Author Topic: Recaro Seats (Read 15429 times)

doigal · « **on:** November 07, 2006, 01:40:10 AM »

Hey all!

Picked up a set of nelglected recaro seats for the iS the other day from the 'bay. These seats are riduculously rare in aust - the guy i got them off said he only sees one every 12~18 months. I've had them confirmed as early e30 recaros

Pic of mine:

Anywho, they are in fairly tatty shape - and thats being kind. They need a complete retrim, probably new foam, new gas struts and last but not least, the rails are a bit rusty. I'm hoping to get the rails and the struts fixed, and then in a few months retrim them.

The first priority is to get the rails and the gas struts fixed up. As you can see here:

they are quite rusty. BTW - thats the worst of the 8 corners, the rest are a LOT healthier than this. A bit of TLC with a dremel brought them up a little better, but not a great deal. Pic:

Whats the best to get all the rust off them? Take them completly apart and sandblast everything and then POR15 or something simular? Also can you buy the little gas struts seperatly without the whole mechanism thats $40 each?

And what colour options work for the iS? I've got the iS grey (dove grey?) and thinking either retriming to suit using the same material or going something a little ///M... possibly M3 Mtex silver.

AL GReeNeRy · « **Reply #1 on:** November 07, 2006, 05:41:25 AM »

i believe those are from an e21. but still, nice find. i would love to have those rewrapped in leather. as you asked for, this is the BEST way to remove rust:

http://www.e30tech.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30553&start=30
(page 3)

not sure if you would be able to do it or not, but it is definitely the BEST way.. dove gray is nice, any pics?

doigal · « **Reply #2 on:** November 08, 2006, 05:40:04 AM »

cool might just dunk them in that way and paint over the rusty bits....

No pics atm, will post up some soon!

Alpine003 · « **Reply #3 on:** November 08, 2006, 03:20:02 PM »

Quote from: AL GReeNeRy;13360

i believe those are from an e21.

Another possible benefit of the e21 seats in an e30 is that you might sit lower(lower center of gravity) and gain some headroom if you are tall.

asubimmer · « **Reply #4 on:** November 08, 2006, 03:22:26 PM »

I like the feel of those e21ers

nice buy!!

e9nine · « **Reply #5 on:** November 08, 2006, 04:08:56 PM »

Welcome to the OG Recaro club. I have a similar set in a darker color fabric from a Euro e30 so I didn't have to do any modification to get them to fit. The d.side could do with some recovering but that's the least of my worries.

Those bolters really do help a ton!!

peteM3power · « **Reply #6 on:** November 08, 2006, 08:33:03 PM »

Awesome find... Will be a great addition to your iS! I think Jake (StreetSpec_iS) has a similar set in his if I'm not mistaken? I'm looking for a set of some form of sports seats at the moment... still not sure which way to go... may have to just keep searching and see what comes up!

Pete

Ramblin MAn · « **Reply #7 on:** November 08, 2006, 08:38:38 PM »

yes those are from an e21. I have several sets in the garage waiting to be recovered. Unfortunately Aardvark racing has been the best price I've found for new skins and they are waaaayyy to expensive for me. Yours are actually pretty decent.

Post up when you get them covered. I'd like to know what you spend.

D. Clay · « **Reply #8 on:** November 08, 2006, 10:34:22 PM »

What is the charger referred to in the rust removal section on e30tech?

doigal · « **Reply #9 on:** November 09, 2006, 01:17:24 AM »

Electrical current source to work with the electrical rust removal.

As to e21 seats, i'm told that the e21 rails are quite different to e30 ones, and that these are early e30 seats - same seat as the e21, but with the rails of an e30.

With recovering, just think that i'm going to get a custom retrim. Does anyone know how much material is needed?

D. Clay · « **Reply #10 on:** November 09, 2006, 11:17:58 AM »

Is it a battery charger? 12volt DC or something different?

M42boy · « **Reply #11 on:** November 09, 2006, 12:14:26 PM »

Quote from: doigal;13356

Whats the best to get all the rust off them? Take them completly apart and sandblast everything and then POR15 or something simular? Also can you buy the little gas struts seperatly without the whole mechanism thats $40 each?

And what colour options work for the iS? I've got the iS grey (dove grey?) and thinking either retriming to suit using the same material or going something a little ///M... possibly M3 Mtex silver.

I reccomend POR-15 as a rust stop coating, but the rails might be generic to any E30 seat. Maybe you can pull the seat rails off your stock seats and use them on the new ones. It should be modular.

You CAN use a rust remover chemical, sander/grinder, and repaint them with POR-15, but they will never be quite right. They look pretty bad.

As for the seat material. I highly reccomend new foam (which you may have to get from recaro). You could do the //M strip cloth in the middle and stock grey on the outside. I think that would look pretty much tits! :cool:

doigal · « **Reply #12 on:** November 10, 2006, 08:26:32 PM »

M42 boy - if they cant be done as good as i want them then i was going to try to swap the rails over. Theres a couple of differences but for the most part they look simular. Still going to reco the recaro rails, and if it all fits up just leave them on the stockies until it comes time to sell everything off and then sort it out then.

I was thinking all new foam anyway and basically the colour pattern you just suggested! Any places that sell the mtech material online?

Noel Higa · « **Reply #13 on:** November 25, 2006, 10:40:43 PM »

I don't know if this is still available: http://www.bmwpugetsound.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=32827
But you might check with him and see.

FL318is · « **Reply #14 on:** November 25, 2006, 10:49:06 PM »

Quote from: doigal;13589

M42 boy - if they cant be done as good as i want them then i was going to try to swap the rails over. Theres a couple of differences but for the most part they look simular. Still going to reco the recaro rails, and if it all fits up just leave them on the stockies until it comes time to sell everything off and then sort it out then.

I was thinking all new foam anyway and basically the colour pattern you just suggested! Any places that sell the mtech material online?

Let me know about rails. I might have some from the extra seats (E30) I have.