Seat base swap
 

Replaced my drivers seat base today from a passenger seat i got at a scrappy. Would have preferred to just dump a new drives seat in but most drivers seats are too worn. So transferring the base leather was my next best option.

Took a few hours all in taking all the clips off and ended up using small zip ties when putting it back together, worked out quite well.
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Interesting,did you have any issues with airbags etc?.I've got a C70,and also a pair of leather/alcantara seats which I wanted to fit but couldn't get the electrics to work.I was thinking of stripping the covers from the electric seats,& fitting them to the original frames,but wasn't sure if it would be too much work.

its seems alot of work to start with, i stripped the seat base off the new seat i bought and took out my own seat and stripped the base off that, then fitted the good base to my seat. Prob took me 1 1/2 hours.

I would be faster now.

No air bag probs, i disconnected (-) terminal before tacking seat out.

i would say to do both front seats i would give your self a good 3-4 hours and lots of tea.

I would highly recommend the use of zip ties rather than trying to re use the metal hogg clips (impossible to re-use)

Obviously you would need to get the headrest off, from memory there is a patch you push in on the top section of the seat back that releases the head rest.

Hope that helps.

K

I've not done it recently but I've changed covers and swapped foam on a number of cars and once you get going it isn't as hard as you might fear. You'll need to get to the underside of the seat so you have to take it out, generally disconnect any electrical plugs then unbolt the seat runners, pushing the seat back and forwards as needed. I used a good pair of side cutters to cut the metal hog rings, opening them up was not going to be easy so cutting was a better option. Work methiodically and carefully and don't rip away at anything, there is probably another connection that needs undoing if it doesn't come off reasonably easily. As Kiwi says zip ties are the way for putting it back together, they're quite strong and easy to use.
You end up turning the seat upside down and round and round as you do it so somewhere clean with a bit of space will save frustration too.

The hog rings can be opened perfectly with a pair of external circlip pliers. Just push the ends of the pliers in to the hog ring and gently squeeze. Like others have said, can appear daunting to start with but very simple.

It is time consuming, but do-able. I stripped my drivers seat on the C70 last winter to cure the slide and tilt mechanism that was intermittently difficult to use. It turned out all it needed was a little lube in the right place, but finding 'the right place' meant taking the leather covers off. Attachments show the seat stripped and also the finished seat. No need to disturb the airbag.

I'm going to start stripping down the electric seats tomorrow,any tips on how to remove the lumbar/backrest adjusters?.How about the trim round the tilt lever,does it need to be removed or can you slip the leather over it?

If you look at the photo I posted of the stripped seat, you will see the lumber adjuster is a metal rod with three lugs on it and two points at the ends of the lugs. The plastic adjuster knob has three plastic lips that locate behind the three metal lugs. You need to get a small flat screwdriver in behind the plastic wheel and lever out one of the clips, once one clip is out the other two will follow. It is a matter of pulling quite hard on the wheel while fiddling in the back with the screwdriver. It is impossible to see what you are doing, it is just trial and error.To refit: it just needs the plastic wheel pushing back on until the clips locate behind the metal lugs.

The tilt lever needs to come off and in fact that was the only thing I broke as I could not see how it came apart. The little plastic handle was still available from Volvo last spring, so I put a new one on.

Again if you look at the stripped seat photo you can see the metal lever sticking out the side. There is a little tab on the side of the metal lever that locates in a little recess in the plastic handle. The handle just pushes on until the tab locates. To remove the handle it needs a small flat screwdriver to ease the plastic away from the tab while pulling the plastic handle off. The tab is on the vertical face, but I cannot remember whether it is back or front side. Once the plastic handle is off the surround trim is held on with one screw, undo that and the trim comes away.

Other things to note: The back rest upholstery is clipped together at the bottom with a special plastic closer. Just start to prise apart at one end and it will come apart a bit like a zip fastener. Once you have the bottom of the cover open there is a solid plastic panel inside a pocket that forms part of the backrest cover - this just pulls out and allows the cover to be peeled upwards to get access further up the seat. Once you have the covers exposed some way up the backrest you will have access to the elastic anchors holding the back of the backrest taught. I used pin nosed pliers to release the hooks and then the cover can be peeled up whilst releasing the hog rings on the front.

One point to note when re-assembling: attach the upholstery in the same places as the hog rings. Don't worry about getting everything spot on with no wrinkles as the upholstery is self adjusting - once the cover is back in position.

The seat cushion is easy compared with the back rest. Hope this helps.

Thanks for your quick reply :thumbs_up: