Seat Backs

[Lancsbob]

Can you swap over the seat backs on a Z3, if not can you swap the covers?
Also are all the seats the same apart from the covering material?

While i'm at it, i will be looking for a Z3 soon as i have just retired & want some fun, been
looking at 2.8/3.0s but also considering 2.2s, at 63 do you think a 2.8 is OTT really
only need the power for overtaking & the odd thrill on the open road but i thought
the bigger engines would hold their value better.

Any thoughts

Cheers Bob

[BladeRunner919]

There are a few different seat styles - Normal, Sports and ///M. What do you mean by swapping the seat backs, exactly?

[Lancsbob]

Have seen quite a few with badly worn drivers side lumbar supports & wonder
if you could get a decent passenger seat & swap the backs over.
Seems to be plenty of cars getting broken on ebay.
Bob

[BladeRunner919]

Oh, I see. The problem with that is that the seats have a seatbelt guide fitted into the leather - if you swap a seat from side-to-side you'll have a guide in the wrong place.

A better option would be to look at the sort of repairs you can do to the seat - you'd be amazed at the possibilities. Have a look at http://www.furnitureclinic.co.uk and watch some of the videos showing repairs that you should be able to do yourself at home.

[Lancsbob]

Thanks for that, i'm thinking of the old MG's etc where you could swap over the backs.

Bob

[gookah]

Oh, I see. The problem with that is that the seats have a seatbelt guide fitted into the leather - if you swap a seat from side-to-side you'll have a guide in the wrong place.

unless you can drop on some coupe seats, no guides on them...

[mwpe]

I bought my 3.0 in 2008 as a 65th birthday present to myself and am still thoroughly enjoying it so I don't think you are too old yet. I am off to lake Garda in it on Sunday.

[Southernboy]

The "seat bolster" / lumber support can be repaired in several ways. You can take the cover off, and find an auto trimmer who will fit in a new piece of leather and colour ir to match the seat. Or if it's not too bad, you can DIY using the Leather repair kits available from Furniture Clinic. You cannot fit a passenger seat onto the driver side as a complete unit... the seat will sort of fit, but will be out of alignment for driving position. This implies the bases are "angled" to suit the side of the car. The actual leather cover I can't give a qualified answer on. It may be transferable from passenger to driver.
You could feasibly cut out a leather patch and glue it over the bolster as an interim solution.

As to which Z3 to choose, you will need to test drive various models and find which one will tick most of your boxes. The 4 cyl motors are lighter and essentially you can have as much "ordinary" driving pleasure from them as you will from a larger 6 cyl motor. The differences between the 6 cyl models is basically the acceleration. What is important to know is that a modern 1.4 turbo charged Korean car will probably accelerate quicker than a 3.0 Z3, but if what you are looking for is a decent powerful touring roadster then any of the sixes will satisfy. 9 No slight on the 4 cyl models which are as comfortable, and capable. Remember, you can only have two persons in the car anyhow)