Are the front seat belt receivers attached to the seat?

blkongry · 12-12-2003, 08:58 AM

Okay, so I've decided I truly need to lose the seats in my ride. I've been scoping out some new ones, but I'm not sure how to retrofit the seat belt. From what I can tell, the female receiver end of the front seat belts seem to be attached to the seat. That just can't be safe. Has anyone worked with these? Can you remove the receiver from the seat and attach it to the body? Is there a location? I don't want to do 5-point harnesses... I like the factory belts... I just need different seats. Plus, I'd like to have the system where I can replace the factory seats for if/when I decide to sell. Any opinions are welcome

stupenal · 12-12-2003, 10:02 AM

yes, you will need a torx screw to remove it. Here's an insight into what someone did with his e30 seat swap

http://www.lukasbmw.com/vaders.htm

so....did you plan on selling your sport seats??

oh yeah, i think right now you can get corbeau forza for $550 shipped including sliders/brackets. theres a bunch of other corbeau seats on sale right now too if you want to go that route, however i'm not sure when the group buy will be over.

blkongry · 12-12-2003, 10:28 AM

Thanks for the link... it really gives some insight, and the link to Sparco for the re-mount kit is great! It's funny, this guy changed out the E30 seats for the Vaders, and I actually like the E30 seats (my girlfriend had them in her '92 ic) over my E36 sports seats (don't know about the Vader, though). Mine are exactly like the gray ones in the website link. I'm not sure if I am going to sell them. I don't need or want them, but I would probably like to put them back into the car if/when I decide to sell. The seats have some cracks in the leather, and recline drive on the passenger side is broken. I'm also looking for some seat for my girlfriend's Pinafarina Spider (it now has Prelude seats in it... those I'll sell).

I've locked into some AXE II seats off Ebay. I'd never heard of them, but they look pretty nice. I contacted a couple of buyers of the same model, and they all said they really like them... no complaints other than the sliders aren't as nice as they like and recline mechanism wasn't as nice as they like... otherwise the seats are pretty sweet... comfy, supportive, durable, etc. ...and for only $100-$120, you just can't go wrong (can even get them in any color combo you want). Also, they are 20 lbs/each... a 70% weight savings... and they bring the driver's height down ~2", which will be awesome for me. I also found seats like Sparco and Corbeau are actually similar China-made seats, probably from the same manufacturer, just recovered in their own padding/leather/name brand. I'll let you know what I find first-hand when they come in.