Standard Seat Upgrade....

[MoparBoy72]

Let’s say that standard OE seats are not the best for comfort. So, 36 year old standard seats leave a little to be desired. When you find yourself questioning yourself about driving your car because of lower back aches you know that you have a problem.

This all came about because the side bolts in the seat back on the driver’s side have had a habit of loosening and providing an adventurous driving position. I had gotten some longer SS Oval 6x1.00 Screws. Being in a hurry, I accidentally cross threaded the SS screw and then upon trying to remove the screw, snapped it.

I removed the head rest, the rest of the seat-back screws (4). The bottom of the seat is all stapled to an oak "tack strip". The cover can easily be removed. Then there are a few staples that hold the padding on the bottom; on the top head rest receiver holes hold the padding.

After that you are down to your basic seat "suspension"; A bunch of round rubber bands that are held taught by a circle of twine and burlap. There are also two larger "lower back" rubber strips.

My burlap was ripped causing my seat suspension to sink in. The lower back bands were also loose (age?).

I solved the sunken in main band matrix by taking a zip tie to each lower corner of the seat frame and making that taught. The larger lower back bands were fixed by punching new holes in each band and therefore making them really tight.

The padding left much to be desired. I have been trying to clean and consolidate, so one of the E30 sport seats that I have had for sale was sacrificed. The center foam fits the center of the seat quite well after a few minutes of trimming. I was thinking of using the sides also but they are a little much. As you can see from the photos there is a little distortion of the fabric/cover but the seat feels much improved.

...Some where in there I drilled out the broken bolt...

[MoparBoy72]

I did the passenger side last week and left out the extra foam. It is nice to have the center padding but it "ruins" the feel of the seat as a whole. There is no side bolster support with a big center cushion. I took a few more pictures of what I did to the passenger seat. BTW I had no idea that the seats were so different on the inside.










There is a staple in there....

[MoparBoy72]