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Fitting E36/E46 Seats into 2002


Vintage Metal

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Time to complete:  Approx. 10 hrs to complete from cutting out sheetmetal, metal work and shaping to weld in place.

 

Okay...

 

I did some searching around and could not find any information on fitting later model 3-series seats into the cars - so I figured I would do it myself and post the results for others in the future to keep as a reference.

 

Because of the stock hump, your limited to getting 'other' type seats in the car because it puts the seat 2-3" higher than needed and because of the shape of the floor, it didn't sit flat, square and firm.  If the seat has a height adjustments like the ones I got, why loose that functionality by setting them all the way down just to get them to fit. Another Note:  the seat pan area was slightly narrower than the width of the rails making the seat 'cock-eye' in the car.   Even after drilling out the factory seat pedestals, the seats didn't sit flat and firm.  Bottom line, they just didn't fit.

 

Now, before I get flamed by the 'purists', my car has been worked pretty good.  It was bound to be a 'race' car by its previous younger owner :rolleyes:.  It has a roll cage installed and everything not race related (or maybe for lightening) was yanked out and tossed  :o

 

Because the original seats were not the greatest, and I didn't want to take the time to recover them, I got a nice set of 6 way, mechanical adjustable seats from an E46 coupe.  They have up/down, front/back, back tilt and front of seat under leg support.  They fit nice and tight around my body and felt good. 

 

I needed to get the floor hump out and make it flat.  Only 60% of the seat rails sat on the hump and I felt making a bracket to support the rear of the seat would have looked tacky.  Because of the large surface area, I added a circular bead roll to stiffen up the floor (with about a 33/2 step) to keep any oil-canning out of the equation, especially after welding it in.  If you also notice, I put 2 sheet metal brakes on the side attaching to the inner rocker panel.  I hole-punched the flange I created and spot welded to the inside of the rocker to give it a factory finish feel.  The most difficult spot in the floor was the rear outside corner which had a small stretched curve where the foot well for the back seat met the new floor pan being installed.  

 

FullSizeRender-1.jpg

 

I cut approximately 18" of floor to clear the hump completely out so that back of the floor would flow from rear to front relatively flat.  I used a large right angle to make place my cuts perpendicular from the straightest points on the inner rocker panel.  All cuts along the trans tunnel were just below the carrier bearing mounts.  If you drill out the spot welds from the original seat pedestals, you can draw a straight line parallel to the ground along those welds and clear it with no problems.  Remember, there is also the front end support boxes under the car (sorry if bad terminology), my cuts at the front of my new floor panel were just at the tips of these factory weld-on supports.  If you wire wheel the floor, you can see the spot welds and a small dimple in the floor made by the factory.  A simple weld bead was added to secure the tips that were cut off to ensure structural strength.

 

(Sorry for the group shot, but I realized, I lost my original photos and this is all I could get my hands on.)

 

FullSizeRender.jpg

 

Here is a shot of the floor itself after its been installed.  Take your time spot welding it in.  I spot every corner and center between corners to stiffen it up.  I used panel clips to line up the new floor piece so that it can be butt welded in place with a 1/8" gap.   Remove the claims when you have the preliminary tacks welds holding it in place.  Spot stitch the panel in, switching from front to back and sides to keep the heat to a minimum; reducing any warping.  I chose to extend the tunnel to the floor (spot welding the connection between the floor and tunnel) as it was much easier and after having it ground clean, it would have a nice appearance.

 

IMG_0050.jpg

 

The end result is a nice fit and the feet sit flat on the floor.  The seats recline with no obstructions.  Its nice and solid.  Ill go back and grind down the welds and cover the welded area with POR-15 and top it off with some self leveling seam sealer.

 

IMG_0047.jpg

 

IMG_0051.png

  • Like 1

1972 BWW 2002 - Current Project (including: 1956 Mercury 2Dr HT,  (2) 1964 Ford Galaxie's, 1965 Ford Econoline 5 Window Truck)

2001 BMW E46 Touring - Daily Driver

2007 BMW E92 335i - Weekend Driver

 

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  • 4 months later...

