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ahebron

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I know this topic gets raised every now and then so here is my version.
Here in NZ Bmw seats are cheap and available.
Has anyone tried to fit BMW E36 or E46 two door front seats to a Herald/Vitesse.
I have found BMW seats to be reasonably comfortable.

Adrian

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As Colin said I had seats from an e36 in my stag, they were electric ones from a convertible with built in seat belts which is where the problem came as the t bar in the stag clashed with the seat belt top fixing. Luckily they found a home in Pete's saloon and as it didn't have a t bar that wasn't an issue.
I replaced them with a set from an e36 coupe with manual operation as these were a much better fit, not to mention about a 1/4 of the weight of the convertible ones.
I don't know if this helps much though as the herald/vitesse are completely different to the stag/2000 but the e36 coupe seats are quite compact, mount easily to the floor and tilt forward to access the back seats so they are the ones I'd try first.
In terms of comfort I did last years rbrr With them and my back felt better after 48 hours in them than it did before the run.
Cheers,
Floyd.

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Floyd they are e46 seats with a date on the under equipment 2005, very comfy but as we have found out Heavy!! My 2000 Estate weights in at over 1400kgs now. I have since acquired some 5 series seats which will in due course be fitted and these too are 1/4 the weight  :)

Adrian you would be better going for the e36 manual operating seats for the herald. ;)    

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FloydP wrote:
In terms of comfort I did last years rbrr With them and my back felt better after 48 hours in them than it did before the run.


My Alfa seats seem to have had teh same curatve effect on my back during the RBRR, have not had a twinge since then.

Probably that and the soothing vibrations from the drive train.

Cheers

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2285 wrote:
I know this topic gets raised every now and then so here is my version.
Here in NZ Bmw seats are cheap and available.
Has anyone tried to fit BMW E36 or E46 two door front seats to a Herald/Vitesse.
I have found BMW seats to be reasonably comfortable.

Adrian


Adrian, I'll watch this one with interest. My MGF seats are okay, but can't but feel there are better options out there.

Looks like you can pick up a whole fabric interior for 150 to 200NZD, or same money for two front seats on leather.

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Thanks for the quick replies guys
It might be a wee while before I go down this path Encom as my car is still a bit unfinished.
Funnily it was while rebuiding my reasonably heavy Range Rover seats over New Year that I thought of BMW seats for the Vitesse.
The seats in my RR are BMW full electric and look huge in the car but once stripped down of the extras are a reasonable size,
Having owned a E36 318Ti I recalled that they are reasonably comfortable and a quick search of Trademe last night bought up a few options.

Adrian

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Measure them first. There really isn't a lot of room in these cars as the transmission tunnel gets wider towards the rear meaning you may not be able to slide the seats back. There's even less room in a convertible thanks to the b post. To give an example, you can't fit a big saloon seat into a herald as even that is too wide.

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I put E36 coupe seats in my PI.  This was hard as they had an odd offset runner arrangement which meant some fairly drastic surgery, to reduce the overall width and remove the offset, before they had any hope of fitting.  Once that was done they fitted ok without any mods to the car itself and had a massive range of adjustment though I could never get them quite low enough for my liking (I am fairly tall though).

Very comfortable (the 2013 HCR spent in them was my first and last back-pain free night for months) but they seemed to reduce rear seat space and are (as mentioned elsewhere) quite amazingly heavy for no very obvious reason.

I'd be surprised if you could get the type I used into a Herald/Vitesse but it does sound like there is more than one variant out there.

If you ever got the Citroen Xantia out there check out the seats in those.  They are all comfy, the high spec ones are nicely finished in leather and the runner mechanics (which is quite compact) comes right off if you prefer to use the Triumph offerings.

NIck

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I've been driving the Wife's '98 Corsa SXi quite a bit for the last few years ('cos my Range Rover Classic is too damn thirsty). I've found the seats excellent for longish  journeys (400+ miles), but it's reached the stage where it'll cost more than it's worth to push it through it's next MoT, and it is getting a bit worrying to drive. Wobbly steering now as well as other faults.

I'm also planning on replacing the RRC with a Herald Estate (Fed up wiv feedin' gas guzzlers) but I haven't got one yet.

Hopefully the Corsa will be donated to a local lad who uses one for Rally Cross. He only wants it for spare body panels and SXi body kit, so I will be retaining it's seats and electric  powered steering column. Dunno if the front seats will fit in the Herald, but I'll certainly be giving them a try, and experimenting with the split back rear seat to see if that can be bodged in as well.

As to the steering column ... I paid nearly a grand to get that replaced a few years back, and it's a shame to throw it away. So I will be sizing it up to see if it will fit in the Herald. OK, I know it's not a necessary thing in a small car like a Herald, but I've kinda got used to it in the Corsa ... which is even smaller than a Herald.

I'll let y'all know how I get on with them, but first I gotta get me the Herald.

Before y'all start offering them to me guys ... It must be a 13/60 Estate, and Roadworthy with current Mot. I don't mind if it needs a bit of TLC, but I'm not looking to do a re-build. This will be my last classic as time's not on my side here. My Three score years and ten ran out last year, and I'm nearing the end of a Chemotherapy course with fingers and toes all crossed.

Johnny.

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