'86 Sport Seat Disassembly for Re-cover

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bobinyelm
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'86 Sport Seat Disassembly for Re-cover

Post by bobinyelm »

I ordered new leather skins for my '86 635 with the Recaro type sport seats.

I just removed them today (MAN are they HEAVY), but the trimmer who will be replacing the covers has no idea how to disassemble them, and frankly neither do I!!

Is there a breakdown somewhere on how to do this, like headrest removal to start?

Are there special tricks, or methods due to the complexity of the electric motors?

How much do shops generally get for labor for such a job? The person doing it has never done seats with hard shell back and so forth, or with the complexity of our coupe sport seats.

Thanks,
Bob
brickwhite
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Re: '86 Sport Seat Disassembly for Re-cover

Post by brickwhite »

Do you mean standard type sport seat not Recaro?

if it's just standard sport seat then you can follow e30 sport seat.. it's very similar

https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/show ... holstering

https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showth ... p?t=347892

http://www.malloc.nl/BMW/635CSi/pages/en/52.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMtD4VGrffM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-DVATNXr7Y

Last shop I took leather covers to charged me about $250 for labor to install/stretch the covers.
- 12 535i
- 92 325ic
Undernutter
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Re: '86 Sport Seat Disassembly for Re-cover

Post by Undernutter »

I am desperately trying to remove the bolsters on my sport seats without tearing anything. Some very useful links there, thanks! :D
Ronnie Wilson
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Re: '86 Sport Seat Disassembly for Re-cover

Post by Ronnie Wilson »

Hi

If you're upholstery guy has not done this type of seat before i would walk away and find someone who has. Even if it means traveling some distance. You only want to do that type of job once. It's worth paying more to have a proper job done.
Ronnie
Liverpool uk.
1986 635csi.
Bronze Beige Metallic.
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Da_Hose
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Re: '86 Sport Seat Disassembly for Re-cover

Post by Da_Hose »

I could do skins myself. The foam and the support straps/wires can require special tools and supplies, but the work is typical mechanical work. To hear that your local shop is challenged by the seat teardown causes me concern as well.

Jose
1987 M6 - My dream car
bobinyelm
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Location: Olympia, WA

Re: '86 Sport Seat Disassembly for Re-cover

Post by bobinyelm »

Thanks, all.
The YouTube links were most instructive!

The upholsterer I had chickened out, so I'll be picking up the seats and taking them so one that said he's done them before.

He quoted about $225 to install them, which is cheaper than trying to fix them if they get screwed up. The manual seat
I'd give a try on, but the electric sports seats (they must weigh 60 pounds apiece!) just look like an invitation to break
something.

My two B9 Alpinas (an '81 e24 and an '80 e23) I was stupid enough to sell 16 years ago (for a pittance) had manual seats and weighed NOTHING in comparison. Weight is the enemy. It's really a shame that car makers think Americans will only buy bloated, overly engineered cars with prone-to-fail systems.

Next job is keying and installing a new driver's door lockset, which I hear is another rat's nest bear of a job!

BTW, I looked at the links, and all of the images show the following image:
(Can someone tell me what I would need to do to see the images?)

Image
brickwhite
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Re: '86 Sport Seat Disassembly for Re-cover

Post by brickwhite »

you need to post them on another site other than photobucket...
- 12 535i
- 92 325ic
bobinyelm
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Re: '86 Sport Seat Disassembly for Re-cover

Post by bobinyelm »

"you need to post them on another site other than photobucket..."

If you are replying to me, I didn't post them to Photobucket, or anywhere for that matter.

I am merely trying to see photos posted to bigcoupe.com by others on Photobucket, but I keep getting this message (image) where the photo should be.

Is there anything I can do to view the photos, like sign up somewhere, or alter a setting on my computer?
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hornhospital
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Re: '86 Sport Seat Disassembly for Re-cover

Post by hornhospital »

If you are using Chrome as your web browser, go here download this and add it to the browser (it does it automatically when you download it):

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/deta ... d?hl=en-US
Ken Kanne
'84 633CSi "Sylvia"; '85 635CSi "Katja";'85 325e "Hazel Ann"; '95 M3 "Ashlyn"
bobinyelm
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Re: '86 Sport Seat Disassembly for Re-cover

Post by bobinyelm »

Perfect, thanks!

I knew there had to be a kluge.
(And yes, I am using Chrome.)

Bob
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zinnocoupe
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Re: '86 Sport Seat Disassembly for Re-cover

Post by zinnocoupe »

For what its worth, I've dismantled a few sport seats and replaced a couple bolster foams and leather. Its not hard at all. Its is very time consuming though. Once you've been at it a while you realize the german genius that went into these seats. Every piece is replaceable separately. They are made to come apart and go back together quite easily. You will need hog rings and hog ring pliers. And needle nose pliers. Take lots of pics.
Image
Image
1979 Euro 635ci no longer a basketcase, just a running rust bucket!
1977 530i Partially restored and running now!
1987 635csi 60K KM Garage Queen
bobinyelm
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Re: '86 Sport Seat Disassembly for Re-cover

Post by bobinyelm »

zinnocoupe wrote: Tue Feb 20, 2018 3:28 am For what its worth, I've dismantled a few sport seats and replaced a couple bolster foams and leather. Its not hard at all. Its is very time consuming though. Once you've been at it a while you realize the german genius that went into these seats. Every piece is replaceable separately. They are made to come apart and go back together quite easily. You will need hog rings and hog ring pliers. And needle nose pliers. Take lots of pics.
They DO appear intimidating the first time, at least!
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