As a winter project, I removed the seats in my 1975 350SL Euro and examined how best to address the need for repair or replacement. The leather covers are badly cracked and rotted. See photo below.
The framing is in good shape, but the horse hair seat backs are deteriorated. The driver’s side crumbled when I removed the cover. So, I started looking for replacement parts. EPC is always an excellent source for information on parts, to understand the construction and how I could plan the best course of action.
The first major lesson I learned about seat repair is how expensive it is to rebuild them. Depending on the amount of repair needed, $500 to $1200 is a normal expense just for parts. If I couldn’t do the work myself, the cost would be much higher. I began a journey to find a suitable replacement for the stock seats. Sorting out what would fit and meet my need proved extremely time consuming, frustrating and disappointing.
I searched out and read all the past discussions posted on the forum. There’s a lot of good information. As with many, the use of 1980’s and early 1990’s SAAB seats appeared to me a good solution. New seat covers are available. The challenge is finding rebuildable seats to put them on. Every lead that was in reach within the Midwest was a dead end. The seats were either gone, had parts missing or the owner wanted to sell the whole car complete. I broadened my search to other brands. Toyota has many models that might work if adapted properly and the German cars appeared to be possible options, too.
One of the most serious and difficult challenges to fitting seats into a 107 is how the seats are mounted. Anyone who has removed their seats becomes aware that the anchors which hold them in place are bolted to the transmission tunnel and the outer framing, not the floor of the car. The floor of the 107 does not have the thickness of metal nor the strength to anchor seats during a collision. The seats would tear loose and crush the rider between the seat and seat belt. Without the construction of heavy and complicated adapters, that eliminates a large number of the floor mounted seats.
Another major consideration is the physical size of the seat. The space within the 107 is limited to 22” wide and about that distance long. That proved to be too narrow for most of the seats I looked at. For longer seats, the fronts must clear the three inch high box frame on the floor where the front of the seat sits. I’m still uncertain what the purpose of that frame. It must provide support for the floor. It elevates the front of the seat and is not of strong enough steel to anchor the seat to.
In my search for possible high end replacement seats with good adjustability and lumbar support, I happened upon a pair of Recaro seats in very good condition that fit a late nineties Audi. What got my attention beside the seats being Recaros is that the back seat mounts are side mounts and that they move within a track similar to the original MB seats. Since these seats are electric, only the rear mounts need to move within a track. The front mounts are stationary and bolt down onto an appropriate unmoving anchor. The simple control switches move the seat up, down, tilt, forward, back and tilt the backrest forward and backward. The lumbar support is manual with a side knob giving a wide range of adjustment and the front section of the bottom cushion slides out to enlarge the area. The powered forward and backward adjustment eliminates the need for a lever protruding forward. In addition to the controls, the driver’s side has an attached six position armrest with storage compartment and the seats have heaters. They are comfortable and well made with soft black leather. These seem like ideal seats to adapt.
I’ve spent a great deal of time measuring the available space and on the seats to work out the best way to mount them. The first concern is the width of the rear side mount brackets. They are too wide by approximately one inch. I considered cutting off the mounts, trimming them and welding them back on, but since trimming and realigning the shafts would be tricky, I plan on cutting the weld off the rear mount brackets raising them about an inch to gain head room and moving them inward a half inch. That would align them with the heavy original MB tracks giving the needed firm anchor to the mounts. They would have the full length of the MB seat track for power positioning the seats. This arrangement seems simple and effective compared to building or buying Recaro seat adapters.
I’m still measuring and planning the best solutions to mounting these seats. Other than where and how to mount the seats, I’m concerned about maintaining comfortable head room. The Recaro seats are firmer and about an inch taller from floor to the top of the seat cushion. I’m hoping that raising the rear mounts an inch will help. The other consideration is leg room under the steering wheel. I have the original large steering wheel and my leg room has always been limited. Needing to have both legs free because of the left leg movement for the clutch makes sufficient leg room important. Because the rear mounts are wider than the space inside the car, I can’t simply set the seat in and see how it fits. I’d have to cut off the Audi mounts to make it fit.
These are my current adaption concerns. I’ve attached photos showing the design and mounts. It’s an interesting and challenging project. All comments and suggestions by those who have adapted non-MB seats are certainly welcome. If I can’t work out adapting them, I’ll likely resell them. I very much want to seats to work out.
