Alternative front seats.

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olympia57
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Alternative front seats.

Post by olympia57 »

Mulling over some winter projects and one is the consideration of changing the original comfort seats for something more....well, comfortable !
The price and availability of a pair of sport seats in parchment for my series one could be summed up by "too high and too low ". E30 items are the same now too.
I've looking at what manual seats in a light colour could be had that could be made to fit and be dyed to match the existing interior. All seem to be rare except E36 items.
Not Vaders , I'm thinking the stock coupe or compact items . We had a new 325 back in the day and they were comfortable seats iirc. One feature that attracts me is that I could have additional horizontal stitching done to mimick the original design.
Whatever seats could be fitted wouldl have to be discreet and look semi original.
I seem to remember a thread on fitting E36 seats but have not been able to find it .
Has anyone done it successfully or fitted other seats that look good ?
Bear in mind I'm 6'4" so seat height is an important factor.
Don
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olympia57
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Re: Alternative front seats.

Post by olympia57 »

Project binned....
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86_6series
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Re: Alternative front seats.

Post by 86_6series »

All right, I'll bite what does binned mean, On Hold or Scrapped?
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olympia57
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Re: Alternative front seats.

Post by olympia57 »

Sorry , a common UK saying.
I have discounted the idea after getting some feedback from another site.
The E36 seats can be made to fit , quite easily I believe , but their design means that the true seat height is higher than the E24 comfort or sport seat.
The guy who explained this to me had fitted them to his E24 and although he was only 6 foot tall his head touched the roof lining .
May not be a concern for the vertically challenged amongst us but sadly is for me. :roll:
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Re: Alternative front seats.

Post by wattsmonkey »

I have cut and re-welded the driver's seat mounting rails on my project car to gain an extra 15mm of headroom.
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olympia57
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Re: Alternative front seats.

Post by olympia57 »

Hello Rob, thanks for that info . I googled and googled and eventually found photos of the frames on an e36 and considered doing the same .
My concern is that even with a reduction of 15mm my head would still brush the sunroof underside on the car .
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Re: Alternative front seats.

Post by ron »

olympia57 wrote: Mon Nov 25, 2019 4:44 pm
.......my head would still brush the sunroof underside on the car .
An acquaintance of mine, being 6ft.3", went to the trouble of buying a non-sunroof car and swapping the body with his sunroof equipped car to gain a couple of inches extra headroom!!!
They are ALWAYS rustier than you thought!!!!!!
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olympia57
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Re: Alternative front seats.

Post by olympia57 »

ron wrote: Mon Nov 25, 2019 5:17 pm
olympia57 wrote: Mon Nov 25, 2019 4:44 pm
.......my head would still brush the sunroof underside on the car .
An acquaintance of mine, being 6ft.3", went to the trouble of buying a non-sunroof car and swapping the body with his sunroof equipped car to gain a couple of inches extra headroom!!!
Would almost have been easier to section 3 inches out of his femur . :D
Anyway problem has been solved, update to follow. :wink:
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