Sorry to bring this old topic back but I am planning to do the same to my car and I am wondering if removing the "hump!" on the floor affects the general strength of the body shell?

 

For me its quite of a necessity to do it because I am too tall for the car ( I have to sit with my back really straight due to a bad back) and every little space helps...

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If you were really concerned you could fold up some 'top hat' section stiffening ribs and plug weld them across the new floor pan and tie in to the inner sill and transmission hump. The beading is nice and would certainly solve any oil canning.

rtheriaque wrote:

Carbs: They're necessary and barely controlled fuel leaks that sometimes match the air passing through them.

My build blog:http://www.bmw2002faq.com/blog/163-simeons-blog/

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The end result is a nice fit and the feet sit flat on the floor.  The seats recline with no obstructions.  Its nice and solid.  Ill go back and grind down the welds and cover the welded area with POR-15 and top it off with some self leveling seam sealer.

 

IMG_0047.jpg

 

 

 

Vintage Metal:

 

Are the seats bolted directly to the floor..?   My concern is if the need arises to stop quickly or an impact occurs, will the bolts rip out the floor connection?    

 

I am always concerned about safety when creating new connection points.   

 

I bet the finished product will look good.   Thanks for sharing.

Edited by BeMyWay

Light is seriously underrated.

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The seats are attached directly to the floor.  Because the rails are straight, there was no other way to mount them except for a custom bracket.  Then the seat bottoms would sit 4" - 6" higher than stock, loosing the up/down adjustment.  The rails could not be modified as you would loose the 'sliding' action front/back.

 

Width wise - the seats fit 'perfect'.   There is not side/side adjustment.

 

The sheetmetal cut out is only the area after where the sub-frame portion is welded underneath.  The original structural integrity has not been compromised.  The floors are made out of 18 ga sheetmetal and with the beads adds extra stiffening strength.  Even if you went in the area of where the sub-frame is attached, I would have cut out the sheetmetal on top of it; drilling out the factory spot welds and welding in the new sheetmetal spot welded to the sub-frame like factory.

 

The floors are very solid installed, connected from the inner rocker to the tunnel.  IMHO, the hump in the floor was to accommodate the seat mounting.   The body stress will most likely be in the A/B pillars with roof and rocker/trans hump tunnel assemblies.  Even convertibles don't have any floor structure added for body strength.  If you look at early VW bugs, all the body strength are in the rocker assemblies.

 

I have done many modifications on all type cars from 1930's and up.  Chopping, sectioning, etc.  After much thought, planning and research; the change had no bearing on structural importance that I could see.

Edited by Vintage Metal

1972 BWW 2002 - Current Project (including: 1956 Mercury 2Dr HT,  (2) 1964 Ford Galaxie's, 1965 Ford Econoline 5 Window Truck)

2001 BMW E46 Touring - Daily Driver

2007 BMW E92 335i - Weekend Driver

 

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  • 4 years later...
5 hours ago, NLPed said:

So I can find this later

 

There's a button at the top that says "Follow"...  For next time.

 

And welcome to the FAQ.  Also know that centering the seat in the hole will leave it offset a bit from the steering wheel and pedals, just so you know.

Dave.

'76, totally stock. Completely.

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On 1/3/2021 at 4:43 PM, irdave said:

 

There's a button at the top that says "Follow"...  For next time.

 

And welcome to the FAQ.  Also know that centering the seat in the hole will leave it offset a bit from the steering wheel and pedals, just so you know.

Appreciate it!  And, thank you.  I'm actually contemplating installing a set of E39 seats into my '74.  Just doing my initial investigating.  

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2 hours ago, NLPed said:

Appreciate it!  And, thank you.  I'm actually contemplating installing a set of E39 seats into my '74.  Just doing my initial investigating.  

I have a e39 Touring with the e38 sport seats in it. The e39 sport seat is not a small seat. Might be doable but would think you need to remove all of the welded in 2002 seat mounts. Also the seat is out of a sedan and won't tilt forward  to access the back seat.

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