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installing Recaro seats
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hugolerner
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 06, 2007 8:09 am    Post subject: installing Recaro seats Reply with quote

I just received a pair of the Recaro seats and received the adapter pieces from Wedge Engineering.
Has anybody installed these before with the Wedge Engineering adapters?
I'm having problems with the amount of rise in the seat they create. There's a tab with 3 holes on either end of these adapters that bolt onto the Recaro suppplied tracks. The only hole that these adapters will work with (very bottom hole) raises the seat to a very uncomfortable level on the driver's side.
any suggestions?
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Christopher Schimke
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 06, 2007 9:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have a set of Recaros installed on GoWesty sourced brackets and they work great. Post a picture of your bracket and I can post one of mine to compare.
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hugolerner
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 06, 2007 11:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

not sure how to post an image. if you give me your email i can send it to you.[/img]
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Perales
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 06, 2007 12:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here is how to post an image
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6
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pete000
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 06, 2007 10:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I just put in a Recaro Ergo Med in my bus with a Wedge bracket. On the Recaro slider tracks I cut off two of the three holes so the slider track is as low as it can go on the Wedge bracket. It still raises the seat about 1" higher than it should be in my opinion. I have done a lot of research and found the you can use Porsche sliders from say a 944 on the Recaro seats. You will need to replace the upper part of the Wedge bracket with a piece of flat stock drilled and tapped with the Porsche slider mounting spacing. This will get the seats flat to the floor as low as possible. This is what I was going to do, but my Ergo Med has motors and stuff under it not allowing me to go any lower than the Wedge bracket already is. I measured it and I am sitting about 1/2" higher than stock.

I am curious to what Go Westy is using for mounting brackets. If some one who has them could post some pics I would love to see them.

I have also heard of using the stock seat sliders on the Recaro seats as well, but the release lever set up is a bit tricky.
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--------------------
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hugolerner
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 07, 2007 8:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pete-
GoWesty says they are using an adapter from Recaro themselves. It must be something GoWesty designed themselves and have an agreement with Recaro not to sell them to anyone else, I'm assuming?
I just bought the same seats GoWesty sells from another distributor and they didn't provide these adapters, they provided the Wedge adapters. It's kind of funny because you would think, liability wise, Recaro would want to supply their own everything.
anyway, I thought maybe Wedge had sent me the wrong one, but that was going to be my next step to cut of the unessesary tab holes to lower the seat.
I will also look into the Porsche idea too.
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Raynor Shine
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 07, 2007 10:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hugo- where did you get your seats & were they a lot cheaper than GW? Did you get arm rests? I wonder if GW would sell the adapters only>
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Dogpilot
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 07, 2007 10:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The mounts and seats where defiantly all Recaro. The instructions where printed by them in German. Clever design too, nice machined parts to fit in the old track. The mount is designed so you can actually get tools on the fasteners, as long as you do it in sequence. Ride height is just right for me.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


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Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

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hugolerner
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 07, 2007 2:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

dogpilot,
did you get your seats from GW? and did the adapters come with them?

Raynor,
I did not get my seats from GW and they were about $400-500 cheaper than GW with both armrests, lumbar supports, in the medium grey fine Recaro leather.
Hugo
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Dogpilot
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 07, 2007 2:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Got mine from GoWesty, Lucas gave me a $300 discount on demos. Took about 30 minutes to install.
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Raynor Shine
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 07, 2007 4:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hugo - can you PM with the details? Would love to get a set for that price.
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bmwloco
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 07, 2007 4:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Recaros simply rock. I've had them in 3 of my last 4 cars. If my Thing didn't great leather VW Jetta GLI seats (probably made by Recaro anyway), I'd invest in at least a driver's seat.
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Christopher Schimke
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 07, 2007 4:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here are Hugo's pictures:

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

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No offense to you Hugo but from what I can see, I am not very impressed with Wedge Engineering's quality. I can see why you would complain. The GoWesty brackets are completely different and engineered much better. I will try to get some good photos of mine tomorrow.

I agree with Pete, cut the bottom potrion of that bracket off leaving just the upper hole. Without re-engineering the whole system, that's about as good as it might get.
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Raynor Shine
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 07, 2007 7:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That's a big difference. I would go with the GW brackets. Anyone know if they sell the mounting brackets seperately? Dogpilot, again, Nice work! but Hugo's leathers look sweeet!
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Christopher Schimke
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 07, 2007 8:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Raynor Shine wrote:
I would go with the GW brackets. Anyone know if they sell the mounting brackets seperately?


