Porsche seat mounting

[MattL]

I picked up a pair of old Porsche high-back seats this weekend for a song. The "Wolfrace" seats the PO installed are deteriorated (to the point of pain on the driver's side), and although e21 Recaros would be my ideal replacement, this Porsche pair was way too cheap to pass up.

So, now I'm looking through the forum and I see a few posts confirming that yes, they'll work. Does anyone have a how-to write-up, though? These are manual seats, so they seem relatively straightforward, but I expect there's more to this than meets the eye. Am I going to need to recruit a welder for this?

Thank you.

[Beck180]

I'm interested in finding out more about alt seats mounts as well.

[2Red69s]

Depending upon the year of the Porsche, the seat pan may be the same as the E21 (and aftermarket) Recaros. So finding those brackets might be the answer (I personally find most installations of Recaros on 3-series brackets to be wayy too low in the rear.)

I also think Lee at Massive is selling some brackets the fit the Recaro pans.

If that doesn't work the task at hand is to make something (and welding will be necessary) that not only fits the car's bolt pattern (or sliders) and adapts it to the seat's bolt pattern (or slders) but one that also puts the seat in the right place:

1) side-to-side, (centered on the steering wheel if possible);

2) up and down;

3) level and

3) at the best pitch/angle off parallel to the ground. Be careful not to make it too low in the back...in the Porsche coupe one sits lower in the body than in our "sedan", their seat tracks are not as angled upward as a 2002's and your legs are less bent at the knee. BMW engineers spent serious time on ergonomics ...

[MattL]

Thanks, 2Red69s. I'll take some measurements and try to to see if the Recaro rails are a match. And if not, I'll make sure to keep that list in mind...and learn to weld.

[07GTIMYFAST]

I'm putting in some 944 seats in mine and if I remember correctly the rails are about ~1" narrower than the 02 mounts. Mine have power front-to-back leveling but even all the way down the sit a little to high for my liking at the factory floor mount level. Thus I am cutting the factory floor mounts and welding new ones in that are lower and because these seats are a bit narrower than the stockers there is room to do so. I suggest just getting out the measuring tape and go from there, you can use a tin piece of flat bar to set the seat in and test if it will sit to high after an adapter plate to see if you can go that route.

[Kidasters]

I'm thinking like Jim -

Porsche seats are made by Recaro as well. I know the Scheel seats in my 2002 are the same width - as they also came out of a 70's Porsche. The brackets for Recaro's will adapt your seats. I got mine from Dave Varco - and that's what's holding the Scheels in right now.

[visionaut]

I run older 911 seats in mine. Some prior threads/pics:

http://www.bmw2002faq.com/component/option,com_forum/Itemid,0/page,viewtopic/p,906501/highlight,/sid,6ae24e55cd13a33f90a4a60ac44d6ff7/

http://www.bmw2002faq.com/component/option,com_forum/Itemid,0/page,viewtopic/t,300296/start,19/postdays,0/postorder,asc/highlight,/

[BPK2]

I recently put in a pair of seats from a 1987 911 to replace the severely deteriorated seats that came with my 1976 BMW 2002. It was a fairly easy modification. For each seat I made a simple bracket from 3-inch wide steel bar stock with holes drilled to attach one side to the outboard mounting frame on the BMW and holes drilled to fit the Porsche seat slider rail. I drilled a hole on the inboard seat rail so that it could be bolted onto the inboard mounting frame of the BMW. I primed and painted the brackets to make them look a little nicer because they have to be bolted over the carpeting.

I also removed the slider adjust levers in the 2002 by prying the black tab off the end of the lever using a pair of screwdrivers on either side of the tab and then unfastened the screws holding the rest of the adjuster. Also, I unbolted the seat belt attachments on the 911 seats and use the one on the BMW because the stock belts won't fasten into the Porsche attachments.

The seats work fine although I think a downside is that the high backs result in losing some of the rearward visibility that I really appreciate in the car.

[MattL]

This is awesome information, everyone. You know your stuff. Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks very much!

P.S. (While I have your attention.) If you happen to have any tips on how to troubleshoot a frozen brake pedal (pedal box already rebuilt), please take a look at my other thread: http://www.bmw2002faq.com/component/option,com_forum/Itemid,50/page,viewtopic/t,372381/

Thanks again!