Every E28 should have Vaders

[dcbimmerm3]

I got em installed last night and they look great. These seats are amazing. They hold you tightly around turns, but are also very comfortable for long trips. I love these!

The car is for sale by the way...check the Cars FS section! Although after seeing how this looks now, i'm debating on taking it off the market.

[Brad D.]

Wow, those do look really good. Interior looks very nice! You might want to resize the pics though.

[dcbimmerm3]

i know they're a little large haha. I used the e28 uploader thing. i don't know how to get photobucket pics to work.

[Dinan e28]

They look good . Ive never seen, a good set in a e28.

[stuartinmn]

There's a great image resizer program you can download for free from www.irfanview.com. I used it to shrink one of your photos from 3mb to 50kb, and it looks just as good on screen.

[///ARINUTS...]

So what did it take to install them? did you have to fabricate brackets? adapters? or did the holes line up?

[mosportgreen66]

they do look nice...

[dcbimmerm3]

d_1.bmp

basically what i did was take a 3" wide piece of 3/8" thick flat steel and cut it into about 16" sections(4 of these). I drilled the E28 holes into them and bolted them down. them i placed the seat on top of the brackets and moved it around til i felt it was centered and straight. I marked and drilled the holes. Then took about 1.75" bolts and placed them in the holes pointing up so the nut would go on top. I slapped the seat onto them and bolted them down. the E36 seats are setup to be more "inboard" then the e28 seats are which is why i had to shift the bolt pattern "outboard" so they'd be centered. Another thing, the E36 buckles are different but you can just use your E28 buckles and flip them around so the release button is on the inside, towards your body. works just fine and these seats make a WORLD of difference in corners and they're extremely comfortable for 170 mile trips no problem. By the way, 3/8" flat steel is overkill, I'd used 1/4" if i did it again. but i wanted to ensure that they'd be secure cause i was not going to sacrifice safety just to get them into the car.

[zchef2k]

Nice work.

-Z

[topE28]

Wowww!! nice E36 M3 sport seat.

[dcbimmerm3]

i know there's a couple other guys out there with vaders in E28's...do you guys have any pics...I'd like to see different colors if you have...

[Tim in N FL]

Quite impressive...what braces did you use? Did you have to purchase or fabricate them? I have a ///M3 Lux with the "traditional" (non-Vader) seats and love them. I know I would never find a pair in Lama but it would be easy to find a black pair...cheap ($250-350 for a nice pair). They would fit right-in with the traditional interior of e28. The Vaders are cool but are a bit futuristic in style. I've always thought they wouldn't age well over time...sort of a "what the hell were they thinking" kinda design. Nevertheless...they look nice in your car. Good luck with the sale...

Tim

[bmwm3n528]

I'm not sure these vaders could be considered 'period correct' in an E28, but they do make a good attempt to modernize the E28 interior.

Quite impressive...what braces did you use? Did you have to purchase or fabricate them? I have a ///M3 Lux with the "traditional" (non-Vader) seats and love them. I know I would never find a pair in Lama but it would be easy to find a black pair...cheap ($250-350 for a nice pair). They would fit right-in with the traditional interior of e28. The Vaders are cool but are a bit futuristic in style. I've always thought they wouldn't age well over time...sort of a "what the hell were they thinking" kinda design. Nevertheless...they look nice in your car. Good luck with the sale...

Tim

I've often found the Lux seats (...or Non-M "Sport Seats") to be nearly as supportive and much more comfortable than the Vaders.

[jeebus]

They do look good.

But I have to admit...I owned an M3 with vaders and currently own a 535is with the factory sport seats, and not only do the 5-er seats hold me in better, but they are more comfy.

The vaders are a great looking, terrible seat.

[dcbimmerm3]

i think they're comfy as hell...call me crazy

[jeebus]

i think they're comfy as hell...call me crazy

I don't know your stature, but IMO Vaders are designed for more of the large American driver.

[wkohler]

They're not comfortable. I doubt I could drive long distances without back pain if I had one of those cars. The sport seats in my 535 are very comfortable.

Of course, it should always be said that it's his car, so if he loves them, more power to him.

[bkbimmer]

d_1.bmp

basically what i did was take a 3" wide piece of 3/8" thick flat steel and cut it into about 16" sections(4 of these). I drilled the E28 holes into them and bolted them down. them i placed the seat on top of the brackets and moved it around til i felt it was centered and straight. I marked and drilled the holes. Then took about 1.75" bolts and placed them in the holes pointing up so the nut would go on top. I slapped the seat onto them and bolted them down. the E36 seats are setup to be more "inboard" then the e28 seats are which is why i had to shift the bolt pattern "outboard" so they'd be centered. Another thing, the E36 buckles are different but you can just use your E28 buckles and flip them around so the release button is on the inside, towards your body. works just fine and these seats make a WORLD of difference in corners and they're extremely comfortable for 170 mile trips no problem. By the way, 3/8" flat steel is overkill, I'd used 1/4" if i did it again. but i wanted to ensure that they'd be secure cause i was not going to sacrifice safety just to get them into the car.

Even 1/4" is overkill, 3/16" is all you need and I'd use aluminum if you can find in it flat stock!

[dcbimmerm3]

hey brent, i gave your MOM some 1/4" last night...oh snap! .......................wait, that's not very impressive....dangit!

[jeebus]

They're not comfortable. I doubt I could drive long distances without back pain if I had one of those cars. The sport seats in my 535 are very comfortable.

Of course, it should always be said that it's his car, so if he loves them, more power to him.

I generally needed to get out and stretch every 150 miles or I was pretty uncomfortable.

[dcbimmerm3]

i think they're comfy as hell...call me crazy

I don't know your stature, but IMO Vaders are designed for more of the large American driver.

YOU CALLIN ME FAT??....I'M JUST BIG BONED!!!

[williamtii]

I just did this to better fit the e36 sport seats the guy before me put in. He had bent the hell out of the tracks to line up the front and bolted in a plate to the rear which made them sit 4 inches too far back. I could just comfortably reach the pedals with the seats in full forward position.

After finding donor bases I found this thread. This method is much much better and easier / cheaper than I expected. A 6ft piece of 1/4inch aluminum flat stock 2 1/4inch wide was $35 from True Value / ACE. This is enough for both sides plus extra. I used the same method described by dcbimmerm3 up there.


First I drilled for the stock measurements into the car and used the existing bolts. For the e36 side I used tapered hex-head and countersunk so they would sit flush. M10 X 1.5 is the stock size and 30mm is a good length. the Once the initial drill and mount was done I found them to sit too high up for my height, 5ft 10in. I Sawzalled the feet off the tracks to help.

Not with them installed the seat base was hitting the bolt heads so back and forth movement was restricted. Counter sinking the outboard side solved this, and a thick washer under each of the 4 track mounts allows them to glide easily. I think using a wider piece of flat stock could have avoided having to counter sink the outboard side, but this works just fine. Seats now sit lower and have the full range of motion

[Dale3783]

CT? Where in CT?

[williamtii]

Me and my empire of crap are in Fairfield

[Dale3783]

Me and my empire of crap are in Fairfield

Nice! I'm in Black Rock. Feel like I never see another e28 round here.

[sixeye]

Wow! digging up an old post! I bought this car from Dustin back in '09 and brought it to Texas (and the first Tex-Fest that year). It now resides in San Antonio and still has the Vaders although the current owner intends to put e28 sport seats back in it at some point.