Hey Keith, it's interesting about the seat, I have the same issue, and I'm not exactly sure what is causing it. I have a 90 245, and an 84 242T. My view is noticably higher in the 84, but in both cars I seem to have about the same distance from my head to the headliner. Which is odd, because the headliner in the 242 should be lower, since it has the sunroof.

Both seats are in the middle height adjustment, and the seat in the 90 has been rebuilt by myself a couple of years ago. As far as I know, the seat in the 84 has never been rebuilt, so it should be lower, but it's not. The seat in the 84 feels more firm, maybe they started using a softer foam in later 240s. Mileage is similar in both cars at around 160k.

One thing I notice about your 2 cars is that the 87 with the lower seat also has a lot more miles than your 83. That could be a big part of it.

Greg
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http://home.earthlink.net/~greg.wong/