Nick Jones Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 Anyone ever tried putting BMW E36 front seats in a saloon/estate? I rather carelessly appear to have a won a pair on Ebay..... Nice black leather ones - but only useful if they'll go in!CheersNick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 Someone at The Plough, I forget who, was talking about ones out of a convertible fitting really well - even down to the sliders I think - so I presume they may be about right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FloydP Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 May have been me you were talking to James, I did have 3 series soft top seats in the stag and 3 of the 4 holes lined up, I only had to drill an extra hole in 1 runner to fit them in, the problem with them In the stag was the built in seat belts hit the t bar so wouldn't go very far back, not a problem for me even after many hours on the hcr but I think Radders would have liked a bit more leg room on the way to stoneleigh. Anyway I've swapped them for a set of 3 series coupe seats that don't hit the t bar but the runners needed a plate under 1 side to increase the width and pick up on the standard stag mounting points. I thought the stag floor would be similar to the saloon but the stag has raised lumps in it that place the seat at the right height, I think on the saloon you'll have to do something to raise the seat mounting, MikeyB did something with angle iron I think when he put tomcat seats in his saloon, probably worth looking to see if there's any pictures in his blog.Cheers,Floyd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted July 5, 2011 Author Share Posted July 5, 2011 Got 'em. Black leather in nice condition.E36 coupe ones I'm told. They are big. And very heavy. Runners are wide (450mm centres compared to standard 380mm) and offset outwards. They will go in, just as the runners just (and I mean just) go between the tunnel and the sill. I can get one hole to line up (inside rear), elsewhere adaptor plates will be needed. Biggest problem looks to be height as even on their lowest setting they are a bit high for me, though I'm not exactly short......Above comments apply to passenger side only as I need to move the car outside to try the drivers side and it was a tad damp out.Still pondering. Not convinced they are a great starting point.Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Borris Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 Don't the 2000/etc. seats have offset cushions? To go over the tunnel?Early XJ6 seats fit very well and look very good, (see Charles Harrison's red MK1), but are hard to find now.Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted July 5, 2011 Author Share Posted July 5, 2011 Yes they do, but not really an issue as the standard seats are very wide. Would be very happy to fit a pair of nice leather Jag armchairs - just got to find 'em.....Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 Nick may be worth talking to Nick Jackson....his pi had 3 series front seats before he switched to the rover seats.I've a feeling he found them a bit on the high side..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TedTaylor Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 Allan Walker (Register Webmaster) did a description of fitting Jag seats into a Triumph on the Register Forum under the subject 'Jag seat installation' posted May 17, 2010. This was in the 'Projects' section under 'General Discussion".Ted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willows40 Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 I`ve just put rover 600 seats into my mk2 pi found it easier to modify the seats to fit the original runners than change the floor fittings it also means its straight forward to revert back to original seats, The biggest thing is getting the seats lower enough.Got a set of black leather seats out of an orion to fit to the mk1 pi when i get round to it.cheers andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeyb Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 http://club.triumph.org.uk/cgi-bin/forum10/Blah.pl?m-1217362469/s-26/highlight-tomcat/#num26Did you find my old posts? A few pics that show the adaptor frames I made up. Well comfy but sat a bit high because I kept all the Rover sliders and height adjusting mech.If I was to do it again, I'd remove all that and mount straight to the Triumph runners.I've got a set of XJ40 electric leather that I eventually plan to fit - these seem to sit a lot lower - ie. just right with the jag runners left in situ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRAJ Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 We have 620ti Rover seats in the estate at the moment, I had to bin the original sliders and height adjustment as the seat was way too high for me. Made up som adapters wit 50mm angle remembering to mount the seats higher at the front and mounted on some spare runners. As Andy says it saves modding the car and we can swap between the two with the removal of 8 bolts per car.See the blog for a pic of them in the pi.Allen Walker used XJS seats which are a lot narrower than XJ6 ones, Doug Thompson has XJS ones in his mk1 as well.Colin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willows40 Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 CRAJ wrote:We have 620ti Rover seats in the estate at the moment, I had to bin the original sliders and height adjustment as the seat was way too high for me. Made up som adapters wit 50mm angle remembering to mount the seats higher at the front and mounted on some spare runners. As Andy says it saves modding