Mounting Sport Seats vs. Recaros

[LarryM]

I just scored a pair of manual sport seats (from a Euro 635) for my E24; the seats themselves need restoration and I haven't decided if I'm going to use them. However I'm wondering if I can use the seat rails to adapt other Recaro-style seats to my car.

The rails don't just bolt onto the bottoms of the seats, but rather have some kind of "pivot pins" front and rear. Is this a standard method of mounting for all Recaros? For example, would a set of vintage Recaro LS or LX seats work with these rails? Or E21/E30 seats, as an alternative?

[Pelican Parts]

You'll likely have to do some modification to the rails to make them work in your E24. Other members would need to confirm this, but I believe the Euro spec rails with work with euro spec seats and vice-versa.

[LarryM]

So the Euro seats have their own mounting system (utilizing pins instead of bolts), and the rails for E24 Euro seats cannot be used with standard-issue Recaros?

I'd just like to replace my power comfort seats with a nice set of manual sport seats. I was really hoping this wouldn't get too complicated.

The manual sport seats I just purchased use the mounting method shown in this article; scroll down to "Separating the seat base and runners" where there's a pic showing the "pins" going through the base of the seat and through the runner:

http://www.esatclear.ie/~bpurcell/318isseat.html

Apparently it's the method also used on E30 seats.

[Layne]

The BMW sport seats have nothing in common with Recaro other than the general appearance of them. They are application specific and the sliders are part of the seat. All Recaros and nearly all other aftermarket seats have a standard rectangular bolt hole pattern on the bottom (screw threads pointed towards the sky. No pins). You need car-specific Recaro adapters to mount them in any car (or make your own). The sliders are not part of the seat and are either part of the adapter, or you reuse the original (non-sport seat) sliders.

[LarryM]

OK, thanks Layne. So the sliders for the BMW sport seats are useful ONLY for those seats, and if I want to fit Recaros then I'd have to locate Recaro sliders, plus adapters for my E24. That's not what I wanted to hear but it helps immensely.

[Layne]

OK, thanks Layne. So the sliders for the BMW sport seats are useful ONLY for those seats, and if I want to fit Recaros then I'd have to locate Recaro sliders, plus adapters for my E24. That's not what I wanted to hear but it helps immensely.

Yes. I don't really know who makes the slider you would need. On an E21 you have to reuse the factory sliders, and the Recaro adapter is not much more than a couple of C channels. I have a feeling the E24 non-sport sliders don't come off though, and it takes something unique. You should be able to find diagrams of all the needed parts on realoem, since recaros were a factory option up to 83-84 when BMW started making their own sport seats.

[LarryM]

I've also been told that E30 sport seats can be used, are much more plentiful than E21 seats, and look very similar to E24 sports. From pics I've seen the E30 sport seats also appear to use the same "pin" mounting system as the later E24 sport seats. I wonder if I can attach my existing E24 sport seat sliders onto them? Then I wouldn't even have to use any adapters to fit them to the floor.