Oh for the love of..it never ends....seats... - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

dieselschnell · #1 05-21-2007, 04:38 PM

OK, so I manage to buck the odds and find a set of front/rear seats for Greta from a 1992 400E-In palomino, in good shape. Price? $150. Yeah that's right.... I get them home, get out the old passenger seat, check the plugs, everything seems groovy, save for the wire that could possibly be for the heat option (?) which I don't have anyway. Put in new passenger seat, plug in, works nice! Go to bolt it down-whoa. The frame is narrower at the base and only two of four bolt holes line up as a result!

These seats are going in this flippin' car. What I'm asking is if there is a way to either add a bolt mount like the one that is installed in the floor about an inch and a half to two inches over? or can something be tapped, welded, etc? I'm not afraid to try anything as some of you already know. Anyone dealt with this little frustration themselves? I'm thinking welding a small plate with a properly tapped hole may do the trick? Yes, I realize there are collision issues here too but what I am proposing is most likely going to end up stronger than the factory setup anyhow. Any info is, as always, appreciated.

DS

babymog · #2 05-21-2007, 05:24 PM

For the front seats, can you just pull the leather off and put it on your old seats? Can always start with the old seat disassembly and see how it goes.

I have a similar problem, perfect tex seats in my donor car, and a broken motor/drive in the leather seats of my blue car, going to strip down a seat and see if I can properly install the leather on it.

dieselschnell · #3 05-21-2007, 06:42 PM

well, the story I got on the upholstery was this-the newer style (with the horizontal panels with perforated leather inserts, and the more pronounced bolsters on the sides, will not fit the earlier style like in my car. Of course I never thought they would not fit in the mounting holes...I looked them over and I don't see much of a difference but I hate the idea of pulling off and stretching back on upholstery. I think I stand less chance screwing up with my mig welder on the floor pan. These seats are really in nice shape and if I make a mistake I guarantee something's going through the windshield after everything else this month (radiator, motor mounts, etc....) Know Thyself, I say...

DS

running-snail · #4 05-21-2007, 07:35 PM

does the seat bottom detach from the frame so that you could swap your good fitting frame to the new seat?

Bio300TDTdriver · #5 05-21-2007, 09:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by running-snail

does the seat bottom detach from the frame so that you could swap your good fitting frame to the new seat?

That's what I was thinking. It does detach, but will it line up? I bought 2 donor seats to change the MB tex on the driver's seat. I had mine completely apart and put them back together with the new MB tex.

If you can weld, it is probalby easier to fill the 2 old holes and drill new ones. Changing the seat bottom and back on 2 seats would be quite involved.

Chris

speedy300Dturbo · #6 05-21-2007, 10:14 PM

You need to swap the bottom frames out. A 15 minute job at most. The mounting points on the 400E seats are different because they needed to accomodate the wider transmission tunnel on the V8 cars.

dieselschnell · #7 05-21-2007, 11:17 PM

I have one major issue preventing me from doing the frame swap-like a putz i listed it on Ebay for all the motors. I don't like ending my auctions early, so I may ride it out. I looked at the frames and thought that myself, but the motor in the back of the seat is connected to a flexible drive shaft inside the back, and I really didn't want to booger it up by cutting any wiring, which it looks like I'd have to do. The wires are soldered to the motor, and I don't trust my soldering iron at the moment. As easily as it may work, I think drilling a new hole for each one and adding a tapped fitting will not go so badly-I have a MIG welder I have been needing to use, plus my neighbor/third and fourth hand is also a machinist, so if I can keep from starting a fire, it should be pretty groovy. Thanks for all the advice and help, as always...would have never thought the tranny tunnel would have been an issue....interesting.

DS.

Don M · #8 05-21-2007, 11:43 PM

I just went through this earlier this spring. We bought a 400E but had a set of mint condition E320 seats we wanted to install in the 400. We found out the 400E has the wider trans tunnel so the seat frames are narrower than the 300 series frames. Yes! you can swap the frames from seat to seat in either direction i.e., 300 to 400/500 or 400/500 to 300. Its a few hours work.

The leather alone cant be swaped between the 400 and 300 series. The 400 bolsters are way too large to fit nicely on the smaller 300 cushions.

Some wiring mods will need to be done, but it is all pretty simple.

HTH,

Don~

gsxr · #9 05-22-2007, 10:27 AM

Don and Aaron are correct. End that auction NOW, you need to keep your 1987 seat motors & frames. (You can sell the 400E seat motors & frames after the swap is done.)

The passenger seat connectors may be the same and might work, but the driver's seat connectors will be totally different. I'm in the middle of doing this same swap right now, installing 500E seats into my 1987 300D. Unbolt the new 400E seats from the bases/motors, and swap them on to your 1987 bases/motors. That also retains all the original 1987 electrical connectors, which you need to match your 1987 wiring harness and door switch (all the wiring, switches, controllers, etc changed starting in 1991). As Don said, you may need to do some minor wiring tweaks to connect the motor leads to the controller box connectors, but it shouldn't be too difficult.

The V8 seat bases have the bolt holes 2 inches closer together, btw. They also allow for more front/rear travel but I haven't measured how much yet.

captainmonk · #10 05-22-2007, 11:44 AM

somethin about worrying about a solder issue but not afraid of a mig welder sounds just wrong to me But it is probably just my old failing mind