Yes, they do but their spendy.
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pete000
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 07, 2007 9:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think my Wedge brackets with the Recaro sliders in the top hole is as low as the Go Westy set up. Looks about 1 " off the floor. I actually like the Wedge kit now I know how it works. The Porsche 944 brackets will get you right on the floor. I will post some pics of my set soon.

What does the Go West kit sell for ?

The universal Recaro sliders are around $150.00 plus the Wedge bracket is $75.00 for a total investment of $225.00 per seat.

Porsche sliders tend to run a bout $100.00 to $200.00 a pair used.

When I got my Ergo Med Recaro it had the univerasal slider.
_________________
1990 Vanagon RS 2.1
1967 Deluxe 21 window
--------------------
Koni Shocks
H & R Red Springs
Addco Sway Bars Front-Rear
18 X 7.5 and 18 X 8 OEM Porsche Wheels
Recaro Power-Heated seats
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hugolerner
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 08, 2007 8:31 am    Post subject: h Reply with quote

loogy,
thanks for posting my photos. couldn't figure it out.
I am going to find out from Recaro today whether the GW adapters are available to everyone. i also like the finish piece that dogpilot has covering the track. did this come from Recaro too?

Raynor- send me your email and I will give you the details on the seats. mine is:[email protected]
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Dogpilot
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 08, 2007 9:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The plastic trim was part of the kit, and that was a Recaro part as well.
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98 Disco I
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Christopher Schimke
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 08, 2007 9:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here's some pictures of the GoWesty adapter brackets in my van. Sorry for the low picture quality. My wife has the good camera at work today.

This first set shows the passenger side front adapter bracket.

The front adapter bracket is simply an angle with two square bars welded to it (not visible in this picture). These square bars slide inside the portion of the original T3 seat track that is welded to the floor.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


This photo shows the actual Recaro seat slider bolted to the GoWesty adapter bracket. There is a captive nut welded to the backside of the angle bracket that this socket head bolt threads into.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Here you can see the previously mentioned square bar in it's position inside the original T3 seat track. The hex headed bolt that you see is inserted through an existing hole in the T3 bracket and tightned into a threaded hole in the square bar. Just barely visible to the right of the hex headed bolt is the captive nut for the Recaro slider socket head bolt (as seen the previous photo).

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Now for the rear bracket.

The rear adapter bracket is a sort of long S shaped piece (side profile). It has captive nuts welded to it's underside for the Recaro slider tracks to bolt to.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


This is the right rear are of the rear adapter bracket where the socket head bolt passes through to the previously mentioned captive nut.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


The adpater bracket is held to the original T3 seat braket via two square bars (similar to the front) that get inserted into the rear opening of the original track. In this photo, you can see the black square bar as it sits inside the track.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


The square bar is long enough to reach forward to an existing hole in the top of the original track where a hex head bolt is inserted and threaded into the square bar. This picture shows that hex head bolt.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Al in all it's a pretty clever set-up. The bottom of the seat (not the sliders, just the seat) get's position 1.25" from the top of the original T3 seat tracks.
_________________
"Sometimes you have to build a box to think outside of." - Bruce (not Springsteen)

*Custom wheel hardware for Audi/VW, Porsche and Mercedes wheels - Urethane Suspension Bushings*
T3Technique.com or contact me at [email protected]
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KeninMorganHill
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 08, 2007 10:36 am    Post subject: Recaro Seat Brackets Reply with quote

I did the Recaro converssion in my '81 Aircooled Westy.

Basically, I modded the swivel / platform base slightly and used Alfa Romeo Spider seat brackets.

At the local Pick 'n' Pull, the charged me $8.00 for each set of Spider seat brackets, and the mods to the Westy swivel bases, cost me about an hours worth of time.

The seat essentially sits levell on the swivel base and is simply awesome and very comfortable. I'm modding another swivel set for a friend currently.

Have thought about putting a kit together actually, and selling it for cheap here. Wedge are cool guys. I used to ligve pretty close to them and goto their factory, but they're relatively slow and they want $75.00 a seat + sliders. Going directly through Recaro is just asking to be robbed. Sad

- Ken (in Morgan Hill)
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