Seats Conversion (E30..again)

Morris · Post by **Morris** » Wed Jun 30, 2010 12:57 pm

Hi,
Me and my friend are planning on fitting some e30 sports seats into my e21 this weekend, and just want to be prepared tools/parts wise.

Just have a couple of questions (please correct me if I am misunderstanding any part of the job)

1) From reading previous posts it seems there are two approaches to fitting the fronts:

Option a) Use the existing e30 rails- If you follow this route, will the e30 runners need any more modification aside from the chopping the outside runners? Will I need to drill my floor?

Option b) Chop off the e30 rails and weld on e21 rails - My friend does abit of welding and he asked whether it has to be Migged? (because of heat ditribution, or is there no need for Mig - his concern was burning the leather upholstery)

What are the advantages/disadvantages of each approach?

2) Seatbelts - will the e21 seat belt fit the e30 belt sockets? if not - what is the solution (will I need an e30 belt set)

3) Rears - again, from what I've read, seems as though the rears goes in, but leaves a gap. Have people bothered to fill this gap. Whats the options for doing this? (maybe foam and vinyl?)

Thanks and I hope this post is not too repetitive and will be useful for future readers planning this conversion.

PS if anyone has some e30/e21 modified-ready-to-go-rails, please shout me (or pm)

rob0r · Post by **rob0r** » Wed Jun 30, 2010 1:29 pm

When I did it I did option B. If I was to do it again I would use the E30 rails and modify and lower the outer raised seat mounts, but I understand not everyone wants to do such a permanent mod. This way you would gain the leg room back between the steering wheel and your leg.

You shouldn't need to weld the rails with the seat attached for option B. You chop off the seat mounting points off the E30 rails and weld them onto the E21 rails, with them unbolted from the seat. Obviously you would need to tack weld them in place with the seats attached to the rails to get the right place.

rob0r · Post by **rob0r** » Wed Jun 30, 2010 1:32 pm

Missed part of your post.

Seatbelt buckles will bolt on somewhere, they did on mine.

Rears, no I didn't bother filling the gap, no point in my opinion, didn't bother me that much. If you want to do it I would chop off and remount the seat back hooks lower down the rear bulkhead.

I've since sold my E30 modded seats to pistonheader, I think he's enjoying them!

e-einundzwanzig · Post by **e-einundzwanzig** » Wed Jun 30, 2010 1:41 pm

i've done this conversion. just cut the right floor mount (rhd cars) and weld it back at the same height as your left floor mount, the e30 front seats will bolt right in. maybe you will only need to adapt the carpet a bit. no fooling around with cutting/welding rails you've got the same sitting hight as your original E21 seats.

the back will be a bit harder. the foam sitting part will just slide in, but it's a bit further back than the e21 sitting part, weld the e21 brackets on so the bench won't move forward.
for the back part to fit. you need to modify ALOT. I have the leather one filled with springs and it has an armrest. first you need to lose the brackets on each side. then you need to remove small pieces of bar and weld everything together to make the backpart narrower, finally tighten the leather again. with much trial and error. the rear bench will fit quite perfectly with no gaping holes.

the e21 seatbelts fit the e30 system, and de e21 buckles will go into the rear holders.

I hope you understand my english

maybe i can post pictures tomorrow.

Martin

pistonheader · Post by **pistonheader** » Wed Jun 30, 2010 2:24 pm

wiz0r wrote:I've since sold my E30 modded seats to pistonheader, I think he's enjoying them!

yep

much improved ride quality and general comfort. i've not bothered with the back seats fitting perfectly, it only bothers me a small amount, and at this stage i would rather leave it, and sort it later. the bottom bench is technically not "held in place" but rest assured, it doesn't move about with passengers on and is safe, and it went straight through an MOT the week after they were fitted.

Morris · Post by **Morris** » Thu Jul 01, 2010 2:32 pm

Thanks for all your replies.

Picking the seats up tonight.

Will let you know how I get on.

If all goes well, I Will have a set of decent condition, no rips/tears, original seats for sale. That reminds me, I should take some photos of them in the car.

Morris · Post by **Morris** » Sat Jul 03, 2010 4:37 pm

Hi
Just finished fitting the seats.

Rears were bit of a pain, specially since my friend insisted everything is secured in place properly!

With regards to fitting the front, we went with a different solution to those so far discussed.

No welding, no cutting.

We were in a massive rush to the job before the argentina game so I used towbar bushes for the inside rails (in order to raise the seat to the same level as the higher outside mounts)

The seat might be high for someone 6ft plus, but i'm 5'10 and it's perfect.

Very simple, took us about 20 minutes (i'm in the towbar business, so I had a good selection of bushes and bolts).

Going to see how it goes.

e21-Mark · Post by **e21-Mark** » Sat Jul 03, 2010 5:14 pm

PICTURES!!

Morris · Post by **Morris** » Sun Jul 04, 2010 12:58 am

Ok, so now all the football's over I was able to fully review the results of our heavily rushed work.

As I said i used towbar bushes to lift the inner rail of the seats.

The conclusion is that although this method proved to be a relatively easy and fast way to get e30 seats into an e21, the final result has it's downfall (which is why the experienced e21 members have rightly advised different ways to do this)

The front seats sit higher which is all good and the view I think is actually better, but the main problem is leg to steering wheel clearance - it's very tight!

I think they probably are the same height as I would of got if I went down the e30 chop rails/weld e21 rails-road.

2nd problem is my rear middle arm rest does not fold down. I think this is because we've jammed and secured the bottom section of the seat too far back.

2nd problem might be fixable with some adjustments.

As for the steering wheel-leg clearance problem, I don't think there's a way round this, aside from chopping out the raised floor/rail mount, and weld it back flat (which is the way many of you have done it)

I'l try and get some photos up in the week

e21-Mark · Post by **e21-Mark** » Sun Jul 04, 2010 1:18 am

Fit a smaller steering wheel?

Morris · Post by **Morris** » Sun Jul 04, 2010 12:21 pm

Yes, I was thinking the same.

Which one and where from though?

Are the alpina steering wheel much smaller?, or is there any wheel which are smaller but still have an air of bmw about them? (as opposed to boy racer)

Jazziat · Post by **Jazziat** » Mon Jul 05, 2010 10:31 am

i would be happy to see pictures as i`m on my way to do the same into my E21 .... thanks

e21-Mark · Post by **e21-Mark** » Mon Jul 05, 2010 11:07 am

Morris wrote:Yes, I was thinking the same.

Which one and where from though?

Are the alpina steering wheel much smaller?, or is there any wheel which are smaller but still have an air of bmw about them? (as opposed to boy racer)

Go thru the gallery and see which one you like? Choice is fairly limited.