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Adapting recaro seats for an e30

Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2009 12:07 pm
by goosiegander
Given the hens teeth rarity of genuine recaros for the e30 i am wondering how difficult it is to adapt ford or vw seats to the e30...

Is there a way to mount them onto the e30 frame for the tilt/slide/height adjustment?

I assume this has been asked before no joy with the search function...

Any advice appreciated! :D

Brgds Chris

Re: Adapting recaro seats for an e30

Posted: Wed May 20, 2009 10:16 pm
by Bally
hi same question anyone done this...

Re: Adapting recaro seats for an e30

Posted: Wed May 20, 2009 10:25 pm
by stonesie
And another wondering :)


I saw a set of high back recaros out of an astra GT/E go for £20 on that auction site the other week 8O

Re: Adapting recaro seats for an e30

Posted: Wed May 20, 2009 10:30 pm
by nickso
just cut and shut them onto the e30 subframes. these are mine but not converted by me, bought them already in the car. looking at the way it was done it looks easy enough though.

Image

Re: Adapting recaro seats for an e30

Posted: Wed May 20, 2009 10:42 pm
by DanThe
Are those vaux or rover seats nickso?
Dont look too bad 8)

Re: Adapting recaro seats for an e30

Posted: Wed May 20, 2009 10:44 pm
by nickso
rover 800 i believe but ive never seen one with them in. the only thing they dont have which i would have liked is the adjustable leg extension. drivers one has adjustable lumbar though which is good for my back.

probably for sale soonish as i wont need them in the track car when the cage and buckets go in.

Re: Adapting recaro seats for an e30

Posted: Wed May 20, 2009 10:53 pm
by A1BMW325iSport
look like rover seats to me, edit: yea mostly like are 800 ones

i have as new set of m3 interior (recaro fronts, 2 seater rear bench) :cool:

Re: Adapting recaro seats for an e30

Posted: Wed May 20, 2009 10:56 pm
by DanThe
I had a set of rover recaros in an E30 I bought about 6 years ago, the pattern looks similar but I cant remember exactly

Re: Adapting recaro seats for an e30

Posted: Wed May 20, 2009 11:07 pm
by stonesie
Thats the rover pattern alright. :)

Posted: Thu May 21, 2009 1:01 am
by e30_singh
Image
Looks fantasticly stock but with a sporty look, I like it :)

Re:

Posted: Thu May 21, 2009 6:48 am
by xavier
Anyone know what other cars came fitted with similar seats? I have heard that some Hondas did. Obviously the old rs2000 did, but they v. hard to come by.

Posted: Thu May 21, 2009 7:03 am
by StuBeeDoo
I did this with Sapphire Cosworth Recaros. Sorry I haven't any pictures of work in progress.
The Ford-spec seats have a welded-on frame extension and this has to be removed. Once that's done, you need to weld captive nuts or bolts into the base frame. Then you need to fabricate adaptors to fit the bases to the E30 runners (or get lucky like me and find some pukka Recaro ones). The bolster covers will have to be cut and re-stiched to suit.

You can fit Escort RSTurdo seats on the Ford runners but you need to fabricate new seat belt mounts, and if you or your passengers are over 5'8" your head will be wedged against the roof.

johnl320 had Rover Recaros in his project E30 and IIRC they were on the original runners. These may be the simplest to fit, but I'm not certain.

Re:

Posted: Thu May 21, 2009 9:48 am
by Bally
Thanks . will get the runners off old bm seat and recaro and have a look.

Re:

Posted: Thu May 21, 2009 1:21 pm
by 320ise
i wanted to do the same with my e30 a year or so ago but never got round to it, i still have the black sierra saph cossi seats in my spare room! there very rare seats out of a police saph! some plod has chased porches in them lol, they are for sale too if anyone is interested! not after silly money for em either.

Re:

Posted: Thu May 21, 2009 1:28 pm
by Rickbmw1984
im happy that i bought my e30 with a near mint set of recaros with the leg extensions!

Re:

Posted: Thu May 21, 2009 7:28 pm
by StuBeeDoo
320ise wrote:very rare seats out of a police saph!
A pair of these popped-up on eBay just after I passed the point-of-no-return with mine. :roll:
TBH, I would have preferred them. :cry:

Posted: Thu May 21, 2009 10:55 pm
by nickso
e30_singh wrote: Looks fantasticly stock but with a sporty look, I like it :)
you might not have said that if you saw how the back seats didnt match at all. :D

Posted: Fri May 22, 2009 2:36 am
by e30_singh
you might not have said that if you saw how the back seats didnt match at all.
If that was my car, and the back seats did not match at all. I would remove the back seats and strip the whole rear end. So its only furnished for the front and rear is bare.

Posted: Fri May 22, 2009 7:10 pm
by StuBeeDoo
nickso wrote:
e30_singh wrote: Looks fantasticly stock but with a sporty look, I like it :)
you might not have said that if you saw how the back seats didnt match at all. :D
e30_singh wrote:If that was my car, and the back seats did not match at all. I would remove the back seats and strip the whole rear end. So its only furnished for the front and rear is bare.
..... And if it was my car, I'd have had the rear seats re-trimmed to match the fronts. :)

Posted: Fri May 22, 2009 7:15 pm
by nickso
StuBeeDoo wrote:
nickso wrote:
e30_singh wrote: Looks fantasticly stock but with a sporty look, I like it :)
you might not have said that if you saw how the back seats didnt match at all. :D
e30_singh wrote:If that was my car, and the back seats did not match at all. I would remove the back seats and strip the whole rear end. So its only furnished for the front and rear is bare.
..... And if it was my car, I'd have had the rear seats re-trimmed to match the fronts. :)
i did consider it but the price was going to be too much to justify and it really didnt bother me that much.