850 seat upgrades

matt122s · Post by **matt122s** » 30 Nov 2015, 16:32

Hi All,
My '95 850 leather seats are not torn but are as hard as a rock and I'd like to replace them. I'm having a hard time finding any nice seats from other 850's or from a S/ V70 model year '98, '99, and 2000 because of the mechanical SIPS bag. I read somewhere on here that the skins and seat foams from a later model year will fit on an 850 seat frame. There are a ton of later V70's and S80 that have really nice seats at the local pick and pull and I would love to use them.
Can anyone tell me what would be a usable donor car if I'm only using the seat skins and foam to mount on my 850 power seat frames?
Thanks, Matt

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 30 Nov 2015, 17:21

I'm not sure about swapping the skins between 850s and the 70 series. The seats themselves swap just fine between the series but you will either need to get the seat belts with the donor seats or modify the 850 belt anchorage. We have details on both procedures in the repair database.

Since you have a '95 you don't have SIPS (some of the '95 Rs may have had SIPS though from what I have heard). You can use a later model seat with the pyrotechnic SIPS and it will work just fine. Those would be through the '98 model. You can also use '99 or 2000 seats but the SIPS won't do anything since it is electronically triggered. Since you have no SIPS now you aren't really losing anything with the electronically triggered versions but it is a nice addition if you can get some with the mechanically triggered versions that are in decent shape. You will likely need to modify the power seat wiring and the seat heater wiring a bit but it isn't a big deal.

...Lee

matt122s · Post by **matt122s** » 30 Nov 2015, 20:45

Hi Lee,
Thanks for the reply, I guess I was confused as to what skins and seat foams would go onto the 850 seat frames, bummer. It's hard to find anything decent to swap out around here. I guess I'll just keep looking until a decent set of seats show up at the local pick n pull or on craigslist.
Matt

skloon · Post by **skloon** » 30 Nov 2015, 21:02

I put s60 seats in mine, you have to swap the rails and do a bit of re-wiring for the seatbacks but they do fit

matt122s · Post by **matt122s** » 30 Nov 2015, 21:07

I might do that, I saw a lot of nice S60 seats last weekend. What did you do about the SIPS bags, just disconnect them and leave them alone? Is there any way for them to go off on there own, I know I'm probably just being paranoid.
Thanks, Matt

Post by **tryingbe** » 30 Nov 2015, 21:16

matt122s wrote:Is there any way for them to go off on there own

Set them on fire... that should do the trick.

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 01 Dec 2015, 00:28

Robert has a video of triggering a mechanical one. It is pretty funny and it actually took quite a bit to get it to trigger. I think if you twist the wires together and not hook them to anything you could be reasonably sure they wouldn't accidentally trigger.

...Lee

SUPERBRIK · Post by **SUPERBRIK** » 01 Dec 2015, 03:52

Use the leatherique method of reconditioning the box hard leather... I do not work for them, have used their products on Porsche and Volvo seats that were hard and it turned them more supple.

Post by **benpineapple** » 01 Dec 2015, 07:27

Ozark Lee wrote:Robert has a video of triggering a mechanical one. It is pretty funny and it actually took quite a bit to get it to trigger. I think if you twist the wires together and not hook them to anything you could be reasonably sure they wouldn't accidentally trigger.

...Lee

That video is incredible.

While swapping seats and modifying rails is an option, wouldn't having the seat itself re-upholstered be an option as well? Probably much more pricey than a salvaged seat. Salvaged 70 series seats are hard to find! They're always blown out or in horrible shape.

Post by **pkc303** » 01 Dec 2015, 08:17

The 1995 850 T5-R does have SIPS, it was the first car in the world introduced with SIPS. The 1996 and 1997 850R's have SIPS also as standard features. The R seats are the most confortable seats I have, better than the Mercedes. I have a full back up, set for our 850's just in case.