Quick question Bricksters - I have a 1990 240 with blue cloth seats. I have located a 1981 240 turbo with black leather seats that I might purchase. Does anyone know of any issues that might crop up if I switch the 1981 leather seats to my 1990? Installation, bad match etc... I'm not familiar with the 1981 Turbo interior.

Many Thanks!

JW,

I've been considering this kind of swap, and here is what I think I know at this point.

If both cars are four doors, all seats should fit. It '81 is a two door, I think the back seats will be different.

In '86, the front seat headrests changed from flat to curved. I don't think the two are interchangeable.

I'm not sure about this, but I think that the stitching patterns might be slightly different from '86 on. This won't matter if you're changing both front and back seats.

The seats are the same (I put a set from a '79 in my '89 a few months back). Pretty easy project. Here's what I learned...

1) 13mm deep socket, regular socket, and box end wrench will get the old seats out and the new seats in (the back seat doesn't require any tools and can be a headache)

2) remove the bracket from your current seats and bolt them to the "new" seats (the brackets changed over the years and the early '80's model bracket won't fit the mounting points in your floor).

3) with a friend to help (getting the front seats aligned on the mounting points can be a pain) and a warm day (i had neither) this should just take you about an hour for all of the seats (you can even fit all of the "new" seats in the car for the trip from the junk yard without taking the old seats out).

This was by far the best change I've made to "Gunther" to date.

If it's not a 2door turbo, the seats will be exactly the same than yours, except the headrests who changed a little bit between 1985 and 1986.. but who cares?

I also heard that earlier 240 seats were made with much better quality parts that the last ones. And if it's leather... go for it!