How To Fit F21 Seats Into E36 Compact [BMW E36 Seat Swap Guide] 140i Seat Upgrade for 318ti | 004

How To Fit F21 Seats Into E36 Compact [BMW E36 Seat Swap Guide] 140i Seat Upgrade for 318ti | 004
The BMW E36 318ti Compact I bought on a whim from eBay is a little tired, but the seats seemed more tired than the rest of it.
Links to items used in this video:-
Seat Belt Buckle Stopper Buttons: ebay.us/y26kz0
Front seat belt for buckle: ebay.us/NtlAZz
Solder Sleeve Red 50 pack: ebay.us/8jH76F
The driver's seat in my E36 Compact is quite worn, and besides the usual bolster wear where the driver gets in and out, it also has a couple of splits in the leather on the seat base, along with some parted seams. I also think the lining is quite compressed so it isn’t that comfortable to sit on.
I started looking around for replacement seats, and at first I was steering towards the thought of getting seats from a higher spec, better condition E36 or maybe fitting bucket seats. I also flirted with buying Recaro seats, but the cost did seem prohibitive. I then came across the idea of fitting seats from a later BMW into my Compact.
The biggest problem might be that they may be too big, as cars have grown in size since the E36 compact was built. However whilst looking around I came across seats from the 1 series that looked like they should fit a treat.
Before long I came across some seats from an F21 140i, they are sports seats with manual adjustment. I got them from within 50 miles of my home, and they only cost £180. The previous owner had changed the seats in his car for ones with blue stitching to suit the colour of his car, so they weren’t even from a crash damaged car.
When I initially test fitted them, I could see that the inner rail sat in exactly the right position, but the holes for the mounting were just a little bit too far apart. However the outer rail sat about 3 cm further into the car than the original E36 seat rail, so I would need to make some custom brackets to make them fit. In the event the brackets were simple to make with holes 35mm apart to fit perfectly, and the holes on the inner rail could be easily adjusted with the use of a round file.
Now that I had the seats so that they would fit the next problem was to work out how to get a working seat belt. I originally intended to swap the E36 buckle onto the F21 seat, but the mountings were completely different. So my next option was to get an F21 lap belt to see if I could replace the E36 one, however the mounting for that was quite different as well. I then hit upon the idea of fitting the latch part of the F21 seat belt onto the E36 strap. It took a bit of doing but when I eased the slot in the plastic cover of the latch with a soldering iron so that the E36 belt would fit through it went on fine.
My next concern was wiring up the pretensioner. As this is an explosive device I was concerned that I might set it off accidentally. After some research it appears that the pretensioners on the old and the new seats work in the same way so I could graft the connector from the old one onto the new one and it worked fine.
Having completed the job, I find that the seat is in the right place for me with regard to the steering wheel and foot pedals, so the comfort in use is great. The seat is much more modern, so is more comfortable and provided better support. There were some electrical parts of the seat that I didn’t use, but I am hoping that I may be able to get the heated seats to work. Although I don’t really intend to use the car in Winter, it would be nice to have the option.
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[@autopflege-rhein-neckar6021]

You do great Videos you need more views. Love from Germany

[@SPANNERRASH]

Thank you!

[@tamassajtos9394]

I just found a gem! Sir I will follow you. A few weeks ago just purchased an 1998 E36 328i. I need to do a lot of work on it. Thank you!

[@SPANNERRASH]

Welcome aboard! If you look at the E30 build we are doing you will see it has the same engine as yours. We are hoping to make some progress with this during this Summer, but it seems nobody told the weather gods to change the settings yet :)

[@StoicSpeaks]

Excellent video, thanks for this

[@SPANNERRASH]

Glad you liked it! And I can only say it is one of the best streetcar upgrades I have every done. Great seats.

[@niazpetkar53]

Can you do a detailed video of the mounting brackets for the seat rails and how you sized up the fabricated steel please 😊

[@SPANNERRASH]

There wouldn't be much more to see. If you look at the part where I am drilling you will see that they are literally two small plates about 5cm long with two holes drilled in them. I would use 3 to 4mm thick plate. The inner rail just needed the holes extending so the plates are used on the outside. The seats are great, everybody who sits in the car says they are a game changer compared to the original seats. Hope this helps.

