Replacement Front-Seats (Leather, Arm-Rest, Swivel, No Rise)

[boulderdrop]

I really want to replace the seats in my 84-westy-4sp-bostig with something more comfortable. I'd love to drop $3k for a couple of the Recaro Captain Chairs from GoWesty, but I've gotta find something cheaper.

My requirements are:
- Leather
- Arm-rests
- Swivels
- Doesn't raise the seat over 1"

In searching the forums for a while now, I see there's several options for retro-fitting the seats from different platforms (SAAB 900,9-3,9-5 or EuroVan or Porsche 911,944, Jetta MKII, Honda S2000). But I really don't see anything that has all of the requirements met. Most don't seem to have Arm-Rests or they raise the seat too high with slider-modifications.

So, my question to the group is if anyone knows or has experience with a Make/Model/Type of Seat that will meet these 4 requirements and still not break the bank

[thummmper]

armrests put you in the van category. youre not sitting on the wheels in most other vans. the low sports cars give the flat-on-the-floor feature,
while vans configured similarly will give you the flat underpan and armrests. the jap vans are worth looking at--boneyard. take a tape
measurer and make a grid of candidates. I'm sitting in a toyota bucket
I mounted to an office chair base, bought for 30.00
you will have to adapt tracks--loogy and a few others have done that --
I rebuilt my stockers and put pockets on the backrest with zips.
I deleted the outboard armrests for door mounted armrests, sort of like the old type 3.
similar threads on this already, but this post doesnt

[bread geek]

Have you looked into recovering the originals in leather?

[boulderdrop]

[shepherdsond]

I think leather would be terrific. I stopped at a local upholstry shop last week and asked what they thought it would cost (they were familiar with vanagon seats) and they said $550/seat which included adding half an inch of padding. At that price it would be a mighty attractive option. I am not sure what sewfine would charge (do they list the price of leather in their catalogue, I dont think I saw it) but I have a feeling it would be more.

[Classicvibe]

$550 per seat?! holy crap...

I was eyeballin' some perferated-type leather like you might find in an old bug or BMW. It is breathable for the hot stuff, but still killer like you want leather to be, spill fee and snazzy lookin'.

I am going to redo my entire interior here with the quickness...I hope I can find better prices. It would be hard to find anything that would work better than the original seats though.
_________________
On a mission, the destination is just an excuse.

Syncro Solstice 2022...see you there!

1986.5 Wolfsburg Syncro Westfalia Poptop Weekender Transporter

[randywebb]

perf. leather will breathe a little more but not much - it will never approach cloth

if you really want it to breathe you will need a ventilated seat (they use a fan and ducting to pull air thru the fabric) - MB pioneered this IIRC
_________________
1986 2.1L Westy 2wd Auto Trans.

[Wolfram]

If you are going to drop $$ on seat work, get heated seats while they are apart.
Beautiful

Geoff

[westynova]

I have an 84 Full Camper and I have to admit the seats suck. I found them not very comfortable and I got tired fast. Never thought seats could impact driving that much. I guess that is why big rigs and buses have those fancy air ride seats. A buddy of mine has a couple of Vanagons (Cargo, Weekenders, Full Camper, Syncro) at his place (yes, I am drooling too, wish he would start parting with them) and he noticed that there are a couple of different seat types the Vanagon cam with. The main differences were the width and length of the bottom part of the seat as well as the thickness of the bottom seat. The 84 Westy Full Camper seemed to have the worst combination (narrow, short and thin padding) hence the poor support.

I recently acquired a set of seat with arm rests out of a 87. What a differencem. Like night and day. The arm rests really help and they are much more comfortable. I would recommend looking for a set. Mine fit in with no modifications. It took about 5 minutes, if that to swap them out.
_________________
84 Westy
2010 VW Golf TDI Wagon
2009 Jeep Rubicon Unlimited, Lifted and Locked

[Crankey]

I got excellent used Recaros on ebay and sliders from GoWesty...total cost under a grand. they have no arm rests but I never had them so I don't miss them.

[Classicvibe]

I dropped by a couple of local upholstery shops, and this is what I learned.

