Seats

[m325i 705]

How much would you be looking at to fit seats from another car to an e30? Would you go to a fabricator or seat upholsterer to do something like this?

Just looking for a ballpark figure excluding the seats.

[ED1RTY 2]

What sort of seats? and from what sort of car? Depends what extent you would want to go to, angle iron brackets and small rail modifications will work as long as you keep original seat belt mounts and mounting points for the seats you will be fine, usually fit the new seats to original rails.

[boydusM325i 0]

My friend you are looking at a very expensive exersise! Ive just had it quoted myself and you wouldnt see any change from $2000-$2500! That was quoted from Auckland Autotrimmers(Retro Products) in greylynn. They are the only people I trust with my vehicle and do a very good job. hope that helps:)

[ED1RTY 2]

My friend you are looking at a very expensive exersise!

Unless they are heated, vibrating, electronic reclining etc etc then i dont think it would be that expensive, i mean say e36 seats from wreckers, 300 - 400, a foot of angle iron and some kiwi know how it could be accomplished preety cheap.... I mean why spend 2 - 3 grand on new seats for a car this old?

[ED1RTY 2]

http://www.bimmersport.co.nz/forums/index.php?showtopic=6079

Or buy these seats, would work if your car was 4 door....... look pretty good to, maybe colour code rear seats....

[*sic 1]

haha man harden up get out your welder and go for it, easy.

my sparcos incl free install were around the 1200 mark

[m325i 705]

Really? i woudn't have thought that expensive.

So say i i bought some STI seats. Would i want it with the STI rails? Or would it be preferable to attach e30 rails to the STI seats? Obviously some work would be needed.

Say i buy some Jamex seats, how are they fitted? Custom mounts? or jamex provide a fitting kit?

Would i be able to use a (jamex or sim.) fitting kit attathced to STI seats?

Do you need a cert?

Edited March 19, 2006 by m325i

[*sic 1]

you can just modify your owns e30 rails to suit.

my sparcos are on my standard crx rails

cert?... nah worries mate.

[pug'n 0]

Really? i woudn't have thought that expensive.

So say i i bought some STI seats. Would i want it with the STI rails? Or would it be preferable to attach e30 rails to the STI seats? Obviously some work would be needed.

Say i buy some Jamex seats, how are they fitted? Custom mounts? or jamex provide a fitting kit?

Would i be able to use a (jamex or sim.) fitting kit attathced to STI seats?

Do you need a cert?

don't you just use e28 rails and redrill?

[ED1RTY 2]

Cert is required if you are changing the mounting points of the seat rails, or teh mounting points of the seatbelt. If you wanted to put any other seats in you car id stick with the e30 rails, as your car is two door you will have to be careful to choose seats that recline and offer enough room for a person to get in and out of the back seat quickly and safely in any situation.

Welder or angle iron, its an easy job that takes only about 2-3 hours, depending on skill and materials etc. Welder is a hell of alot easier as it involves no fabrication but angle iron brackets are usually pretty simple.

As for any type of bucket seats the will have adjustable rails, make brackets/weld these to your original rails and wala!!

[Jazzbass 1]

Always keep the law in mind.

Read this:Modifications and certification

One can choose to ignore the regs or not, but they are helpful advice and may help with wof and insurance issues.

Edited March 20, 2006 by Jazzbass

[ED1RTY 2]

As long as you keep original rail mounting points and seat belt mounting points you will be fine, i have adapted my racepros brackets to fit the e30 rails, and it cost me nothing to mount them and have had no problems from cops, LTSA, or anywhere i go to get a warrent. also as said above your car is two door you will have to be careful to choose seats that recline and offer enough room for a person to get in and out of the back seat quickly and safely in any situation.

If you stick to these rules you will be fine.

[m325i 705]

Im thinking EVO recaros, or similar. Guy I spoke to reckons use the rails from the evo and make adapter to fit my mounting points. Seatbelt mounting wont change.

I would sell my sport seats with their rails.

$800 to fit realistic?

[ED1RTY 2]

Including seats? yea sounds about right, seats would be pretty new though..

[boydusM325i 0]

Im thinking EVO recaros, or similar. Guy I spoke to reckons use the rails from the evo and make adapter to fit my mounting points. Seatbelt mounting wont change.

I would sell my sport seats with their rails.

$800 to fit realistic?

Come on man get some original Motorsport Recaros if your set on changing them!

[smokenbaby 0]

How much would you be looking at to fit seats from another car to an e30? Would you go to a fabricator or seat upholsterer to do something like this?

Just looking for a ballpark figure excluding the seats.

I did the following back in September. There is no modification to the original rails/mounting points. Took me an hour to complete and they are 100% legal, no cert required.

Have fun.

Step 1, Unbolt your E30 seats from the car.

Step 2, Remove the seat rails from the seats. This is done by removing the Clevous Pin at the front and unbolting the seatbelt latch and Bolts from the opposite side. Once you have done this you can use a large flat blade screw driver to lever the rear mounts off the “swing†pivot.

Step 3, Unbolt the Evo rails from the Recaro's and throw away - you don't need any of them. Keep the Allen Key bolts though.

Step 4, Make new mounts to be bolted to the Recaro's. Use some 50mm X 50mm X 3mm Right angle steel. For the front mounts you will need to cut 2x 50mm lengths. Drill 2x 6.5mm holes to mount to the seat and 1x 8.5mm hole for the rail mount. Make sure you cut the extra off as it will stick out the side and can be dangerous. You can make this look nice by angle cutting the mount into a triangle shape as in the picture below.

Step 5, To make the rear mount, is pretty much the same as the front but you only need to drill 1x 6.5mm hole to mount it to the seat. Once again use some 50mm X 50mm X 3mm Right angle steel. The only other difference is you need to drill a Large (not sure of the size) so you can slide it over the rear Pivot Shaft. This is where you bolt the seatbelt back on. This is now the seat mounted to the rail at the back. Using some washes as spacers you can now mount the front to the rails. See the picture below.

Step 6, Mount the buggers in your car and go for a drive.

If you find that the seat is angled forward when sitting in it (as I did first attempt) just make 2 new front mounts at a longer length ie, still use 50 x 50mm but drill the hole closer to the end. I ended up drilling mind about 10mm from the end. This puts a nice rake on the seat.

http://www.putfile.com/smokenbaby/images/11701

This post has been edited by smokenbaby: Sep 4 2006, 02:00 PM

Edited November 14, 2006 by smokenbaby