installing Recaro seats

[phlogiston]

cross posting from my syncro thread...

go westy no longer sells the cool looking adapter brackets that chris posted photos of on page 1. they now mount their recaros by drilling an extra, off-center hole in the slider track so that it can be mounted at a narrower width. they supply nifty "nuts" that slide inside the factory seat tracks and the modified sliders can then be bolted into VW tracks.

obviously this must work with the recaro seats they sell, but with an older set of "style topline" seats that i purchased, the sliders cannot be moved inwards due to interference with the seat frame. thus i would caution anyone to check your seats before ordering their "adapter".

and maybe give a bit of thought to how you feel about your seat being bolted down through some swiss cheese of intersecting holes. i wouldn't feel safe, and the mechanical engineer i showed these to agreed.

[16CVs]

I run those adapters in my Westy and they are plenty strong . There is no movement once bolted down .The washers cover the holes .
They were priced at the same price as generic ones on E bay and I didn't have to modify anything .
You can still buy genuine adapters from Recaro ,they do look better as they have a side cover . I do not care for the big bent rod at the front ,it digs into your thighs .
I had stock armrests added to my Recaro . Much nicer than Recaro arm rests as they are fully adjustable and do not lock up or down .
I had it recovered in stock material and it looks like it grew there .

Stacy
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1987 Syncro Westfalia Triple knob (bastard)
1989 Syncro Tristar Triple knob "Swedish"
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Samba member # 14980
Call anytime number 650 722 4914 .
Keep Your van running and upkept tastefully for the love of the hobby.
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[whynotvw]

I used the new Gowesty aftermarket recaro brackets. I paid $200 but I saw the same ones from ebay for $50. Only thing is the ones that Gowesty sells has the correct holes drilled and special nuts.

Works really great.

[almo]

[S4VAGE]

Just electric "tilt". No heat in those. Great seats for sure. They hold up unbelievably well.

[campism]

[luVWagn]

I've got Recaro Ergomeds, and the GoWesty seat brackets / adapters. My issue is that the bracket sliders won't move forward enough to clear the seat cushion so that I can bolt in from the top Anyone have ideas?

The tracks are moved forward as far as possible, but still no access from top (seat) side.

...and yes, i know that the seat release mechanism is backwards, but it also won't clear the front of the seats if i put it frontwards. It is like the entire seat's setup has the mounting points shifted towards the back...
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'91 Syncro 16 Reimo Hightop Conversion, eTDI

[MarkWard]

Could you remove the brackets from the seat, install them in the van, and then bolt the seats back to the brackets one they are installed?
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☮️

[luVWagn]

[KindaHippyish]

I just bought a set of Recaro seats and got them because they looked to be in great condition, but also because the brackets that were coming with them looked a lot like Hugo's from the first page. I know Hugo had an issue with the height, but Christopher mentioned cutting the lower two holes off and mounting to the top-most hole with the Wedge adaptors.

I wanted to check-in here first to get some thoughts from you folks before I go off buying Wedge adaptors.

Thanks in advance!
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1995 Eurovan Camper 5SPD
1991 Vanagon GL 4SPD – Subaru DOHC EJ25 - SOLD
1984 Vanagon Wolfsburg 4SPD – 1.8 I4 - Traded Away
1986 Vanagon GL Syncro 2.1L WBX 4SPD - RIP

[MarkWard]

[erste]

Bumping this old thread to add a bit more info.

I got my mk2 vw trophy recaros installed a few weeks ago.

I pieced together my own "DIY gowesty kit". I would have just ordered it, but it's not listed on their site.

Their video outlines the installation process:

Link

And this PDF lists the parts needed to get them installed:
http://www.gowesty.com/files/Recaro%20Install%20-%20Vanagon.pdf
I bought the cheapest universal sliders I could find ($80/pr.):
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sonic-Motor-Universal-Bott...2749.l2649

They are identical to what GW is modifying

And then I bought this hardware:
( 8 ) M8 x 1.25 x 20 SS - To bolt sliders to seats
( 8 ) M8 Washers - Flat washers - To bolt sliders to seats (I actually couldn't get these bolts to clear with washers, so I'm running without for now)
( 8 ) M6 x 1.00 x 16 12.9 Grade - To bolt sliders to seat rails on van
( 8 ) M6 Washers - To bolt sliders to seat rails on van

The modification to the sliders is pretty straight forward - you need to drill 4 holes total.

