Picture heavy guide to converting mk4 golf (recaros) seats for a fabia.

[pulse]

Thought I'd write up a decent guide on how to convert mk4 golf platform seats for the fabia. It's nothing new or revolutionary and I know loads have done it now. This is just a guide on how I've done the conversions and Hopefully it'll help a few people out.
All credit goes to big deano for initially doing this mod and finding it out, and also to pastyboy who done a better write up. There's a couple bits I pinched off other members too, which I'll mention when it comes to it.

I've typed all this up and loaded it on briskoda through my phone. There's a lot of photos too, so I hope they're all in order and things makes sense. I originally typed this up a while ago as I was going to do some normal golf sport leather, but ended up doing recaros- so the wording might be a tad out, but hopefully it'll be understandable.

This guide is suitable for all mk4 golf/bora seats, mk1 octavia, seat Leon mk1 and audi a3 (8l??). There's probably other models that this applies to too, but I've personally only done golf, octavia and Leon seats.

You'll need donor seats (fabia mk1/mk2, ibiza mk4, polo 9n(3), mk4 golf platform seats, torx bits, spline bits, pliers, knife.

Starting with the fronts, dismantle the fabia seats. There's about 6-8 small torx (t20) screws underneath securing the plastic trim onto the base. Undo them all and manoeuvre the trim off. On each side at the hinge points of the seat, there's 2 m8 spline bolts. Undo these and the upright section detaches from the base. Make sure the spline bit is fully seated in the bolt, and undo it slowly-they're very easily rounded.







Then undo the trim round the edge of the base foam, and separate those.





Do the same with the golfs. Then put the golf base onto the fabia sub frame, and bolt the golf upright to the fabia base. Attach trim and voila. Fronts done.

A lot of the fronts have bolster wear on the bases due to their age. The foam gets worn away and the metal support bar wears through and can wear through the leather/fabric if you're not careful. To remedy this, remove any loose foam, and cut some foam off the donor seats which are now surplus, roughly to the shape of the bolster. Spray glue the area and attach the foam, shape as best you can. Doesn't have to be perfect. Then cut some thin material and glue it over the bolster area, pull it tight. This will help secure the added foam and neaten it up a tad. Then swap the bases over, so drivers base becomes passenger base etc (so the worn outer driver bolster, is now the inner passenger bolster).












Golf Recaros (which is what is pictured in this guide)- Recaros are the only seats I've come across with the lower bolster support bars, attached to the subframe- obviously for more support, all the rest have the bar integrated into the foam. Best thing to do is cut these off and get them welded to the fabia bases. Not essential though, so you can get away with not using them if you wish.






Leon Cupras-
As far as I know, all Leon Cupra leather seats are electronically operated. The way i got round this was to undo the bottom of the front upright, to gain access to the seat innards. Pull the clip off each side of the adjustment bat and slide the bar out. On the side, just under the leather there's a small nut, undo this, then you need to get your hand inside and wiggle the motor free. Takes a bit of wiggling and scraped knuckles but it'll come loose soon. When it does, just chop the wires and bin it. Then you need to chop the end off the fabia adjustment bar and get it welded to the Leon bar. They are slightly different in shape so you can't interchange. You could probably try and source a manual Leon bar, or wire up the electrics etc, but this is how I done it. (using pictures from the Recaros to illustrate the above, just to give an idea)








3 door variants-

Are a pain in the ass tbf. I'd only recommend getting 3 doors if you can get them really cheap. But what you need to do is dismantle as above, then chop all the mechanism off the hinge points. Best tool for this is a 1mm cutting disc on an angle grinder. Was fannying about for about 2 days with a dremel and Hacksaw on the one seat, then tried the angle grinder and done the other in seconds. I then get some card and draw a template around the fabia hinge point and holes. Offer this up to the 3 door one and you'll see where the other hole has to go. From memory it's a 12mm hole needed to get the second spline bolt in. Get a decent Drill bit too. I started off using some old dull bits which hardly scratched the metal. About £10 later and a spanking new 12mm hss bit from screwfix and it was like knife through butter. Once you've made the hole, just attach the upright to the base like the 5 door ones. The instructions for this I read on joes build thread (joe_vrs_tdi??), so credit to him for working that one out.

Rears-

Undo the rears by pulling the plastic clip thing from out the edge of the uprights. You can use a screwdriver or similar to open the edge up if needed. Maneuver round the headrest clips and release latch and the metal work should now be separate. With the small single section you can just use it as it is as the holes usually line up pretty well. But I tend to just get all of the tops reupholstered so I know it's all fresh and won't have gaps.














Remove the leather off the foam by manipulating the rods and clips. The only ones to have hog rings are fabia and octavia seats I believe, these I just replaced with cable ties. The golfs and leons have plastic clips which makes things a bit easier (try not to break them). Once they're off, I take it to my upholsterer to stitch in a new piece of leather on the top.



After the upholstery.









Once that's done, Mount the leather back onto the foam. The headrest clips may need changing as the fabia headrest rods are usually smaller than the golfs. So just tap from the bottom with a hammer, or use some pliers to push them up. The clips will usually break, so either slot them in the fabia metal and glue them in place. Or, cut a little notch to create a new clip. All the fabia/polo etc seats will have the gaps for the middle headrest present in the metal. The middle headrest holes in the fabia metal line up perfectly to the holes in the golf foam aswell. So up to you if you want to use one, just push the clips in and job done. I find it restricts the rear window too much for my liking, plus I never have rear passengers let alone someone in the middle. Personal preference though.




