Woody3 Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 Hi, first post, so please be nice... The seats in my Defender are looking a little tired now (ripped vinyl), so after a new set (Front only). I've done a search, but can't really find anything specific... Basically, I am after a list of different types of seats I could use in my Defender? Requirements being: Comfortable (got a very long drive in my Defender soon) Look half decent Cheap'ish (i.e nothing more than £60/70!) Basically can be fitted without too much hassle (I don't own a welder) Access to battery box??? I've seen photos on here of Disco 2 Seats being fitted? Are these much hassle to fit? Sorry about all of the questions. W. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godlykepower Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 Hi, first post, so please be nice...The seats in my Defender are looking a little tired now (ripped vinyl), so after a new set (Front only). I've done a search, but can't really find anything specific... Basically, I am after a list of different types of seats I could use in my Defender? Requirements being: Comfortable (got a very long drive in my Defender soon) Look half decent Cheap'ish (i.e nothing more than £60/70!) Basically can be fitted without too much hassle (I don't own a welder) Access to battery box??? I've seen photos on here of Disco 2 Seats being fitted? Are these much hassle to fit? Sorry about all of the questions. W. Right, a £60-70 budget is going to limit you straight away. Access to the battery box is the hardest thing to sort out. Disco seats WILL fit, but they are more of a snug fit, especially if you have a chunky cubby box. Range Rover seats will also fit, but even more snugly. Most people tend to make some sort of frame that allows the entire seat to be tilted forwards to access the battery, but if you dont weld, you are going to have to ask a friend to knock something up for you. You could just go around a scrappy local to you with a tape measure and see what will fit. My advice, spend some money and get your original seats refurbished. Exmoor Trim are the leaders at this (if you could stretch to it, their Modular seats are superb, but cost over £600 per pair) There are other seat re-trim companies out there for land Rover.....look in the back of the comics and find them. Sams trim and DNA trim come to mind. I saw some examples of seats done by Sams trim at Billing, and they looked like they were knocked up by a better than average home re-trim buff, but designed for a Chav's Nova......they were pretty dire looking IMHO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hattymender Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 If you're on a budget find somebody with a welder. Get some Citroen AX seats, about £5 each from a breakers. Cut the outer (vertical) rail, weld back on as horizontal rail. Takes about an hour to cut and weld. Hardest bit is making sure runners are parallel. Bolt to seat box (access is easy, use backing plates to make solid job). If you're lucky (I was) even the seat belt latches match up. Use AX seats as the base comes out for access to battery and tool box. After Land Rover seats they're very, very comfy; bit too comfy on occasion. There's one section on my drive to work which seems to hit some happy frequency at about 50mph and it sets up a bouncy action for 1/2 a mile. They sit you a bit higher than LR seats (but not too much) and you'll have to bin the middle seat though as they're wider than LR ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woody3 Posted July 22, 2009 Author Share Posted July 22, 2009 Thanks for your fast responses! I simply can't afford anything over £100, so the Exmoor Trim etc is wayyy out of the question The AX seems a good idea though, will have a look...I have saved the instructions/photo! Currently looking at Rover Coupe seats...noticed a couple of people have done this...looks quite good imo. Not sure how easy they are to fit though?...Any pointers? Thanks again. W. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retroanaconda Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 I would just re-trim your current seats, with new foams et all. Get them done in a nice canvas (Exmoor Trim have many options I believe) and you should find it improves things Less hassle than fitting seats from other cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 get 2 new seat base inserts [cushions] from Exmoor Trim & rectify your existing seats, makes a heck of a difference, did mine last year, much comfier & still easy access to battery bay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CURLY Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 i was told that i have citreon BX seats in mine. they are really comfortable, and the bases come out for battery access. just had a quick look, and it doesn't look like they have had any welding done to them either. looks like they have just been bolted in. only thing with them i'd say is that you cant tilt them forward to get to the rear bulkhead where the jack and stuff is. not sure if the BX seats are the same as the AX seats either i'm affraid. HTH CURLY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psulli16 Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Hi Im also after a set of seats, ive decided to buy a re trim kit, they are about £80 each and at least the car will look original, chavy seats just look chavy . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UdderlyOffroad Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 I must be in the minority here - as I think even decent condition OE seats are rubbish and uncomfortable for a long journey. I've got some Renault Scenic seats. I picked up the complete set of 5 seats (half-leather too) from a breaker for £50! But I can't recommend this as an option - as I've yet to fit them. But my point is, you can get around the problem of needing to find a seat with a removable base, by fitting one of these. This gives you lots of options - such as Ford Ka seats, which at least one member on here has done. Citroen AXs are might be a bit thin on the ground now. Basically, as has been stated, get yourself to the your local 'friendly' scrappie and see what's available. Pickup a couple of battery straps to help you wire in the isolator switch too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
