Another seat question

Dismantled the front passenger seat out today - everybody who sits in it complains of back pain and pressure on one side of their legs when sat in it (including me). I can't see anything fundamentally wrong with the foam but something isn't right.

I've got some sport seats sat in the barn - standard Recaro base dimensions (405mm centres) and have spent the last hour looking around for seat mounts to suit. I've found some that state they are for freelander up to 2000 but I'm not aware of any changes to the seat mounts during the life of the Freelander 1. Anybody know different?

Recaro Vehicle Specific Seat Subframe | Demon Tweeks

I've also seen one reference to the seat mounts being identical to the Rover 200/400 but this is on an old rover forum archive an I can't find anything that substantiates this.

Anyone have any ideas?

Rover 200/400 seats sit about 3 or 4 inches lower to start with. I don't know if the bolting layout is the same but I doubt that it would be.

Afaik the seat mounts didn't change during the fl1 production run.

Thanks Dom.

Having done some more looking at the current frame assembly, the seat cushion
frame is essentially a thin steel cap held in place with 4 rivets and 2 large torx bolts and sits a good 50mm or so above the main frame assembly. I can drill out the rivets to remove the cushion base and fabricate a frame to sit over these using the original fixing points. These fixings line up close enough to the 405 x 275mm centres needed for the new seats, so I won't end up with massively offset fixings.

I can see a purchase of some steel flat bar coming up this week.....

Good effort. Just remember the stresses imposed on seats is very high so make sure it's a pukka job. It's not worth risking your own or passengers lives if you had a crash and the seat gave way...,

My 2p..........

if you change the way a seat is fixed to the car with a diy job. you run the risk of being prosecuted if someone is hurt in the event of an accident. you also risk kissing your insurance good bye. if it is found you have modified a safety feature o the car and not told them.
that aside you will also have to find a way to fix the seatbelt anchor point, something to think about. have fun

Seat belt anchor points and subframe are not changed in any way - I'm removing the cushion frame, not the seat frame. Pre-tensioner mount is on the side of the subframe.

Essentially I am removing the cushion (foam) and the anti-submarine frame it sits on. I'm then replacing that with another cushion and frame. The current cushion frame is held in place with 4 rivets and shares a pivot/mount with the seat back in the form of a torx bolt. I'll be re-using these mounting points and methods to hold steel flat plate in place where there is presently a thin stamped steel cushion frame.



I take on board your points regarding quality of the work and insurance etc. If I can't satisfy myself that this will be at least as robust as the existing tin work then it's not happening and I do plan to speak to a VOSA inspector for guidance before I put a passenger in the seat.

Well surprise surprise...... A pair of Recaro subframes for Freelander can be sent to me from Germany for £350 all in. Demon Tweeks want to lift me for £470 PLUS shipping.

Bless them.....

Recaro are adamant these are only to 10/00, but the part number for the factory seat frame remains unchanged from 1996 up to VIN 2A. From 2A (2002MY) there is a change to reflect the resculpted foam and new covers. On that basis, I should be safe.

Will still speak to VOSA chap who signs off on kit cars and a couple of local motorsport places, but at that price I can't see any reason to mess about, particularly when £350 currently seems to buy a similar shoddy set of seats to the ones I'm taking out!

It gets better. Just found a Mercedes specialist in Germany with an unused set of the genuine Recaro brackets and bit his arm off for £180 for the pair, delivered. No DIY seat fittings for me

Handy hint: Use Google.FR and Google.DE and eBay.FR / DE and use google translate to work out what you're searching for. You'll find loads more stuff there at much lower prices than the UK if you're ok to wait for the longer delivery.

nice one
would like to see the photos when your done.

Will do. Likely to be over the new year as delivery could be any time from 18th-30th December.

I built mine from the original bases. You keep the seatbelt mounts and pretensioners. You even have the plastic trims still. You have to cut them as low as possible tho or they end up too high. It's easy enough to do safely assuming common sense and decent welding

That's my point DD - decent welding!

You mean prittstik and candle wax won't do?

Nope - frayed knot.

the original seats in my 99 plate fl crippled me and after 30 minutes I had to pull over and stretch my legs. It was awful!

I got a full set of seats out of a 2004 and they transformed it, slightly wider seat foams and noticably firmer. Super comfy! and they bolt straight it. Oh tell a lie I had to remove a bracket on the setbelt pretensioners but it didnt serve much purpose

That's a result, good to know, thanks Terry.

It gets better. I rang Aviva to notify all the mods and the premium has gone down! Granted I have a multi car policy and the saving was due to shuffling some things around, but the net result was a reduction of £360 in my annual premium for all vehicles.

ZDomZ said:

That's my point DD - decent welding!

Click to expand...

I see a gap in the market!!!!

And there is a gap, as these are discontinued so tracking down some "new old stock" was a bonus!

Don't tell Simon!

Found out the difference pre and post 2000 on the seat frame - it's the pretensioner mount, the later ones having a metal peg on the frame that matches a corresponding hole on the later pretensioner.

I managed to source a post 2000 recaro seat frame for the NSF, but am stuck with a pre 2000 Recaro frame for the OS (Driver). I've checked the plugs and they are the same so have just ordered a pre 2000 pretensioner from eBlag for my driver's seat. That should do the trick