Replacement front SEATS

Just bought 300 tdi 1994, looking at fitting recaro or rover zt front seats, Is it an easy job or are their issues????

I had Recaro seats in my 90 for about 8-years, very comfortable but there are issues.

First thing is that the mounting points are unlikely to match so you will have to drill new ones but while this is fine if the rails are of a similar size it can cause problems if they are wider (or even narrower). What I did was to mount a steel-plate on the seat-box with four studs sticking up to bolt the rails to. The steel-plate was bolted into place using captive nuts so fitting/removing it took only minutes and the use of studs meant that the seat itself could be unbolted in as long as it took to remove four nuts. The finished job was very smart & strong.
The biggest problem for day to day use is that most aftermarket seats do not have a removable base so access to the battery is restricted. I always use an FIA battery isolator so safety was never an issue and for quick access I cut a smart little panel into the side of the seat-box but to actually get to the battery for removal meant removing the seat & mounting plates. Luckily due to the way I fitted them this could be done in little over 5-minutes.

SEARCH Loads of threads out there covering this issue!!

I'm putting Cobra Monaco's into mine, just trying to work out what mounts to buy now

Looks an easy job, drill holes, bolt in frame, bolt in seat

wouldnt bother with zt seats. one of the family has one of these and other than being poor quality (alledged 1/2 leather is coming off at 50k miles) they look to have quite a tall base so you would end up sitting pretty high up even with custom rails (considered the same idea too at one point).

Dr_evil said:

I'm putting Cobra Monaco's into mine, just trying to work out what mounts to buy now

Looks an easy job, drill holes, bolt in frame, bolt in seat

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Ive got cobra buckets in mine and they came with subframes that fit a 90. Ill go have a look for a part number on them if its any help?

Might save you some agro cutting and driling but cost you some money?

BIG_GINGA_BEARD said:

Ive got cobra buckets in mine and they came with subframes that fit a 90. Ill go have a look for a part number on them if its any help?

Might save you some agro cutting and driling but cost you some money?

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That would be helpful if you wouldn't mind, the Monaco's are the bottom mounted version so I was planning on getting side mounts and a bit of 4mm angled aluminium but if theres specific ones that'll fit a Defender or Series that'd be better

Also...worth mentioning about the Recaro's...if you aren't overly tall then you'll struggle getting in and out of them. I'm 6ft, so was alrate...however, other members of my family don't have tall genes, so they would struggle, which meant I had to get rid of um...the Recaro's, not my family

Dr_evil said:

That would be helpful if you wouldn't mind, the Monaco's are the bottom mounted version so I was planning on getting side mounts and a bit of 4mm angled aluminium but if theres specific ones that'll fit a Defender or Series that'd be better

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Sorry, forgot to subscribe. ill have a look for you later on my way out.

Cheers Ginga, I'm debating buying or making the mounts at the mo

New seats





And yes ….. that is my foot

Just put a set of disco seats in mine, bolted some box section to the runners and have attached them using 8mm riv nuts through the front of the seat box and 6mm bolts where the seat box attaches to the bulkhead.

tried to make them easy to remove so that I can get to the battery if needed (only need a 13mm and 10mm socket and a couple of minutes).

Work well and get that bit extra legroom with the seats being slightly raised too

Oh balls.

Just remembered i was supposed to look at the seat bases, sorry evil. Im at work until tuesday morning.

If its still a help ill do it then but you may need to PM me to remind me.

Matt

Don't worry mate, I've decided I'll fabricate some fixed ones from angled 4mm aluminium and just bolt them down to the old seat bases
Much cheaper than buying special ones

I have bucket seats...

i used the seat frame of a standard 90, just buy some old ****y standard seats (bottom bit) rip the foam and all that, and then mount the bucket seats on it