Cloth seat inserts

[halz]

Did 240Zs only ever come with vinyl seats? Was there an optional cloth insert in vinyl?

A guy selling a car in Australia claims that he has 'original' seats in his 240z but they have cloth inserts...

[sjcurtis]

halz, I have heard that the 240z had diffrent entry levels in some markets, and the top entry level Z,s had cloth. I thought it was later cars 72 on. I will be very interested to see some of the posts from those that actualy know for sure. The only cloth I have seen on the early cars in the Sydney area was like black nylon or that kind of material like inserts surrounded by the normalo vynal outer, on the seats with the seat back adjustment nob/wheel.

my 2c

Steve :classic:

[halz]

...interesting... I'll have a look at this car and see if it has an original 'feel' about it.

[g260]

Halz and Steve,

I have some seats from a 71 240 that I used to have and they are black vinyl with a cloth (sort of like velour) insert in the seat and back.

My seats in my 74 260 are straight vinyl.

As a matter of fact I been out today and bought a pair of Mazda MX5 (Miata) seats to replace my originals which were a bit tatty. I had intended to have them recovered which was going to cost about $400 the pair, however I picked up the Mazda seats for $285, which was too good to pass up. Should have them in tomorrow as the front mounts are the exact same width as the Z seats.

Cheers,

Geoff

[Rogersz]

Geoff

let us know how easy the miata seat instalation is, they are good looking seats, do yours have the speakers in them.

Cheers Roger

[g260]

Roger,

I have already been doing some work tonight. The ends of the Mazda seats where they bolt onto the floor mount have a slight downward bend and have to be straightened. There are also two locating pins on each seat that have to be cut off.

The mounting holes front to rear on the Z seat are about 320mm apart whilst on the Mazda seats they are about 410mm apart.

I plan on using a piece of flat steel which I will bolt to the Z floor mounts on each side and extend past the rear mount. I will bolt the front lugs of the Mazda seats in the normal Z seat position and bolt the rear ones to the end of the steel using high tensile bolts.

As you can see from this previous thread ( by someone from Adelaide), the seats are virtually identical in size. And yes mine do have speakers in the head rest, which will save me trying to fit them elsewhere in the car.

http://www.240z.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1334&highlight=miata+seats

Cheers

Geoff

[sjcurtis]

Geoff

I also want to here about this installation of the Miata seats. Please post up the process for us, maybe even the supplier.

My 71 auto has inserts in the seats but I am most suspicious of them, much more like a heavey weave cotton style ( still look good) not like the nylon fabric factory ones.

my 2c

Steve:classic:

[g260]

Steve,

When I have finished I will try and get a digital camera to take some pics.

With the seats you really have to ring around all the wreckers. The price can vary amazingly! As I said I paid $285 for the pair, but I have had quotes of 650, 995 and 1100!!. One of the guys in our club picked up a pair last month for 475 which we thought was pretty good, so you can see that I was quite surprised when I got mine today.

By the way, I met a guy the other week at the Historic race meeting at Oran Park in an immaculate Datsun Sports. He lives in Newcastle somewhere and is also restoring a 240. He is apparently in the Z club, although obviously because of the distance he doesn't come to the meetings. I only got his first name (Allan), but I will check at the next club meeting and try and find out his location. It might be someone you can touch base with up there if you were interested.

Geoff

[sjcurtis]

Thanks Geoff, I will wait in anticipation for the details on Alan, as I am up at Medowie near Raymond Terrace on the North Side of Newcastle (A nice blast from Sydney If you can find anyone to do the runup with you). Thanks for the info about pricing and the variation. Can't wait to see the pics when the Z is ready to fly with the new seats.

Cheers Steve:classic:

[Nigel Mulvey]

My 260 2+2 has cloth inserts that were installed as an option when the car was purchsed back in '74 from Castle Motors Sydney.

I'll post some pictures later today if you are interested.