Seats
In the cabin, everything is ready for installing the front seats.
A little general information about them.
Three front seat options were available for the E30: standard seats, BMW sports seats (Sportsitze), and RECARO sports seats.
In the M3 EVO, RECARO SR3 sports seats were installed, which had integrated head restraints, additional lateral support and the possibility of installing 4-point seat belts.
I will write about the seat in more detail, in the form of an FAQ:
In 2-door and 4-door sedans and touring cars, the front seats differ structurally only in the handles and the mechanism for folding the backrest forward, but, in principle, they are interchangeable. The handles and mechanism for folding the backrest forward can be installed on any seat.
The guides of the standard and sports seats are the same, but the RECARO sports seats have a different longitudinal adjustment lever design. There are two types of guides - before 85 and after 85.
I'm not sure, but I read somewhere that the guides on convertibles are higher than on sedans.
Rear and front headrests are the same (except front RECARO).
Front seat heating is different for standard and sports seats, and for fabric or leather upholstery.
The upholstery fabric texture sets were different for the 4-cylinder and 6-cylinder cars.
Depending on the year of production, the engine, the type of trim and the configuration of the car, the seats have many ETK numbers. Therefore, it makes no sense to indicate them.
So, now about my specific seats. At first, completely different seats were installed - the right one is standard, and the left one is from E36. Therefore, almost immediately, I completely replaced them with BMW sports seats (Sportsitze) from a 1992 car (probably from a touring car). I sewed them in black and installed heating. The seats are in very good condition, so there was no point in taking them apart to take pictures and put them back together! :)
So, here I will not describe everything in detail - just general photos - BMW sports seat (Sportsitze).
BMW sports seat


Unlocking the BMW sports seat

As I said above, the handles and forward recline mechanism from the 2-door sedan seats can be installed on the 4-door sedan seats. If there is such a need.
The details of fastening the front head restraints are similar to the rear ones. The headrests are simply inserted into the holes. Can be adjusted in height and inclination. I already wrote about them in the section on the back seat.
BMW sports seat headrest


Rear and front head restraints are the same for standard and sport seats (except front RECARO).
The rear panel of the BMW sports seat


The back panel of the backrest is attached from above with staples, and from below with two self-tapping screws.
BMW sports seat cover

Cladding by the meter


As I said above, depending on the year of manufacture, engine, and configuration of the car, the seats have many upholstery options with different ETK numbers. Therefore, it makes no sense to indicate them.
Fabric, faux leather, and genuine leather upholstery were available. The main colors are black, blue, green, brown, beige, gray, red. Before restyling, and after restyling, these colors had different shades and textures. The upholstery fabric texture sets were different for the 4-cylinder and 6-cylinder cars. There were also special skins for exclusive and individual configurations - M-Technic, Edition and others. On all E30s, the skin has longitudinal seams, except for convertibles, where the seams are transverse.
According to the VIN code, my car had PINIENGRUEN green cloth upholstery (0149) - for cars with 4-cylinder engines (316). But I bought a car with a different interior. The door panels were 0211 ANTHRAZIT, and the seats were re-stitched in a similar fabric. After replacing all the seats, I looked around for the 0211 ANTHRAZIT fabric that was available from 85 for the 6 cylinder engine - just what I needed for my current kit! I still found it and bought it, thanks to a friend.

But in fact, the color was not black, but brown... alas...

At that time, I could not find a black "crow's foot", so I decided to sew the seats simply in black, with transverse seams, like on convertibles. It also turned out very well. But the idea of making the entire interior in black "houndstooth" doesn't leave me... :) Yes, such a fabric is now on sale... I already have a back rest and four headrests in the original 0211 ANTHRAZIT fabric. Someday, maybe, I will have the whole salon "crow's foot" 0211 ANTHRAZIT. Or blue "crow's foot" 0212 PACIFIC - door trims are also already available ;)
The photo shows M TECHNIC decorative overlays (52 10 1 927 000) on the back.

For the E30, front seats were only available for the M3. But I also installed them - the interior looks much better with them! ;)We pierce the skin with them, and bend their spokes inside. One nuance - although I ordered them new, the color of the stickers on the driver's seat quickly began to fade... Therefore, I "laminated" them with a transparent adhesive film.
So, although the seats are in good condition, I still did some minimal "maintenance" of them - I cleaned and lubricated all the adjustment mechanisms, renewed the paint on the guides a little, and cleaned the trim.
BMW sports seat guides

There are two types of guides - before 85 and after 85. Structurally, they differ significantly, but they are interchangeable when attached to the body. Guides up to 85 are attached to the body with three nuts and one bolt at the back near the gearbox tunnel. Guide rails after 85 are attached to the body with two nuts at the front and two bolts at the back. In ETK, simple washers are used in one case, spring washers in another, or they are not used at all - the logic is not clear. Therefore, I prepared both simple washers and spring washers, but in fact I used only spring washers. I have a body of 84, and the guides of 92 - therefore fastening with three nuts and one bolt.

Plastic decorative caps for nuts also come in two types. Both types are no longer available to order. Earlier (before 85) are high, and later (after 85) are low. High caps are not suitable for guides after 85 - they interfere with the longitudinal adjustment of the seat. I had to order low caps for 3D printing.

I cleaned the guides, repainted a little and lubricated all the mechanisms with Teflon grease.


The photo shows the heating connector, which is fixed in a special plastic bracket on the spring frame of the seat. The connector of the driver's seat belt lock is also fixed in the same bracket.
BMW sport seat covers

BMW sports seat accessories

Seat details

All mechanisms work well, so I did not disassemble them - I just cleaned and lubricated them.





1992 year


After that, for "prevention" I cleaned the cladding with a "tornado"

All that remains is to fasten the seat belt locks.

The early locks fit the late guides without a problem. The bolt was closed with a decorative cap.

The seats are now completely ready for installation.
We connect the seat heating connector and the driver's lock, if there is one. It is better to immediately raise the seat to the maximum height on the guides. We install the seat on the body studs and fasten.

Fasten the seat belt, cover the bolt with a decorative cap.

We also close the fastening nuts with caps.

We adjust the position of the seats - installed.



Now it remains only to fasten the steering wheel! :)
By the way, next time there will be the last entry on the assembly of the interior - about a rare option for the E30 - S435 Made of valuable wood species






















































































































































































































































































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