E46 Seats in an E30

[Jand3rson]

I am fine with bland seats. This is my Daily Driver. I gave up my E39 to drive this. So...comfort is key. When I want more sporty...I'll simply leave this car at home and go drive the other E30, with a more aggressive approach to seating.

For what I paid for these...I am very happy. IF I come across a set of Sport Seats...it is an easy swap. And, I have already run the power connections.

Gotcha. Well then, well done.

[SimplyDope]

Looking good!

[mizhan]

hey thanks for the idea. perhaps i'll try on the E46 sports seats..

[TexasTerp]

I've been thinking about this swap for a while. I personally love the look and for a daily they've got be a fantastic upgrade from the e30 comfort seats. I prefer the "bland" look, I think anything more pronounced and they would look far more out of place. (Vaders for instance...)

great job!

[tabasco]

Thanks everyone!

Yeah fuck a bland seat. Those look very clean and above all COMFORTABLE

A how-to would have been dope

They are comfy. Certainly more than the Corbeaus that were in there.

As for a how to...I searched and searched and found one for E36 seats into an E30...and it even had templates for the brackets. However, if there is one thing I have learned in my E30 ownership, it is that what some other person did in their car may not work the same for me in my car. So...I scrapped the idea of using someone elses template in my car. Here are the cliffs notes of what I did.

1) With the corbeaus out...I knew I had a good idea of the layout of the stock mounting bolts/holes. So...I took a piece of cardboard and sat the seat on top of it. I then marked the holes and tagged them as the mounting points in the car.
2) I went through the same process with the E46 seat. So...now on the cardboard...I had locations of the E30 vs E46 mounting points.
***Some things to consider in this step...
(a) It is not just important to get locations of the E46 points. Also pay attention to the orientation of the seat. You want to make sure the seat is pointing forward. So..you know that the rails are straight. Make sure the front and back holes of each rail are in line. And make sure the seat is sitting square to the steering wheel.
(b) I used the stock mounting point for the front, inboard mount on each seat. It made the brackets easier to fabricate...and it made lining everything up a lot easier.
3) On the template I made for my car and my seats...I measured the center to center distance of each set of holes for each corner of the seats. I marked up the lengths of each bracket in total.
4) On to the cutting. Since I do not have access to torches...or plasma cutters or water jets. I grabbed some 1/4 inch steel rod/band material from Home Depot. It is with the angle iron on the hardware isle. It is a long 1/4 inch thick, 1 1/2 inch wide band of steel. (not really sure how else I can describe it...I'll get a picture at some point. So...I cut each of the brackets to length and marked the hole locations. I then drilled out the holes to 13/32's of an inch.
5) Placement. I installed the brackets in the car using additional M10 bolts for the "new" mounting points.
6) Wiring. I had contemplated building a new harness straight back to the battery with a fuse in line. Or running leads up to the fuse box under the hood. Then it hit me. The cigarette lighter!!! So...I tapped into the wiring for the cigarette lighter, ran the wires down the center of the car to the seat locations under the carpet...then out to each seat. I replaced the power plug on the seats with a new quick connect plug and place the other end of the plug on my new wires. This makes installing the seat a lot easier.
7) Plugged everything in...and bolted everything down and presto...I have powered E46 seats.

So that's it in a nut shell.

Would a e36 seats fit in an e30 too? what other seats fit in an e30 with out any modifications? e30 stock seats suck even sportseats arent comfertable

E36 seats will...but require modification. Not sure what other seats fit.

I admire the work, however they are certainly no better than E30 sport seats.

I think they will work out nicely in the long run.

Gotcha. Well then, well done.

Thanks.

[scabzzzz]

I am fine with bland seats. This is my Daily Driver. I gave up my E39 to drive this. So...comfort is key. When I want more sporty...I'll simply leave this car at home and go drive the other E30, with a more aggressive approach to seating.

For what I paid for these...I am very happy. IF I come across a set of Sport Seats...it is an easy swap. And, I have already run the power connections.

Dont listen to Josh. Hes just pissy internet critic because its taking him 10 years to buy an M50 swap and then another 5 to install
:)

[Dozyproductions]

Great intuition man. If you're happy and comfortable then good job!

[browntown]

Would a e36 seats fit in an e30 too? what other seats fit in an e30 with out any modifications? e30 stock seats suck even sportseats arent comfertable

Yes they'll fit, but they all will require some kind of adaptation to mount to the floor. Off hand, I can't think of any seats from other cars that will bolt into an e30 without some kind of work.

[Mrod 91 318IS]

Sweet work! very nice indeed...thanks for the info, as I'm also interested in doing the same. :)

[Simon S]

Kudos!

Estimates on weight-difference between those and e30 sport seats?

[iamsam]

Estimates on weight-difference between those and e30 sport seats?

probably ALOT.... especially w/ fully electric adjusting seats. Not worth it in a track car or any car that you are trying to keep semi-weight conscious about. for a DD, sure why not...

But as far as comfort, my cloth factory sport seats do fine. However, early standard seats that use springs SUCK.