I am rebuilding a great 850 NA MYT that needs seats and some mechanical work. The mechanical work is not a big dead but sourcing seat covers that don't look like cheesy second-hand specials is really hard.


I have called places that do work and they don't seem to know their product well enough to answer simple questions, like: how far down the back do your seat covers go?


I have concluded it might be easier to find seats in a junkyard from a 850 relative, if any fit.


I either need an entire interior or tw9o good black front seats/seat covers.


What other car might have compatible seats?


Any suggestions?


I'd like to start a matrix that shows interchangeability of seats and seat covers.


Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

 

My 850 had worn leather on its drivers seat. I found a nice passenger side seat at a self serve yard. It turns out that the left and right front seat frames are identical, and the leather covers are interchangeable. It's fiddley work, but the seat covers can be exchanged. Be carefull when transporting a front seat. There is an Airbag in the side of the seat back connected to a mechanical ignitor next to where you sit.

 

you can also buy replacement skins.

Check out Elwood Industries

Worth a visit to their site, even if its just to download the seat R+R instructions!

 

Thanks for your help, I have sent them a message!

 

The 70 series seats ('98 to 2000) will bolt in but the seat belt anchor on the seat is different. The SIPS bag triggering on the '99 and 2000 models is completely different and it will be non-functional if it is installed in an 850. I don't know what year your car is so I don't know if it is currently equipped with SIPS or not.

The '98 70 series has SIPS that is mechanically triggered by a sensor on the seat itself so it will remain functional if it is installed in an 850. You can convert the seat belt anchor between the two types of seats but it isn't a picnic.

...Lee

 

Will the 99 seat skins fit the 95 seats though? Rather than swap seats out (and pay $65 a seat at the scrapyard and lose my heated leather and power memory options), I'd rather just swap out the skins...Is it possible with the anchor points being different?

 

The 70 series seats are shaped and sized differently and that doesn't really lend itself to making for an easy swap of the skins or even the whole cushions onto an 850 frame without some major surgery.

The anchor points where the whole seat assembly bolts to the floorboard is the same though and it makes swapping the seats in a complete package feasible. There are other electrical challenges for the heater and the power seat memory module as well as the anchor problem to overcome but those would be much easier than trying to alter the 70 series skins to fit an 850 frame.

Replacing 850 skins is actually fairly easy but the trick, as I'm sure you have found out, is finding used skins that aren't trashed.

...Lee

 

Just as I suspected. Thanks for confirming. Looks like I'll have to keep my eyes open for a good set of 850 skins in the boneyard. There was a nice set of black ones in a 94 sedan I found on my last trip, seems to be that the black/charcoal skins hold up better than the tan ones...

Honestly I wouldn't mind swapping over to the leather/suede R skins, but finding them in tan seems impossible (did they even make them in tan?) for a reasonable price. Theres a black R rear seat bottom skin on Ebay I saw but just for that piece they want $150 shipped...And I'm too cheap to put that $ out now for just one seat skin that doesn't match the rest lol.

Looks like a cheap set of seat covers may be in my future until I can figure out what to do (or decide to spring for elwood 850 skins)