W123 300D seats

[Dktaylor9]

In the process of looking at replacing my front seats in my W123 1978 300D. With over 488,000K's both front seats are almost spring-less. I have been trying to find some second hand seats but they are not as readily available as hoped! I've been offered a very neat pair of W124 seats from an 85 model, anyone had any success swapping them out? It is a short term solution as I would ideally luv to re-build/cover the original seats as the car is 95% original expect for the wheels but I do have the original steel wheels and matching hub caps!

thanks in advance

Dave

[tsharkey]

Hi Dave,
If the MB-Tex is OK on both sides, go to a wrecking yard (I assume you are in NSW) and get the bases off 2 passenger side W126 / W123. The cover is relatively easy to remove and replace with yours.

You ID gives no clue to location tho I suspect the snow picture places you in southern NSW ?

In Melb there are a few W126 in the self service yards.

[Dktaylor9]

Hi tsharkey,

thanks for the reply, I do have MB Tex covers-Tobacco I've been told, seams to be a difficult colour to find. All are in very good condition bar the drivers seat back rest. tear from top to bottom on right hand side. I'm in Sydney so will start ringing wreckers.

main concern is re-building the springs and upholstery in seat pans, hence my short term requirement for some front seats while during this process.

Dave

[tsharkey]

The process of skinning a base and putting your cover back onto the base is not complex or time consuming. I would do them in 1 go. The seat bases left to right, are the same, so passenger seats generally don't have broken springs in the base and are good replacement candidates. The back rest bolts on and you generally don't need to skin them. I did the drivers side recently in about 2 hrs

Seat out of car
undo backrest
undo mounts and track
skin base (hardest part is undoing the wire staples holding the cover)
put skin on replacement base (didn't restaple the cover)
bolt mounts and track
bolt back rest on
back into car

Very comfy ride for ones derrière

[markb]

As Tim says, it is not a hard job. As for the 124 seats, the bases are completely different. I recently bought a 124 sedan seat and looked at changing the lot over but the base mods. whilst not impossible, looked like too much hard work.
I ended up using the 124 seat back with my 123 base. There is a small gap between both, but the 124 backrest is better contoured ergonomically and you'd hardly notice the difference in MBtex changes.

[tsharkey]

As for the 124 seats, the bases are completely different.

Thanks Mark - I wondered if the W124 shared the base as well. Do you know if the W201 is different as well ?

[Dktaylor9]

Thanks for the advice, found a chap who specialises in pre 92 merc parts, waiting to here back on what he has floating about.
I've just had all the suspension re-done and it is now a very different car on the road, super comfortable, better ride than some modern cars! Just need to fix the seats and then my butt and back will enjoy the driving as much as I do.

[markb]

As for the 124 seats, the bases are completely different.

Thanks Mark - I wondered if the W124 shared the base as well. Do you know if the W201 is different as well ?

Not sure Tim, but wouldn't be surprised if the 201 is different from the 123, considering the newer era.

[MaXim]

Probably the best seats to put in these are the W116 ones. Period correct and if you can find them in the same colour you won't need to do any fiddling swapping the MB tex seat covers over.

W116 seat padding seem to be built to a higher standard so you won't have trouble finding a second hand one. For some reason all the W123 seats out there I've seen have crumbling pads which don't seem to be an issue on the 116. The 116 seats also have extra padding in the pleats which make them quite a bit more comfortable than the W123 seats.

In case you do want to swap the seat cover over a great mod is to put extra hobby stuffing on top of the base pad. It makes your seat EXTRA comfortable :)

[Dktaylor9]

Thanks for the advice, extra padding may be a short term solution until I find a good replacement
Cheers
Dave

[mathuisella]

this is kinda related, but different. is it possible to change a seat's coverings if the springs ect: are good in say a brown seat, but your interior is white and the springs are bad ?

[markb]

this is kinda related, but different. is it possible to change a seat's coverings if the springs ect: are good in say a brown seat, but your interior is white and the springs are bad ?

Yes, this is possible to do and not that hard, just a bit time consuming though.