19MART82 Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 isolator and 1 of these can save a lot of hassle too http://www.x-eng.co.uk/X-Jump.asp, and if you add any wireing for lights etc mount the relays & fuses to the rear bulkhead rather than in the battery tray,ive made a little box out of checkerplate that attatches to bulkhead beheind passenger seat to protect the relays/fuses and make them easy to get too,taped the wires in some conduit to keep it tidy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSD Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 i was told that i have citreon BX seats in mine. they are really comfortable, and the bases come out for battery access. not sure if the BX seats are the same as the AX seats either i'm affraid. BX seats don't have removable bases as far as I remember (owned 5 of them at one time or another). AX GT seats were nice. I always wondered how they would work in a Defender as I remember the removable bases. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmgemini Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 What is wrong with the original Land Rover Defender seats. Both of us find them very comfortable for SHORT 300 mile and over journeys. Even up to 400 miles in a day or short times like 8am to 4pm we have no problems. The re-trim kit again is very good. I did my drivers seat with new foam before our last trip. Most of the problems that prople suffer from over Defender seats are damaged and well used foam inserts as well as bent seat frames. Now a very small point. Unless you like to drive with your knees up and yucked under your chin, ordinary car seats in their out of the eurobox form are no good. A car seat has the rails for a FLAT base. A Defender seat box has an angled to the rear seat base.. Yes you do need a weekly look into your battery box..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frax Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 I fitted a set of Recaros from a Siera - no welding but a bit of cutting of the base to get them as low as possible. bolted 1" angle to the base and fitted them to the original runners. I did go back and made some lifters by cutting 2x1" box 18" long from corner to corner to lift the back of the seat and give me more leg room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reb78 Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 What is wrong with the original Land Rover seats.. Trouble is that we are all different shapes and sizes, so what suits you may be utterly uncomfortable for someone else. For me, I agree with Off Road Toad in that I found the OE seats dreadful for long journeys. I have since fitted RRC seats and they are really comfortable (also have a slightly smaller steering wheel). I can get them forward enough to get access to the battery and box fairly easily (I'd have to remove the seat to remove the battery, but that is only four bolts) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmgemini Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Reb yes that is part of the problem. FORD are the worst car seats I've had to use. Remember that the seats you fit MUST be homogated to be used in that vehicle...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike4444244 Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Sorry for the blatant hijack, I have a pair of leather electric seats out of a rangy with defender rails, were fitted to my 110, very comfy but a bit high and a bit upright for me, going cheap if your interested as I'm fed up of tripping over them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UdderlyOffroad Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 What is wrong with the original Land Rover Defender seats. Both of us find them very comfortable for SHORT 300 mile and over journeys. Even up to 400 miles in a day or short times like 8am to 4pm we have no problems. The re-trim kit again is very good. My buttocks say different! Also, Quoth the OP: nothing more than £60/70! Hence that rules out an Exmoor Bling £165 re-trim kit. Now a very small point. Unless you like to drive with your knees up and yucked under your chin, ordinary car seats in their out of the eurobox form are no good. A car seat has the rails for a FLAT base. A Defender seat box has an angled to the rear seat base.. Yes you do need a weekly look into your battery box..... Most of the seat options I've come accross (and even sat in) - the Eurobox donor seats didn't usually have much rake - making them actually quite a comfortable angle for your knees once fitted to a defender (angled) seatbox. An even then, fabricating a bit of bracketry (whether sans welder or not) is far more likely to be within someone's capabilities than re-upholstering. Battery secured, terminals greased, electrolyte levels checked, voltmeter on dash indicates a healthy 14.4v when running at the terminal...should I need to cast my eye in there that regularly?? (Lights blue touch paper, retreats to safe distance). isolator and 1 of these can save a lot of hassle too http://www.x-eng.co.uk/X-Jump.asp, and if you add any wireing for lights etc mount the relays & fuses to the rear bulkhead rather than in the battery tray,ive made a little box out of checkerplate that attatches to bulkhead beheind passenger seat to protect the relays/fuses and make them easy to get too,taped the wires in some conduit to keep it tidy Only reason I didn't mention Anderson jump sockets (X-Jump) is that's not going to be within the OP's budget, but definitely worth considering. Exception being of course if you find yourself regularly being the recipient of jump starts (rather then the giver) - in which case fix your charging/battery issue, i.e. spend the money on curing the symptoms, not the disease! Remember that the seats you fit MUST be homologated to be used in that vehicle...... Please can you point us in the direction of the of the SI/C&Us/Act that require after-market components fitted to a vehicle to be homologated? I don't normally correct people's spelling but homogated probably means something else that I don't want to google whilst at work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmgemini Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 You've been told enough times I CAN'T SPELL...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kho55y Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 got impreza bucket style seats in mine no welding needed just trim the orignal base and use the impreza runners drill a few holes at the front of the runners and they mount in orignal bolt holes ! just have to pack them up with a spacer on the inside as there designed to fit to the center tunel . got my seats from ebay £60 and a few hours of free time and job done got some pics if you want Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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