Club 80-90 Forums

Purchased a nice pair of manual front seats, Saab to fit my van.
Am 6’3 and not really of slim build..
If I test fit the seats there seems little gap between the seat base and the steering wheel,
Lowered the seats and still not a huge gap.
I can remove the original runners but that will only give another 10mm or so..
Has anyone had the same issue??
Is it usable?
Cheers

On mine I removed the van runners, then chopped out the height adjustment mechanism.

Even with everything removed it was a little tight with standard steering wheel so ended up with a mk1 passat wheel.


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ive cut the seat bases down and remade the reaffixed the runners gain a couple of inches  from this to start with then dependant on seat more can always be removed/rebuilt. fun
mm

Had wanted to leave the factory runners in situ, just in case in the future std seats wanted to be put back..
Looks like it’s a minimal gain by removing them, apart from its easier to mount the new seats onto the flat base..
Suppose I could look at removing part of the seat, but seems like a load of work...
If it ever stops raining may try again with the seat back to see how high they actually are..
Could always fit a smaller wheel, would need to bulk up first though

Which model Saab were the seats from originally?  I sold a pair of heated 9-5 seats for use locally in a T2 and whilst they were beautifully comfortable, there was no way I could have driven that bus (I'm 6'5" although now shrinking with age)!

The 9-3 seats are smaller than the 9-5s.

One benefit you may find is that nearly all the Saab front seats (certainly for the 9-5) were fitted with heater pads.  During build the connectors were manually cut off if the customer hadn't included heated seats in their options.  Usually it's a small soldering job to refit a connector, then it's just a case of power supply, switches and relays....  (ALWAYS be CAUTIOUS of connections for seat side airbags - turning on the heat to and airbag may warm you up, but definitely not they way you'll want)!

 

I have a pair of manual Saab 9-3 half leather seats in my bus.
I removed the VW runners and simply bolted them to the flat seat base.
I am 6'6" and pushing 16 stone and find them very comfortable with no clearance issues at all.

So hubcap you can no longer slide the seats forwards or backwards? I like those seats however I want my wife to be able to drive our van but lack of seat adjustment would be a problem in that I am 6'1 and she is 5'1

Seats are still on the original Saab runners and do adjust back and forward .They have to in order to comply with MOT Regulations.
My wife is 5'4" and has no problem driving the bus.

Pictures are with seats adjusted right back. Easy enough to fit, just have to drill out the spot welds holding in the VW runners then all you need is to drill 4 holes to line up with the Saab seat runners. Passengers seat is also on a swivel base. 
You can see the Saab runners in this picture.

hubcap61 wrote: ↑11 Jul 2020, 15:39 Pictures are with seats adjusted right back. Easy enough to fit, just have to drill out the spot welds holding in the VW runners then all you need is to drill 4 holes to line up with the Saab seat runners. Passengers seat is also on a swivel base. 
You can see the Saab runners in this picture.

Could you measure the height of the seat from mounting rail to seat base top?
Would be good to know I have the same !!

Cheers

Hi, sorry for late reply. only just noticed PM.
Not sure what happened to 2nd picture, but i hope this helps.
 Cheers and good luck fitting the seats. 
I have had mine in my bus for a few years now nad no problems on long journeys.

hubcap61 wrote: ↑15 Jul 2020, 16:21 Hi, sorry for late reply. only just noticed PM.
Not sure what happened to 2nd picture, but i hope this helps.
 Cheers and good luck fitting the seats. 
I have had mine in my bus for a few years now nad no problems on long journeys.

That’s great!,

Cheers

Blimey, this is a bit of a faff...
Drilled old seat runners off, no problem.
Outer runner bolts, no problem.
Inner mounting bolts.... well I need hands and fingers the size of a child’s.. talk about tricky....
Nearly there though, and they look really smart and are so much more comfortable...

Swivel seat on passenger side... wish me luck..!

I have just measured where you did hubcap with my original vw seats in and its 19-20cm so a bit concerned about your 14-15cm measurement. As we are both 16 stone yet you are 5 inches taller than me I am wondering if I may have issues with getting my thighs underneath as I am no 'skinny jeans' type bloke yet as you are taller dont you have to bring your knees closer to the seat which would basically have you in a hunched position like trying to drive an original mini?