anybody toyed with more comfortable front seats for w107 sl

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dinoy

MB Enthusiast
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been looking around notices saab, fiat, korean coupes, bmw, golf:dk:

basically recaro like seats.

also anybody has any thoughts about fitting them is it best using tracks from the original cars or adapting mercedes own.

of course so it is not complicated none electric ones.

also does anybody now cheap way to cover w107 seats under £200 if possible i seen somebody on ebay doing fitted pvc covers??:bannana:
 
dinoy said:
been looking around notices saab
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Nope...can't think of anyone who done that. :wallbash:


Picture006.jpg
 
These seats are from a Saab 9000. This time last year they suffered from a flood and were recovered by a local trimming firm. They are so much more comfy than the original and especially so since we do a lot of long distance touring in the car. They're also half the weight and come with a nice armrest. At present they fit to two pieces of heavy flatbar welded across between the original Merc runners but the car is undergoing a complete refit at the mo and the new brackets will be separate anglebars bolted through the body and using spacers to clear the side member and tunnel carpet which the old style brackets fouled. The only other installation mod required is to weld the Merc seatbelt keeper to the Saab seat fixing. Other than that they fit straight in.
Of course the purists will complain cos the car isn't original. About that I care not one jot. IMHO the original 107 seats are crap. :D
If you would like a couple of pics of the modified runners ...no problem.
 
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Agree they look good.

My old 9000 seemed very comfortable, far more than the 9-5. Was that the seat or the car?
 
Just fitted a pair of seats from a Rover 75. Much more comfortable than the original seats . Cannibalised the old seat base to fit. Have to admit Druks seats look far nicer . Kept seats as manual slide , with electric recline. Paid £75 for a pair of leather seats from ebay. Druk is a billionaire , which is why he has such a nice sl ;).
 
NOMONEYBUTAMERC said:
Just fitted a pair of seats from a Rover 75. Much more comfortable than the original seats . Cannibalised the old seat base to fit. Have to admit Druks seats look far nicer . Kept seats as manual slide , with electric recline. Paid £75 for a pair of leather seats from ebay. Druk is a billionaire , which is why he has such a nice sl ;).
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pictures pls !!
 
I have seen the pictures, and you are, of course world famou:cool:s
 
I know this is a very old thread. I am a relatively new member and looking for options for alternative seating for 107 such as the Saab seats. Could anybody please help with photographs or sketches of revised bracket system used if they have done such a conversion, many thanks
 
Also, does anyone know what has happened to Druk, who posted above regarding the Saab seats in a 107. It says RIP beside his name. Respectfully , does that mean he is no longer with us? Many thanks
 
Sadly I think Druk is no longer with us. I met Derek once many years ago when, he came down from Port Glagow to Essex to look at buying a 300TE-24 W124 estate I had at the time. He didnt end up buying it due to a faulty oil pressure sender and went all the way back. I changed the oil pressure sender a few days later and wished i'd had the forsight to have changed it first.
 
He discussed the Saab seats at length, was very pleased with them. There wasnt that much to the conversion from what he explained at the time and t would be very straightforward to replicate.
The only materials you would need aside from the Saab seats and the Mercedes runner are some lengths of flat metal bar. Remove the Merc seats from the car but before separating the runners (which are separate pieces for left and right) measure them so you have the exact measurement of how far apart they need to be so they can be refitted to the same holes in the floor once finished. If in doubt you can screw them down to a piece of chipboard to replicate where they would be on the floor (and still double check to be sure).
Get 2 lengths of flat metal bar. Mark these so they can be drilled to match the holes in the Saab seats (dont bolt them on yet) . Now you need to attach these metal bars across the Merc seat runners which will turn them from being two separate sections into a full assembly. Druk welded them but it may be practical to drill and bolt these if you dont have access to welding gear.
One that is done now bolt the seats to the runners and then fit the completed seat assembly in the car.

I think i recall that Derek didnt have rear seats in his 107 so there wasnt a need to have them tip forward for rear passenger access though im sure that could be done if required, probably by using Saab coupe seats instead.
Go for it
 
dinoy said:
been looking around notices saab, fiat, korean coupes, bmw, golf:dk:

basically recaro like seats.

also anybody has any thoughts about fitting them is it best using tracks from the original cars 192.168.100.1 192.168.1.1 or adapting mercedes own.

of course so it is not complicated none electric ones.

also does anybody now cheap way to cover w107 seats under £200 if possible i seen somebody on ebay doing fitted pvc covers??:bannana:
Click to expand...
have you done it yet ?
 
Hi NotAnumber (and All),

Thanks for your comments

Do you or anybody else have any information on the late Derek? In particular, his full name, a photo of Derek's car and/or no the registration number. I'm hoping his car has passed to someone in a Mercedes-Benz club and I might be able to make contact with them.

In particular I want to learn if the Saab seats are narrower than the MB 107 seats, such that they can go back sufficiently far, with modified rails, such that the top sides of the seats clear the R107 soft top cover/seatbelt enclosure. I think they would need to be about 2 inches or more narrower for the seats to go back sufficiently.

I'm very tall with long legs and I really need to seats to go back further so any new seats would go back past soft top cover/seatbelt enclosure.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks!!!
 
I hadnt seen anything of Derek for a few years because I moved out of owning a Mercedes and only realised he had died when i bought one again. Derek was a keen member of the MBOC and posted very extensively on their forum Home - The Mercedes-Benz Club There will be some pictures there though you may need to join before you can access.

From memory R107 seats are quite wide so it would not be difficult to find something that would fit in their place. Derek was meticulous in his measuring and planning so it is a very safe bet to assume he will have ensured the Saab seats will have had at least the same amount of clearance as the originals.
How much greater that clearance would be though is something that you would be best advised to establish by getting hold of the dimensions of the Saab seats.

If you need to look for significantly narrower seats that are still nicely supportive and wont look too enormously out of place then MG F or low backed MX5 seats would be worth a look.
 
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