S70 / V70 front seat swap to 850

Post by **t5rrr** » 27 Mar 2010, 20:24

I recently swapped front seats from a junkyard 98 V70 into my 94 855. My 855 front seats had a nasty black dye applied, some seams tearing and the driver power seat recline was not working when I bought the car.

Passenger side was cake, driver side had some challenges, so here goes...

Here's a step by step of the passenger seat (manual type):

remove seat bolts

Detach seatbelt and remove the bracket

unplug harness of seat heater and remove seat from car

Prep V70 seat

Remove seatbelt bracket from V70 seat

Bolt in 855 seatbelt bracket into V70 seat

Remove V70 seatbelt latch

Remove 855 seatbelt latch and install into V70 seat

Install prepped V70 seat into 855 and bolt everything in and replace the side cover before replacing height adjustment handles.

One thing to note is the V70's height adjustment handles have a plastic tab on the inside that needs to be wedged slightly to remove the handle, I broke the first one trying to force it out with a screwdriver

Have to hit the junkyards again to get another handle.

Post by **t5rrr** » 27 Mar 2010, 20:34

On to the driver side powered seat

Unbolt seat, remove seatbelt, unplug harness and remove from car

Driver seatbelt bracket is riveted so time to break out the heavy tools!

Used air hammer to chisel the rivet off

Adapt the 855 seatbelt bracket into the V70 seat, I had to rearrange some washers from V70 seat's original seatbelt bracket to work with the 855 bracket so it'll stay firmly in place.

855 seatbelt latch has wiring harness that I cut and spliced into the V70 seat (for the seatbelt warning light)

Install prepared V70 driver seat into 855 and plug in control harness (note the airbag lockout tag)

Remove and store the airbag lockout tag

Install seatbelt into bracket and cover

Enjoy fruits of labor

heat391 · Post by **heat391** » 28 Mar 2010, 09:05

Just a couple quick questions, since the '94s didn't have the side airbags, what did you do with the wiring for the seat's airbag?

Do you know if it is possible to wire the airbags into the sis system?

Post by **t5rrr** » 28 Mar 2010, 12:03

To my understanding the side airbags are mechanically actuated, hence the red stopper gizmo to prevent the side airbags from deploying during transportation.

During the swap I did not notice additional wiring or harness that was on the V70 that my 855 did not have.

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 28 Mar 2010, 20:03

T5rrr, you are correct. The triggers for the SIPs bags are pyrotechnic and they are triggered by force alone, it is not electrical. Good job on this. The thing that always had me flummoxed from looking at VADIS was the difference in the seat belt mounts and you solved that problem.

...Lee

850 Turbo1 · Post by **850 Turbo1** » 28 Mar 2010, 23:26

t5rrr wrote:To my understanding the side airbags are mechanically actuated, hence the red stopper gizmo to prevent the side airbags from deploying during transportation.

During the swap I did not notice additional wiring or harness that was on the V70 that my 855 did not have.

Thanks so much for the writeup...I will probably be doing this soon enough!

My tan seats are not looking too great

michaelairllc · Post by **michaelairllc** » 08 Apr 2010, 14:35

This is a great fix for old seats. One thing I found is that you can swap out the lower part of the attaching seat rail with 4 screws and avoid any drilling for the seat belt swap out. Just be sure that the rails are in the same position on the gear when reinstalling (preferably all the way aft). I was curious why the seat belt coupler needed to be changed from one seat to another. Great info on Airbags.

karmasai · Post by **karmasai** » 19 Aug 2011, 12:33

I'd like to know if I'm mistaken, but it seems like all first generation Volvo 70 series cars use the same seat mount points as the 93-97 850 for the front seats... am i right?

that being said, can this be done from a 2000 S70 or a 2002 C70 rather than a '98 S70? As for the S70 I know there are some engine differences between the 98 and 2000, but I'm not sure if there were any interior changes. As for the C70 I learned to drive on an 850 and now drive a c70, but there is a 15 year gap between my ownership of the two cars.

Post by **Matty Moo** » 06 Sep 2011, 03:15

Kickass write-up. Didn't know it existed until I needed it yesterday.

Bought a VERY nice set of charcoal seats out of a 99XC for my Platinum. Once I got them home and cleaned up, the seat belt mounting issue had me perplexed and contemplating doing something stupid. I probably sat there for an hour, pulled this up on my phone and had the fronts replaced in no time flat.

The only issue I have to figure out is the power situation to the passenger seat. My original seats were memory, and the XC seats aren't. The passenger side wiring is slightly off somehow...one harness is slightly different.

Faust · Post by **Faust** » 15 Jan 2012, 17:22

michaelairllc wrote:This is a great fix for old seats. One thing I found is that you can swap out the lower part of the attaching seat rail with 4 screws and avoid any drilling for the seat belt swap out. Just be sure that the rails are in the same position on the gear when reinstalling (preferably all the way aft). I was curious why the seat belt coupler needed to be changed from one seat to another. Great info on Airbags.

Could you explain that a little more? I have a pair of v70 seats to go in my 855, not sure I see the screws you mention. My 855 seats are not power, is there a difference?