body and interior Whomever Said 6 Series Seats Fit....

[lilcphoto]

Sadly, no photos as I just found out my card needed formatting after I took the photos...

 

But... I went to work today and had some downtime, or rather all the time, to work on installing the 6 series seats that I found off craigslist.

 

My first worry was that they were listed for a 2002, and I figured that they had already been cut, but possibly too much. When I inspected them, nothing had even been trimmed yet. The tan doesn't quite match up, but it was well worth it.

 

Except for the fact that they don't really fit.

 

They have a left and a right, and after you get the center console in (quite a nice feature I must say) the seats line up pretty easily... but with the front hooks in place, there is no way the rear's can hook up unless you did some major trimming. I took a disc cutter to the seats and made quick work of cutting out the rears, which I took quite a bit out of... but even then they sit a good 3-4 inches away from the rear. They are hooked in, they stay in place, and they are far more comfortable than the original (as well as they aren't falling apart like the old one.

 

I needed to recover the rear parcel tray (as I remade it with speaker vents awhile back) but now I'll have to fabricate something completely new that will align with the taller center console piece (a good 2-3 inches higher than the rear tray) and fill in the gaps created by the seats...

 

Also, what seatbelts are people using when they do this conversion? the originals were not long enough... do the 6's just bolt right in?

 

I'll try to get some photos soon, I am quite frustrated that they process photos didnt make it, but I suppose that is what you get with a digital camera these days.

[Chamonix72]

No one ever said they drop right in. Everything I have read makes it abundantly clear that there is some trimming included. 

 

The 6's seat belts sort of bolt in. You have two choices: if there is a threaded hole under your package tray, you can attach the top mount there (after some reinforcement). Or, there is a threaded hole under your headliner on the C pillar. Feel around, it's there. You can use that as a mounting location for the top bolt. Oh, you'll have to figure out how to mount the receptacles for the 6's belts as well. Talk to "bluedevils" here on the forum about seat belts. He was a big help.

 

Note: I haven't DONE this, but I've done a bit of researching on the subject. I have the seats and a set of seat belts. I'll get to it one of these days.

Edited October 25, 2013 by Chamonix72

[thinksound_mike]

the mounting hole on the c-pillar is about 4 inches above the window latch. i have 3pt rear belts mounted there in my backseat (from bluedevils). i have the original seats in my car, not ones from a 635. very happy with them.

[tashakes]

I made the shelf to the contour of the seats and cut down the center console because it was too tall. I also made fillers out of foam and vinyl to fill out the sides to the rear cards. I love the look and they are way more comfortable than even the front E21 seats.

[lilcphoto]

I made the shelf to the contour of the seats and cut down the center console because it was too tall. I also made fillers out of foam and vinyl to fill out the sides to the rear cards. I love the look and they are way more comfortable than even the front E21 seats.

 

Looks great... hopefully I can work my rear tray to match up nicely like yours. 

 

I highly recommend this to anybody interested in making the swap, but plan on a bit more project creep than just cutting up the seats and getting them to fit. That's all.

 

I definitely feel had BMW installed these seats in the car initially, it would have appealed to a more defined crowd. It is a great look, feels great, works great... but there's something to be said about a nice big wide bench in the back vs buckets. I made the swap because my rear seats aren't used as much, they were falling apart and "shedding" all over the car, and I liked the look I kept seeing from different forum members. 

[autobon7]

• Thanks for the pics tashakes.....like the others above I have a set to go in as well and I agree the look is better imho. Just waiting to get funds together for a carpet kit (Esty are you listening?) to do everything together.  lilcphoto you mentioned that the tan didn't match, mine does not either. Not sure what color it is, kinda tan/beige dirty light tanish dunno but not anywhere close to what's in the car now. Just wondering if the E21 recaros are closer to 2002 tan or the 6 series back seats? The long term plan is to go with the recaros but have Honda Prelude buckets in there for now as they were cheap, $40. Sorry to hijack