how tight does the e21 back seat fit?

[detracto]

i have a line on a nice, cheap rear sear from an e21. i heard they fit in 2002s, but that it's super tight.

anyone have personal experience? how tight is tight?

[Keith02]

I too need info ont eh back seat issue.

I have tried to fit a E21 seat in the back area space of my 75 02 and it's a tight fit

Maybe their is some trimming required.

[detracto]

but you got it to fit? was it so tight that it's never coming out?

the other thing i'm worried about is that i have some recaros in the front (which i also believe are from an e21, but not certain), and the passenger seat is broken and won't fold forward, so i'll already be working in tight quarters.

hm....

[Keith02]

From my limited experience, the E21 seat would fit, but crimps the arm rest pockets in the rear seat area.. The E21 seat appears both longer, taller and wider than the stock 02 seat. It just didn't fit right for me without some minor mods...If you are going to uphoster Im sure a bit of trimming could be done to make the job look sanitary. You need to get some one who has done the complete swap to comment and educate us both.

Their is a spring loaded metal tab located at the bottom rear doorside of the Recaro front seat that lifts up the backrest.

I found this out on my seats that don't work either after working the back rest knob a million or so times.

lol

[gregp553]

The e21 seat fits with minor modifications in the back. Front seats fit as is. In the back, the backrest is taller and wider than the 02 seat. You can remove some of the padding on the very outside shoulders of the seats to narrow them at the top, and the metal frame is not a perfect contour to your wheel wells. But the mods are fairly simple to do. Because the backrest is taller, you will see the inside of the seat if you're looking in from the rear of the car unless you install a lip behind it or figure out a way to drop it. It sticks up a couple inches higher. If you're getting cheap seats and they're better than what you have, go for it.