* Leather is expensive:
For you eco-friendly folks, you may consider this over vinyl, but the cost is easily double. By the way, do you know the history of vinyl, how it is produced? Did you know there is no way to dispose of vinyl? Study up if you are interested...you will likely find yourself avoiding vinyl products AT ALL COSTS!
Leather has about the same life as vinyl, but tends to dry out and requires more care.
* Perforated anything is more likely to rip:
The upholstery fold all said that perforations just make tearing easier, but they still put it in old vehicles where that was stock. Breathability is better than non-perforated.
* Sunbrella is cool material:
This is a high-performance canvas type product, and it looks like it can defend well against liquids, dirt, etc. I have seen it used in open cab cars, like jeeps, where the sun can just bake on it all day to no avail. The bad about this product is that it breathes only a little better than leather.
* Classy/Fine fabrics are hard to come by:
That ridiculous cordouroy from your '86? There is little change you can find something that cool to replace it with, at least using "upholstery" fabrics. The why was explained to me, and it makes sense. In the end, your fabric options are limited.
* It is much less expensive to use a single piece of covering to that that seat and stitch lines into it, rather than stitching multiple pieces together. So, custom + cool = more $$. Big surprise.
* DIfferent color thread is not problem, and there are two or three variations on the kind of stitching used, single/double/french I think they are called.
* Vanagon headrests are very expensive to recover, as they are melted together. To re-cover them will significantly change the look, but it can be done.
* Mercury XR4Ti headrest are easier to cover and rotate 90 degrees. They cost about $40 to cover in a vinyl or fabric (I have 3 more to sell in the classifieds).
* Prices for vinyl/cloth (approx):
- Front seat with arm rests: $275
- Rear Bench (weekender): $275
- Weekender Jump Seat: $160
These are the best prices I could find from a quality covering shop.

All this has led me back to looking at sewfine again, and caused me to reconsider leather n the vanagon. A big hot and sometimes dusty sweat box does not = leather seats, but oh man, why deny a little luxury?

Anyway, my plan of attack now looks something like this:
1) Consider leather, look for good prices:
I was told a full hide would likely barely cover the weekender bench seat.
Hides are about 50 square feet, 2 1/2 yds of a 54 inch wide material.
I was just looking at this page here:
http://www.midwestfabrics.com/index.php?l=product_list&c=20
Then I thought about how in the heck you can determine if you are getting a good product, and I found this:
http://www.ehow.com/how_5970047_grade-hides-leather-upholstery.html
2) Consider leather/fabric hybrid, using fabric in the centers where you heat up, and leather on the sides to make it look snazzier.
3) Look at some high end interiors and take photos to find some good color combos and stitching.

ANyway, we'll see where this goes.
_________________
On a mission, the destination is just an excuse.

Syncro Solstice 2022...see you there!

1986.5 Wolfsburg Syncro Westfalia Poptop Weekender Transporter

[a914622]

I know it dosnt fit the leather end of things BUT the toyota Privea does have a good seat option for a "into vanagon swap". I know you can find them cheap at the Upull yards.
You would have to cut off the toyota rails and spark on the vanagon ones. They have arm reats and the seat pan is a little lower than the vanagon.

jcl
_________________
87 gl powerd buy 2.5subaru
75 914 getting 2.2t subaru scratch that SVX subaru

[thummmper]

leather and air conditioning go hand in hand

You guys are getting jabbed if you pay more than 400 per seat with fabric
and padding, unless you have some super-custom job done or leather.
Isnt sewefine mail order, where you still have to install them yourself?
these dont feel like a block of cheese anymore-I can actually drive
up the coast on them now.

the original seats are rebuildable, with a little sculpting and reinforcement.

[kevtherev]

I chose the vinyl and a center panel of automotive fabric.
Bought some scrap caravelle seats and had the re-upholstered that is to say I had the seat foam changed to a slightly firmer feel.

The head rests were also upholstered to be solid

[madspaniard]

what about something like neoprene? Honda Element has it. Not fancy material but very practical for camper vans.
_________________
1991 Westy auto w/ Peloquin TBD

"The only difference between me and a madman is that I'm not mad” - Salvador Dali

[Classicvibe]

[thummmper]

nice job kev!
the wetsuit material would be great for the winter--you could probably
avoid the electro-magnetic side effects of electric seats with them too.