GD
The framing is in good shape, but the horse hair seat backs are deteriorated. The driver’s side crumbled when I removed the cover. So, I started looking for replacement parts. EPC is always an excellent source for information on parts, to understand the construction and how I could plan the best course of action.
The first major lesson I learned about seat repair is how expensive it is to rebuild them. Depending on the amount of repair needed, $500 to $1200 is a normal expense just for parts. If I couldn’t do the work myself, the cost would be much higher. I began a journey to find a suitable replacement for the stock seats. Sorting out what would fit and meet my need proved extremely time consuming, frustrating and disappointing.
I searched out and read all the past discussions posted on the forum. There’s a lot of good information. As with many, the use of 1980’s and early 1990’s SAAB seats appeared to me a good solution. New seat covers are available. The challenge is finding rebuildable seats to put them on. Every lead that was in reach within the Midwest was a dead end. The seats were either gone, had parts missing or the owner wanted to sell the whole car complete. I broadened my search to other brands. Toyota has many models that might work if adapted properly and the German cars appeared to be possible options, too.
One of the most serious and difficult challenges to fitting seats into a 107 is how the seats are mounted. Anyone who has removed their seats becomes aware that the anchors which hold them in place are bolted to the transmission tunnel and the outer framing, not the floor of the car. The floor of the 107 does not have the thickness of metal nor the strength to anchor seats during a collision. The seats would tear loose and crush the rider between the seat and seat belt. Without the construction of heavy and complicated adapters, that eliminates a large number of the floor mounted seats.
Another major consideration is the physical size of the seat. The space within the 107 is limited to 22” wide and about that distance long. That proved to be too narrow for most of the seats I looked at. For longer seats, the fronts must clear the three inch high box frame on the floor where the front of the seat sits. I’m still uncertain what the purpose of that frame. It must provide support for the floor. It elevates the front of the seat and is not of strong enough steel to anchor the seat to.
In my search for possible high end replacement seats with good adjustability and lumbar support, I happened upon a pair of Recaro seats in very good condition that fit a late nineties Audi. What got my attention beside the seats being Recaros is that the back seat mounts are side mounts and that they move within a track similar to the original MB seats. Since these seats are electric, only the rear mounts need to move within a track. The front mounts are stationary and bolt down onto an appropriate unmoving anchor. The simple control switches move the seat up, down, tilt, forward, back and tilt the backrest forward and backward. The lumbar support is manual with a side knob giving a wide range of adjustment and the front section of the bottom cushion slides out to enlarge the area. The powered forward and backward adjustment eliminates the need for a lever protruding forward. In addition to the controls, the driver’s side has an attached six position armrest with storage compartment and the seats have heaters. They are comfortable and well made with soft black leather. These seem like ideal seats to adapt.
I’ve spent a great deal of time measuring the available space and on the seats to work out the best way to mount them. The first concern is the width of the rear side mount brackets. They are too wide by approximately one inch. I considered cutting off the mounts, trimming them and welding them back on, but since trimming and realigning the shafts would be tricky, I plan on cutting the weld off the rear mount brackets raising them about an inch to gain head room and moving them inward a half inch. That would align them with the heavy original MB tracks giving the needed firm anchor to the mounts. They would have the full length of the MB seat track for power positioning the seats. This arrangement seems simple and effective compared to building or buying Recaro seat adapters.
I’m still measuring and planning the best solutions to mounting these seats. Other than where and how to mount the seats, I’m concerned about maintaining comfortable head room. The Recaro seats are firmer and about an inch taller from floor to the top of the seat cushion. I’m hoping that raising the rear mounts an inch will help. The other consideration is leg room under the steering wheel. I have the original large steering wheel and my leg room has always been limited. Needing to have both legs free because of the left leg movement for the clutch makes sufficient leg room important. Because the rear mounts are wider than the space inside the car, I can’t simply set the seat in and see how it fits. I’d have to cut off the Audi mounts to make it fit.
These are my current adaption concerns. I’ve attached photos showing the design and mounts. It’s an interesting and challenging project. All comments and suggestions by those who have adapted non-MB seats are certainly welcome. If I can’t work out adapting them, I’ll likely resell them. I very much want to seats to work out.
GD