[@robertfontaine3650]

Those seat are a decent refresh for the old ones. I've got a couple so no nice little bar for me. Finding a decent pair of seat that I can install and pass safety with is the biggest challenge. Will have to fit the passenger seat sensor in the passenger side. I expect your bracket connectors would fail inspection here as well. It seems like they sit a little lower than the e36 seats which is nice and they look very good.

[@SPANNERRASH]

They have really worked out well, they are really comfortable and supportive. I think that you could make thicker brackets if required. I was expecting to have to put a bar between the two mounting points across the car so that I could move the position of the seat side to side, this could be made quite substantial if required.

[@PatricioGarcia1973]

Great video, I might have to find one and measure it, to see if it might fit an e39

[@SPANNERRASH]

You should! The rails are around 41cm apart and around 35cm between the bolt holes if that helps.

[@Kitaco181Grom]

First to comment again 😊 Well done - a great upgrade which you can enjoy every trip 👍

[@SPANNERRASH]

Yes! Thank you! Seating is now lush!!

[@matt9852]

Funnily enough, I own an E36 Compact and an F21...

[@SPANNERRASH]

You, know how happy I am :)

[@dragosmatei3482]

Great video! I wander if these seats would fit an e30?

[@SPANNERRASH]

Good question, I suspect it would be a slightly more of a squeeze and the brackets would need to be a little different because the likelihood of the mounting points being identical is slim. But its fully possible!

[@niazpetkar53]

I've just changed my E46 Compact seats to F40 M135i Performance seats. Had to purchase floor pan chassis adaptors. Now obviously the E46 seat belt end pin does not fit into the F40 seat buckle. Any suggests without removing the E46 seat belt. Your help would be most appreciated

[@SPANNERRASH]

I was quite lucky being able to swap the latch. I didn't think it was going to work at first. My back up option was to try to get one of the companies that rebuild seat belts to swap the relevant parts. I hope you find a solution. Good luck.

[@niazpetkar53]

@@SPANNERRASH the latch is the chrome end bit which fits into the buckle right? The E46 latch doesn't fit into the F40 buckle. Without ripping everything out, can you recommend a fix?

[@SPANNERRASH]

​@@niazpetkar53 Correct if you can swap this onto your E46 belt, you will be golden. You may need to use a file to trim the plastic on the new one down so it will go onto the end of the E46 belt.

[@__nightplayer__2308]

Is it possible to get the Seat heating working ? I have the Same Seats for my e46

[@SPANNERRASH]

This is something I am planning to explore in a followup vid. Hopefully I get to it soon but feels less pressing during summer!

[@__nightplayer__2308]

@@SPANNERRASH thank you for the answer do you have Informations about it i cant find Someone who did that Already

[@SPANNERRASH]

@@__nightplayer__2308 I have an idea to try and use the E36 heated seat switch and splice it into the new seats, but I've no idea if it will work yet. I'll need to do some research. Let me know if you figure it out first!

[@__nightplayer__2308]

@@SPANNERRASH in the e46 i have a 3 Stage Button i tryed to use the Brown Mass, the normal Green Yellow electricity wire and the Blue white Temperature wire like normal But the Control Unit isnt Turning on But if i Set a 2ohm resistance in Front the Control Unit Works But the seats dont heat enaugh

[@__nightplayer__2308]

@@SPANNERRASH i Think it has something to do With the electricity needet The Original cables are 12v 10ohm = 120w Max the New Seat is 1,2 Ohm r=u/i R*I = is 1,2*10= 12v … Check U/r=I. Is 12/1,2 = 10a The Control Unit cant give that amount in W If i Set the 2ohm in Front there is : 12/3,2 = 3,75 Ohms times 12v = 45watts 3,2* 3,75= 12 Volt … Check The 45 watts are to Less If i do 1,5 Ohmes the Output shuld be Around 70watts I am looking of it works Correct me if i am wrong