cheap. But they are more comfortable to me than the factory seats.

 

4th Gen Seats are More plentiful. Since the oldest ones are 17 Years old and the Newest are 8 Years old, they're easy to find and they bolt right in. At my local U-Pull-It yard, they only charge $30 for the Front seats as a pair and $30 for the Back Seats as a Pair. It's a Win-Win Situation. I bought i nice set myself out of a 1995 Camaro. They bolted right in. I did have to use MY Tracks, but the bolt holes were all in the right place, so there was no Drilling.

 

Do the third-gen power seats lower like the fourth-gen ones or are they just back and forwards?

I'm 6'8" and the fact that the seats lowered made it bearable for me. I'm looking for a thirdgen power seat or bracket to swap but if they don't lower there's no point.

 

Swap the 4th gen power racks onto your 3rd gen seats. I dont recall my old GTA seats moving up down, but then again I only drove it home then trashed the seats

 

All the fourth gen ones I've seen (manual ones I mean) have a lever on the front of the drivers side that let's the bottom pivot up or down- it's this way on my 95 z28 as well as my buddies 97 formula and all the ones I've found in the yards locally, might be an option but even if you have a nice third gen manual seat you could swap on a fourth gen driver side seat track as a sweet upgrade that would look stock still.

 

Quite honestly, after having had the 93-96 and 98+ style 4thgen Camaro seats in my cars, I can say 100% that they are not any more comfortable than the 3rdgen seats.

In fact, I really dislike them - If I had to do it over again, I'd only buy 4thgen T/A seats. The Camaro ones have his concave feeling to them that doesn't do anything to support your back; Add that with the fact that you can feel the seatback metal around the edges and they just aren't that great....

Just my $.02 but I'd be willing to bet others would agree.

 

With regard to leg/headroom.I think the main advantage is in the 4th gens floor board design, not so much the seats.The seat tracks are a bolt on, but the driver seat track with the pivot feature is slightly taller than the seat track that just slides back/forth.

To me the T/A seat with the articulating lumbar (3rd & 4th gen) are a little flatter on the seat cushion.Than any camaro or the standard T/A seats.I have noticed the mounting brackets on the back of the driver seat track are taller on the the pivot & standard type.

I installed one of the pivot type seat tracks on my pass side & had to fab shorter mounts inplace of the taller OEM pieces.This lowered the seat for more headroom.Should have the same effect on the driver side.

 

I'm 6 foot 7 and have not seen any added head room, especially with the power tracks, but the comfort added is well worth the money. The thing that gives you more leg room with a 4th gen power seat and a 3rd is that the 4th gen tilts back at the base (essentially the front of the seat raises and the rear lowers) which give you a lot more leg room, and comfort.

 

im using the 30th ann camaro seats and i have to say, over the 3rd gen cloth set they are way more comfortable and they feel like they sit lower. Gotta love the look too.

 

Those are the houndstooth print seats rigtht?!? Those could have needles in them and it wouldn't matter, they look sooo good!!!

 

Houndstooth?!?!?!

 

Yeah man,
Houndstooth:

 

I think the real advantage of 4th gen (camaro) seats is that the foam is newer and not as wore out. I'm sure if you had a brand new 3rd seat and a brand new 4th gen seat they would feel about the same. And since some of the 3rd gen camaro seats have an adjustable headrest and none of the 4th gen camaro seats do I would guess that the 4th gen seats were actually cheaper constructed. I did buy a set of seats out of a trans am and there is no comparison they are by far the most comfortable seats I've ever sat in.

As far as additional headroom legroom being better with the 4th gen seats, I guess I haven't really tried it in my 3rd gen but on my 4th gen when you would move the seat back and forth the seat would also move up and down. I'm 5'10" and if I moved the seat all the way forward I would sit quite high but if I moved the seat all the way back I could not even see out of the windows. I'm unsure if this would be because of the seat rails or the 4th gen floor pan since I would assume something is built at an angle.

 

My iroc had the 4th gen seats in it when I bought it, and I like it. I am 6'3. Something on other GM cars is that their is a spacer between the rails and seat. I have taken this out of other cars to make the seat lower. I don't know of the 4th gen seats have them or not, but I will sometime this winter.

 

You described how both my 95 z28s felt exactly. I just lived with it on the first one I got until I sold it. My second one was so much less comfortable than my 92 firebird base seats that I decided to pull it apart and see what was wrong. Both the seatback and bottom cushions were split over the frame to the point that it was cloth on metal- and the wire frame in the cushion was snapped. I went to the jy and got a passenger seat for $30 and put the foam and cloth on my driverside. Feels like a brand new seat- it's firm and supportive; night and day better than what was there before. I think that the firebirds had better seats both third and fourth gen- the third gen camaro seats sucked in all the ones I've been in but the 4th gen ones were better. I think if you have a camaro either type of newer seat is an upgrade, but if you've got a bird you won't be happy with newer camaro ones unless they are in way better shape than what you started with

 

Nice to know I'am not the only tall guy driving these F-bodies (6'7")

I went from the standard GTA trans am seats to power 4th gen t/a ones and I noticed really no difference besides going to a leather option. To bad to cause I was hoping for little extra head room.

 

I put saturn coupe seats (on the factory camaro rails) in my car and the seats are definately lower. I am thinking it was probably about a 3" drop in the seat bottom. That is fine by me since I am 6', 3". Lots of support and not too bad on the comfort side.

 

Do you have a picture of those. I'm trying to find a route to go in, since my front seats are shot and figure the saturn seats would be a dime a dozen.

 

I can snap one tonight when I get back to the house. I only got one seat in it cause I am still putting it back together. I got mine out of an early 2000 two door coupe (I dont think the 4 doors will fit the camaro tracks). They have the flip forward feature just like the camaro seat and have the seat belt loop made onto the head rest bars. The pattern on my seats is kinda ugly (molded stripes) and they are an off tan color but are made out of a durable tweed type material. I also found they are much lighter then my stock third gen seats.

 

I figure you can never have too many options just trying to find the middle of cost effective and style.

 

If you are looking for more leg and head room you could also swap to a deeper floorpan (not that difficult and pretty cheap) but as far as fourth gen seats being lower than third gen seats its not much of a difference it was a comfort thing for me.