Swapping 240 seats?

My driver's seat is falling apart. Does anyone know if the rails the
seats are mounted on are of proprietary type and at a proprietary
distance from each other? In other words, are there any other car
seats (or aftermarket seats) that can go in a 1983 240 and save me
selecting either used seats or seatcovers (or having the seats
re-upholstered)?

Thanks,
blurp

 

Why not look in junkyards for nicer 240 seats? Just keep in mind that they
changed in '86 so the upholstery from one to another isn't compatible, but
the seats themselves are interchangeable.

 

Unfortunately I haven't had much luck finding the seats I want in a
junk yard. My car came with leather seats and it's pretty much
impossible that I'll find leather seats 21 years old in good
condition. I'd like something a bit sportier than the cloth seats so
that's why I was asking about alternative manufacturers. If nothing
else can be done then I'll have to go to either a cloth seat or pay
for re-covering but I'm hoping someone will say "sure, you can put
Saab seats in" or something like that.

A friend of mine (owns a Honda) picked up a pair of really nice seats
(not made by Honda) at a show for $150. Maybe there's an aftermarket
seat designed to fit many cars and to have the rails mounted on the
seat as needed.

I've just concerned myself with the general workings of the car and
have never looked into this sort of thing before.

Am I being crazy?

 

Here's an example:
http://urlcut.com/PorscheSeats

Ignoring for now the width of the seat and concentrating only on the
seat-rail compatibility, do the rails come off the volvo seats so they
can be re-mounted? If so these look pretty sweet and they're in my
town!

Thanks,
blurp

 

Been a while since I've had some apart, but no I don't believe so. In a 240
you're pretty much locked to 140/240 seats without doing some custom work.

 

One of the guys on the turbobricks forum, http://forums.turbobricks.com/ ,
(screen name, Blown240) has Prelude seats in his 240. I believe that all he
had to do was cut and reposition one of the Prelude brackets to fit on the
240 seat base. They look great in the car.

 

I've been told [by someone I trust] that you can swap the seatbacks from
seat to seat.

This lets you "build" a better driver's seat by using the base from the
(usualy less-worn) passenger side and the seat back from the driver's
side. This gives you working controls and belt buckles for the driver.
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Yes, or you can swap the foam, if I remember right the foam from a passenger
seatback fits a driver's seatback just fine, you'll probably have to cut
holes for the lumbar support though.

 

Well I saw the swap that put Prelude seats in and it certainly helps
me feel confident that it *can* be done. I was looking at fancy
expensive racing seats on the Mantaray Motorsports website and they
sell an adapter kit that they claim will allow the installation of
their seats into my old volvo: http://www.mmrusa.com/seatbrackeuro.htm

This is also encouraging as it may be possible to use this adapter on
any seat. I don't have the knowledge or facilities to do too much
welding but my brother-in-law does and may be coaxed into an easy side
project that doesn't take up too much garage time.

As it stands, however, I've found no evidence yet that a straight
one-to-one swap would work with any seat other than another Volvo seat
(from around the same time). Too bad.

Thanks for all your suggestions!

blurp

 

What color of leather seats do you have ? Black or tan ? Do you need the
leather skins for the both the upper and lower parts of the seat or just
one part ?

I can sell you some good leather skins so all you'll have to do is go
out and get a decent replacement seat from any pre '86 240 and recover
it with the skins I send you. I'll even supply you with all the
upholstery hog rings you need to swap the upholstery on your seat. It's
a little easier to do with a proper pair of hog ring pliers but you can
get by with just a regular pair of pliers.

Roger

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