New 'clip' on the bottom, normal on top.





The double rear upright is a tad bigger than the fabia. It will fit as it is if you wish, but I now slice a little strip off the edge to help out, approx 1cm. Once that's done, Mount the leather and foam back on and push the clips all the way round. You can warm these up with a hairdryer to make them more pliable. Then use a pen to drawer where the headrest clips and latch is. Then carefully cut out the leather. Take your time. Draw the circles smaller than needed then squeeze the leather round the clip and tuck underneath.











 

Edited 30 January, 2015 by pulse

[yurgster]

Amazing, great write up. Makes the job actually seem possible. Don't know if I'm adventurous enough to atempt it.

[pulse]

There's a couple options with the rear bases. You can remove the golf metal, and fix the fabia one in place- this requires some cutting of the foam underneath. I did this method on the first seats I converted, they fit in great, but underneath was a mess. Plus there was a bit of a gap at the back of the seat, between the base and upright.

What I prefer to do now Is just leave them as they are and use the golf metal. The small single fits in pretty much as is. The double- you can either plonk it on top without clipping it in (how mine currently is. No problems with it, doesn't move etc), you can bend the hooks inwards so it slots in (just about). Or you can bend the inside hook round 180 degrees so it slots in the opposite way- graveltrap came up with that one.

It's the right one on this first pic

Recaros-

You may (or may not, I didn't realise for months) notice that the rear headrests once inserted in the fabia metal, sit slightly toward the middle of the seat than when they are standard. No biggy usually, but when you have Recaros, the leather is recessed to accommodate the headrests so they look odd if not properly aligned. You can use this method for normal seats too, but the misalignment is so small, it's never bothered me, but it may some. Best way is to use the 1mm disc grinder again and cut out the necessary surplus (approx 2-3inches on the double upright, and about 1 inch on the single). I've read of others chopping the whole headrest clip section out and getting that welded in a couple inches across where needed- so up to you. I can't Weld so find the cutting easier. You'll have to measure the difference you need to cut and keep offering it up to the foam etc so it sits right. Then just epoxy resin them in place.

Showing the middle headrest holes and clips which line up fine.

It's apparently recommended to change the m10 spline bolts used for the runners each time you remove them. They're about 90p each from the dealers last time I checked (of which you'd need 8). I'd also recommend trying to clean out the threads with the appropriate sized tap, as they're obviously not designed to keep being used and one of mine I think is stripped. So using new bolts and cleaning the threads before inserting them should hopefully avoid that.

It's not essential to get the upholstery done on the rears either. I didn't upholster my first set of seats until I was selling them, as the gaps weren't major or easily obvious. Getting it done though does neaten it up and finish it off. You could just stitch across a piece of leather (or even vinyl/faux leather) yourself if you're decent with a sewing machine, or know someone who is. You could also just cut/Weld the metal to move the headrest brackets across (like with the Recaros) so the holes line up, but you'd still most likely have a gap by one or both of the release catches.

These seats, much like the fabia, are getting on a bit. So a lot of them have seen better days. But don't be put off by that. Scuffed/cracked/worn leather can be remedied by the likes of scuffmaster - which is a leather dye. I've used it a few times with very good results. Split seams can be stitched up. Panels with holes/burns/rips can often be replaced- (I personally wouldn't replace any leather on the front uprights, as the covers are a PITA to remove. There is a thread on here to remove the fabia covers though if you should wish). One of the sets I done had a fag burn on the rear base which I didn't realise til I got them home, but my upholsterer chap managed to replace the panel and you wouldn't have known at all. And it's surprising how much a proper clean and condition with decent leather products can make a difference.

Pasty's thread

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/261694-golf-mk4-recaro-interior-now-fitted-to-fabia-vrs/?fromsearch=1

Interior options/ideas

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/296443-alternative-fabia-interior-thread/?fromsearch=1

Edited 30 January, 2015 by pulse

[vRSAnt]

Great follow up write up !

 

I was a bit cheeky on mine and instead of sending the leather to uphosterer, just got a bit of leather and extended a bit to cover the slight misalignment between the holes and with the jiggery pokery on mine managed to get a reasonably satisfying result on mine.

 

I also fitted the centre headrest so no need to conceal the holes for that either. I also used the trim method on the foam but kept the recaro rear bottom bases and used the bending method as previously indicated.

 

Amen to the seat bolts and cleaning threads ! I think I did the same on mine also but it seemed to tighten up so not all lost.

[adievrs66]

Thank god for this guide 

 

I know this an old thread an ill be surprised if i get a reply 

But i was having trouble to get the trim to fit on the fabia bases once i had swapped the mk1 Octavia vrs stuff onto the them 

It wouldnt slot up no matter what i tryed 

 

Any tips on how to get it to fit properly or is that just something ill have to live with ? 

[sakta]

11 hours ago, adievrs66 said:

Thank god for this guide 

 

I know this an old thread an ill be surprised if i get a reply 

But i was having trouble to get the trim to fit on the fabia bases once i had swapped the mk1 Octavia vrs stuff onto the them 

It wouldnt slot up no matter what i tryed 

 

Any tips on how to get it to fit properly or is that just something ill have to live with ? 

Works absolutely fine, theyre identical, youre doing something wrong. I did mine a month ago and they are identical bases  

[adievrs66]

Any ideas what im doing wrong its where the plastic bits push into the bases for the seat cover onece ive push that bit in i cant get my plastic trim to push up that goes round the bottom of the seat ill take some pictures when i get home to show you what i mean