Measuring the distance between the center point of the rails on the stock seats and the center point on the rails of the recaros will tell you where to drill. Or you can just eyeball it from the photos in this thread.

Drill further toward the center, otherwise the bolt head will hit the sliding part (see second pic).

Button head screws would give more clearance, but I couldn't find the right size locally.

Notice how the bolt interferes with the slider if it's too far toward the outside:

All bolted up and sliding:

To make the threaded inserts that slot into the stock rails on the van (see GW video above), I used 3/8" bar stock. Drilled and tapped to 6mm x 1.00. Mine aren't the perfect length, but they work.

The 6mm bolts actually give you a lot of room to compensate, in case you didn't drill the holes in exactly the right spots. They should be Grade 12.9.

Seats installed:

Overall impressions:
I've had these seats in my mk2 golf for a few years and they're fantastic. Honestly though, I don't find the stock vanagon seats uncomfortable. But these are still a huge improvement, even without armrests.

The driver's seat doesn't swivel, and I didn't use spacers to raise the seat height. For me, at 6"5', the height is perfect. It's actually lower than the stock seat. Passenger side is on a swivel, and I never sit there, so it's fine too.

The only thing that bothers me is the amount of time it will now take to remove and install the seats. Since my aux. fuse box is under the driver's seat, it's just one more thing to do in order to wire up something new.

Also... Arm rests are a necessity! This will be the next project. I have dark brown seat covers coming from L-Seat, and will install the stock adjustable arm rests from the vanagon seats at the same time.

While they're apart I'm probably going to add lumbar support and heated elements.

[bizarre]

I managed to come across some VW swivel bases with Recaro rails mounted on them

They are NOS bases from a camper company in Australia called Trakka

Were not cheap but work a treat and I am happy with them

[/img]

[Fogerty1970]

I just recently threw in some Recaro seats a friend of mine found on CL for $150 but didn't end up fitting in his Element. I can't remember the model of the seats, but they are the ones with the three hole bracket coming off the sliders, which the seats came with. Since this thread kinda dealt with that bracket, I wanted to describe how we modded up my seats.

I really liked member erste's strategy, which follows loosely GW's use of a piece of square stock inserted into the van mounting bracket and is tapped to accept a M6x1.00 socket head bolt, which they detailed in this thread.

Instead of the Wedge bracket, I used a piece of 1.25"x1/8" angle, cut to 17" in the back and 1.5" individual pieces in the front. Those pieces were attached to the 3/8" stock through existing holes in the front of the van bracket and holes drilled in the rear to accept the inside length of the Recaro brackets, which were 15.5".

Then we drilled some holes in the upper part of the angle and attached the seat to the angle with 13mm bolts and blue locktite.

All in all, it was pretty simple. The angle was $8 (one 48" piece). The hardware cost about $25.

The seats are incredible. Night and day doesn't do it justice. It's more like, Great White and Guppy. My 34 year old seats were trashed anyway. I did remove the swivel for the driver's seat to retain as much stock height as I could. I never used the swivel anyway. The passenger seat retains the swivel and sits about 1/2" higher. The driver's seat feels almost the same as stock.
Cheers,
Chris
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1984 Wolfsburg Westy, EJ22.

"I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy." -T. Waits.

[Erik G]

ugh, do you know what car those blue recarros came from? I have been trying to them for quite a while. Someone thought police version of the monte carlo but I can't find them anywhere.

need them for a period correct mini-truck...
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[shagginwagon83]

What a deal man. My friend has recaro and I felt like my back problems were being healed each minute I sat in them.
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Brandon
"Jo Ann" - '83.5 Westfalia EJ22e w/Peloquin
Instagram @joannthevan

[erste]

[Fogerty1970]

Erik G: Yup. Erste is right...
They came from a Chevy Lumina that was used by a police detective in a city north of where I am.
Cheers
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1984 Wolfsburg Westy, EJ22.

"I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy." -T. Waits.

[kamzcab86]

[Erik G]