the car and we can swap between the two with the removal of 8 bolts per car.See the blog for a pic of them in the pi.Allen Walker used XJS seats which are a lot narrower than XJ6 ones, Doug Thompson has XJS ones in his mk1 as well.Colin.That sound like how i fitted them to mine, Need to make slight adjustment to the passengers when i get time as sitting to far towards the door at moment,Its a lot easier using the original runners.cheers andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted July 6, 2011 Author Share Posted July 6, 2011 Thanks all.Ted, thanks for the suggestion - found and read that thread.Mike, hadn't seen your thread before. Also interesting as there is a nice pair of 216 GTI seats very local going cheap.... They are mostly black so aethestically fine. Also quite local are a nice pair of Rover 800 Recaros..... have a feeling I may end up with multiple seats..... :-/I could get these BMW seats in - just concerned that it's not worth the fairly considerable hassle because they will always be too high.CheersNick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Englishbull Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 I bought full set of leather Alfa Romeo 156 seats plus doorcards for tenner...................they go nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krusty2000 Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 Hi I've fitted a pair of red leather Alfa GTV seats in my MK1. In my first trail fitting of the seats I welded the original Triumph runners to the bottom but they sat too high. So I refitted them by modifying the Alfa runners. I think they are really comfy especially on long journeys, however my misses doesn’t like as much because her bum’s too wide ;D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicmk1est Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 dog 620ti (half leather)front seat are nice,had a pair in my mk2 cortina,,,ideal for long travel,,,but each to their own Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Borris Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 krusty2000 wrote: however my misses doesn’t like as much because her bum’s too wide ;DSooooo dead if she reads this!Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Thompson Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 My XJS seats sit very low , and are great for tall drivers , just bought another pair in a biscuit colour so will have to stain them black , but still only £30 the pair and are immaculate , :) ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mioraet Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 I'm thinking of trying Volvo 850 seats. The width seems ok and they really are the most comfortable seats ever.. The ones in my T5 are even the right colour but I think the missus would be a bit upset if I removed them ;DJust have to find a good donor which isn't easy as they are NOT thick on the ground here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heraldhabitat Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 Rover 600 half leather recently fitted to my Mk1 are the dog's naughty bits, Mike Papworth in Coventry fitted them for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted July 12, 2011 Author Share Posted July 12, 2011 Got some Rover 216 Gti half-leather jobs now. They don't exactly leap into place either :-/. Making some fair progress on getting them in now though. The BMW ones are nicer though - and I think I might have figured out a reasonably easy way move the outside runner (which is considerably offset outwards for some reason) and get it to sit symetrically with the inboard one, giving the same track width as the Triumph ones. Doesn't address the original height issue except that they would at least side in the original channels gaining about 6mm (wow!). Might be ok for someone a bit less unreasonably tall :P'Tis when you mess about like this that you realise that the T2000 range has a rather odd shaped cabin - shallow and narrow, but long. The shallow especially shows up by making both pairs of seats (both from quite small cars) look really high backed.Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Sorbington Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Why do you want to change the seats anyway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted July 12, 2011 Author Share Posted July 12, 2011 Drivers seat is already somewhat knackered and lacks support in the lower back. Both front seats show signs of rapidly becoming more knackered if the deposits of powered foam that keep building up on the floor beneath them (after minimal use) is anything to go by! Interior is already later, non-original cloth seats.Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazzer Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 I'm glad someone has asked this question. I still run the original vinyl seats in our 65 2000 MK1 and they give great support for competitive motor sport events and as an everyday long distance driver.They've taken some hammering over the last 46 years and still look good... I did try some BMW Mini all leather recliners for all of a week. They were crap in comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard B Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 570 wrote:I'm glad someone has asked this question. I still run the original vinyl seats in our 65 2000 MK1 and they give great support for competitive motor sport events and as an everyday long distance driver.I still run original seats. I just wish we could source some diaphrams! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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