So I was under the impression that I could move my mk2 golf seat base fabric and foam over to corrado seat bases. But looking at the corrado frame beside the golf seat, it looks like I'll need to either modify the foam significantly, or the won't transfer over at all. Does anyone have any insight into this before I start taking apart my golf seat?
I have had Mk2 GTI ones apart and now have my 89 Corrado drivers side apart for retriming , first thing I noticed was the Corrado ones seem to be specific to that car,the base is rather differant and bolster frames are also that way also, appears the bases sit lower . Perhaps it's because the Corrado seats aren't Recaro's least that what someone said on here ,cheers.
I was about to say, the pans look physically different shapes so not convinced the foams drop straight on, maybe wrong tho Late spec mk2 gti ^^^
^^ late spec have the height adjustment handle on the sides?! I never knew that. My mk2 is 1991 but sounds like I have the early style...
Anyway, stripped my passenger side seat down this evening to compare. Golf Gti seat base Corrado seat base Things to note, The corrado seat is deeper (obviously) but I would say the foam would still sit in snug. The corrado seat is longer by a good 8cm, so the foam on the golf seats is too short. The early style mk2 golf gti seat bases seem to have the bolster bar built into the foam. Like I said, I reckon if the bolster bar was removed from the foam, it would drop in snug, but it would be too short for the base.
So my next question is where do I go from here? I really like the rainbow interior and would hate to get rid of it. Did the corrados come with rainbow interior? I'm also considering modifying the golf seat bases. There is roughly an inch to be gained by dropping the seat pan down in the centre, and then at the front of the seat the pan sits about 3" up off the frame of the seat. I wouldn't take the full 3" off but if I could get the seat to sit even a bit lower it would make a massive difference. Another alternative is to just sit back further in the car, get my legs straighter and fit an aftermarket steering wheel with boss kit to bring the steering wheel closer to me.
The last option is by far the easiest, obviously. May even be able to get a spacer rather than have to buy a new wheel as well. However, if you can weld, cutting out the Golf seat base and putting in a section from the Corrado sounds like an excellent project.
Hi Dave, I don't know if this is of any use or not but perhaps you could use these to bring down the actual seat height instead of the the standard brackets and keep the seats as is. HMS Motorsport ยป Planted Seat Brackets In light of recent posts, hopefully I wrote this in a non-toxic and non-condescending sort of way....lol Robert
@davkav if you don't want to chop your mk2 base about I'm selling the one in the pic, pretty sure the frame shape is the same just the height adjust handle position differs, may be a bolt on job to change to late spec height handle if you are so inclined
try mk3 golf bases, I think they sit a little lower plus the height adjust is a better design the whole seat moves up and down rather than just lifting your arse up and down. does mean chop the outer leg and re-weld but you were potentially looking at doing that anyway another option is swap pre-90 mk2 rainbow seats, and source a MK2 polo driver seat, those have the same design frames but sit much lower. scirocco also go lower but I think its a similar deal, the seats are a bit different in design so assume frame is too though I could be wrong on that one
the other difference pre/post 90 and corrado is the attachment points for backrest to base frame, pre-90 and corrado are shorter than post-90 and mk3 so you cant even swap the backrests over mk2 polo uses the same fitment as pre-90, but you need GT height adjustable frame or chop and weld the gti frome to it. you need height adjustable frames because on the fixed height ones the rear legs are the wrong angle so the seat wont slide in. you can slot the legs in then heave the seat backwards top bend it till it fits, but yeah I wouldn't recommend doing that... oh and mk2f (g40 shape) seat frames will work too, GT and G40
I like the blunt approach there Richard - hopefully Dave doesn't consider it toxic or condescending mind you.
Ok, so finally onto the seat modifications. I had mentioned before that I picked up a set of Corrado seat bases. These sit significantly lower than the mk2 gti seat bases. The internet would lead you to believe that the seat bases are interchangeable, Yes and No. The seat backs from the Gti seats do mate up with the Corrado seat bases, but you cannot swap the Gti seat foam and cloth over to the Corrado ones. The Corrado ones have a much longer base. I studied both seat bases beside each other for some time, thinking that maybe I could move the seat pan from the Gti base over to the Corrado ones, but again the profile of the seat base just wouldn't suit the Corrado frame at all. Lads must be seriously chopping up the seat frames themselves to get the swap to work, this was not a path I wanted to go down. Corrado on the left, Gti on the right. The rear mounts of both seats are aligned in this photo. You can see how much longer the Corrado ones are. So what did I do, well on inspection of the Gti seat bases I noted that the front of the seat pan sits very high up off the frame itself. There was only one thing for it, chop and weld. Original Height New lower seat pan height Ready for welding No photos of my welds, well because they are not for the internet..... It's hard to visualise from this photo, but the front of the passenger seat sits at least an inch lower than the driver side now. Once I verified that the modification worked well, I repeated it on the driver side. The Gti seat bases have rear tilt adjustability, so you can basically raise and lower your Ass, that's it. At it's lowest setting my legs were then being held up by the front of the seat base, which was then making it difficult to conduct the pedals. Lowering the front portion has made a massive difference in the seating position for me. I'd like to sit lower in the car still, but it looks like different seats would be required, and I don't really want to change from the factory rainbow interior.
