The BMW seat debated (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter EasternYeti
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
DFXR
SILVER Star
Do it. You're almost there anyway.
Mine are the bare-bones "comfort" seats out of an early 90s 318i, and they are still light years ahead of the stock seats in terms of comfort.
As said above, keep your stock seats in the garage. There are no permanent mods necessary for the swap. And since you've already got the seats, you're only in it for the additional cost of torfab's brackets, which you could always re-sell.
Since you've got a late 60, it's an easy swap and your new seats will sit at a reasonable height. (I don't know about the inverter though)
...Which leads me to the post above about putting new seats in a pre-86 truck - there is no easy solution other than making your own brackets, which is not that hard. I did.
The one thing that is hard to get around with the early 60s is seat height - unless you cut your floor mounts or get really creative with your brackets, you'll find that BMW and other non-OEM seats sit high. Mine are almost too high, but since that is subjective, and they're really comfortable, I just deal with it. If I had big hair it might be a problem.
Mine are the bare-bones "comfort" seats out of an early 90s 318i, and they are still light years ahead of the stock seats in terms of comfort.
As said above, keep your stock seats in the garage. There are no permanent mods necessary for the swap. And since you've already got the seats, you're only in it for the additional cost of torfab's brackets, which you could always re-sell.
Since you've got a late 60, it's an easy swap and your new seats will sit at a reasonable height. (I don't know about the inverter though)
...Which leads me to the post above about putting new seats in a pre-86 truck - there is no easy solution other than making your own brackets, which is not that hard. I did.
The one thing that is hard to get around with the early 60s is seat height - unless you cut your floor mounts or get really creative with your brackets, you'll find that BMW and other non-OEM seats sit high. Mine are almost too high, but since that is subjective, and they're really comfortable, I just deal with it. If I had big hair it might be a problem.
I've only put a few hundred miles since I installed mine, but I LOVE THEM!. Yeah, it's nice to keep everything stock, but to me, this is a utility truck and it's way more important to be comfortable especially on long trips. I think they look pretty good actually, the tan seats blend very well with the brown interior. I know someone who installed charcoal gray E46 seats in his grey interior and I think they looked absolutely terrific. I agree with DFXR, they sit maybe a smidge higher at the lowest setting than the stock seats, but it's not a problem for me, I'm 5'-10". I used Torfab's brackets. Very easy install.
boozewz
SILVER Star
They're OK. Some small tears on the driver's side bolster. Down side is that they are not leather. But I do like that they're manual.
Yes, they're from an E46
Sorry to dig up an old thread ... BUT
I've read several thread on this upgrade. Some say they sit lower. Others say they sit higher? I have new SOR seat bottoms and I sit pretty dang high. Can someone provide insight on the seat height?
I've read several thread on this upgrade. Some say they sit lower. Others say they sit higher? I have new SOR seat bottoms and I sit pretty dang high. Can someone provide insight on the seat height?
I have early 60 brackets from Torfab and BMW seats. Think the mounting position was very stock and perfect in relation to the driving position.
i am 6'2" and look out of the top 1/3 of my windshield with no visibility issues. i have lots of leg room and my kids aren't squished in the back. my head has room below the roof with out being even close to touching. they are perfect for me and i'd put them in again in a heart beat.
“Early” as in, some of the first brackets they made, or “early” as in, early floor. I have only seen Torfab brackets for 4/86 and later floors. But not orders 60’s with the early floor. I have a early floor and am in need of replacement seats.
I don’t see brackets for the early floor in the Torfab website.
Both, I have an 1983 and got a prototype set to test the install and give feedback.
The install is some serious cutting. You remove all of the front beam of the seat bracket and the rear mounting pedestals.
Once all that is removed you have a flat surface to mount from.
Drivers side was probably 5 hours. Passenger side was about 3hrs. I think a sawsall would be the best tool for the job. I tried drilling the spot welds out at first (they do make specialty bits for spot welds I found out later) but would get to much pressure and ended up punching through the floor. Used an angle grinder when I could. And a reinforced dremel when tolerances were tight.
Indexing the correct location wasn't as bad of a job as I thought it would be.
Shoot them an email about the early 60's brackets. They had some sitting on the counter last Friday so I'm sure they have some.
So, to revive an old thread...has anyone tried E70 seats? I have E92 seats, but they are sport seats and I am not a sporty guy (I'm too wide for the bolsters). I have Torfab brackets (I think), but they don't look like the ones in Dave's picture.
Dave's were a for the older Land cruiser. From 86 and newer you'd be using these (i have them in my FJ60)
Yep, that’s them!
One of my favorite upgrades to my FJ60.
So that is a picture of mine as well. Those BMW seats I originally picked up had those brackets attached.
