How interchangeable are the 5 series seats? I have a (cheap) friend with a very nice 82 530i, with cloth seats that are rapidly returning to their pre-woven state. Any upholstery that age is pretty much dead, so can a guy go newer without major fabrication?
Secondary question- anybody out there got a front and rear set of tan seats in good shape that would bolt into a 530i?
what 5 series do you have? E28? E34?
IIRC, there was no 1982 model-year 5-series; the E12 ended in MY1981, and the first year of the E28 was MY1983. Nonetheless, a 530i would be an E12 (there was no E28 530i). The seats come out very easily, and there is little difference dimensionally between the E12 and the E28, so it's likely that the rear could be made to fit, but I haven't done it so I don't know for sure.
And I had a good set of Pearl Beige leather seats in my old 533i that I parted several years ago. Sadly, they are now gone (along with the rest of the carcass), as I had no room to store them.
a few e28 folks seek out manual seats - perhaps there's some value with what's left of his? 530s are getting far and few between. Worth checking out some folks parting e28s.
Doesn't someone make replacement foam and pre-stiched upolstery for these like...almost every other old car? For a weekend project, redoing seats sure makes a dramatic improvement in a car.
02Pilot wrote:IIRC, there was no 1982 model-year 5-series; the E12 ended in MY1981, and the first year of the E28 was MY1983.
FWIW, my Australian delivered E28 was built and registered in early 1982.
Timely thread, actually. I could do with new seats, too.
4eyes wrote:Doesn't someone make replacement foam and pre-stiched upolstery for these like...almost every other old car? For a weekend project, redoing seats sure makes a dramatic improvement in a car.
I priced a kit for my E30 before I replaced them. ~$950 for the fronts, IIRC
At that price , they should be leather. Or including instalation...or both. Sheesh
I checked, and it is an E28. He's not enthusiastic about spending a kilobuck plus on seat covers, and he seems to think I can make any old seat fit in there in just a couple of minutes.
I have a much more realistic idea of the work involved (sometimes) in adapting a seat, and I'm also aware that BMW seems to put all the angle in the seat base, not the runners.
So far, it doesn't sound like anybody out there in grmland has just bolted in, say, a set of E36 seats. Maybe I'll try to find a set and do the prototyping.
