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Wed Apr 12, 2006 1:45 am

Anyone have any experience swapping seats from one of the 3point watercooled cars into a 3point bug, like my '73?

Wed Apr 12, 2006 2:53 am

I think you just have to alter the width of the legs a bit, but they should fit.

Wed Apr 12, 2006 5:22 am

They should fit right in. My brother has a 67 Beetle with later pans in it and it has Rabbit seats in it. Also, there's a guy from around here who has Rabbit seats in his VW Thing (with original pans). It shouldn't be a problem.

Wed Apr 12, 2006 6:40 am

They'll fit in 73+ pans provided you cut off any watercooler seatbelt stuff that mounts to the seat. The rear legs need to me brought closer together by bending or cut / weld. I bent mine but if I had to do it all over again I'd cut & weld them. When you bent the legs it causes the "feet" that go into the rear tracks to go in at an angle so you cant use the nylon slides. It made the seats hard to slide but since I'm the only driver it is a non issue for me. I used '84 rabbit GTI seats in a 74 beetle.
You'll also remove the watercooled's seat release lever etc from the bottom of the seat and use the bug's.

Wed Apr 12, 2006 12:02 pm

good dr... would you happen to have an pics of your setup... or anyone else for that matter. i'm about to start this same process... of tracking down seats from a watercooled vw for in the Super. i'm thinking along the lines of the mk2 gti or scirocco or possibly even the corrado seats... they all are interchangable from what ive been told

Wed Apr 12, 2006 12:17 pm

Jetta/Golf Seats In Your Bug

http://members.tripod.com/~thomasamiller/seats.htm

Wed Apr 12, 2006 12:23 pm

fish... not quite what i was getting at... i need adjustability, maybe the OP doesnt though. the less holes that i put into the car... the better ;)

thanks though

Wed Apr 12, 2006 2:49 pm

Thanks everyone for the info. :D

Wed Apr 12, 2006 2:53 pm

I have Rabbit/GTI seats in my 1974. Slid right onto the tracks.

Mon Jun 01, 2009 3:40 pm

What year rabbit did the seats come out of?

I tried putting our 92 GTi seats in my beetle yesterday and the back supports are just a bit too wide...

Mon Jun 01, 2009 8:11 pm

John M. wrote: I have Rabbit/GTI seats in my 1974. Slid right onto the tracks.

There is NO way they will fit without modification. The rear seat tracks were a specific width apart on beetles and wider on ALL water cooled cars. If you used a pair without modification they were either modified before you got them or you don't have the rear legs in the tracks. The front pedistal track is identical.
I also call BS on water cooled seats in a Thing with original pans. No way they aren't even close.

Mon Jun 01, 2009 10:00 pm

Well, I'm going this saturday to try a pair in my super beetle, I'll let you know how it goes, I don't have to buy them if they don't fit, but I might anyways, I mean, I can strap em to the roof rack if I have to LOL

Also I think MKI seats are supposed to fit, but I'll know for sure on saturday...

I know for SURE that MKII seats do not fit as the rear seat supports are too wide, we have a 92 GTi tried that, no dice.

Tue Jun 02, 2009 6:56 am

MK1 seats are interchangable into a MK2 and visa versa anyway you stack it up they STILL will not fit into a beetle without modifying the rear legs. Mk1 seats will not fit into a beetle without modification. Mk2 seats will not fit into a beetle without modification. The seats I've used in a beetle have been '84 GTI (MK1) and '89 GL (MK2) The MK1 seats had less stuff on them that needed to be removed / modified.

Tue Jun 02, 2009 9:42 am

I'll bring my roof rack when I pick them up then, got to start somewhere, the stockers in my car are horrible...

Tue Jun 02, 2009 2:03 pm

DrDarby wrote: MK1 seats are interchangable into a MK2 and visa versa anyway you stack it up they STILL will not fit into a beetle without modifying the rear legs. Mk1 seats will not fit into a beetle without modification. Mk2 seats will not fit into a beetle without modification. The seats I've used in a beetle have been '84 GTI (MK1) and '89 GL (MK2) The MK1 seats had less stuff on them that needed to be removed / modified.

It's much easier to just:

1. Unbolt and remove the Beetle seat back from the seat bottom...

2. Pull off the padding and seat cover on the bottom of the beetle seat, replace with the Mk1 or Mk2 seat bottom. I think you can leave the seat bottom frame in the car, though I did not.

3. Bolt the new seat back from the Mk1 or Mk2 onto the newly recovered/padded frame. They should bolt right up - they did on my 78.
I have seats from an 88 Golf in mine - that's how I did it and it worked just fine. I think that seats up to Mk3 will work this way, as the mounts are the same basic design.

This is much easier than bending, cutting and welding the seat legs to fit the Beetle rails.

Tue Jun 02, 2009 4:24 pm

My 73 Super has Jetta Trek Seats. I guess the model year would be somewhere in the mid 90's. The previous owner welded some pieces to the seats so he didn't F up the tracks for when I want to return to O.G. That's forward thinking I would say. Keeping things original in there is a good move in the long run.

Mon Mar 01, 2010 1:06 pm

discochris wrote: DrDarby wrote: MK1 seats are interchangable into a MK2 and visa versa anyway you stack it up they STILL will not fit into a beetle without modifying the rear legs. Mk1 seats will not fit into a beetle without modification. Mk2 seats will not fit into a beetle without modification. The seats I've used in a beetle have been '84 GTI (MK1) and '89 GL (MK2) The MK1 seats had less stuff on them that needed to be removed / modified.

It's much easier to just:

1. Unbolt and remove the Beetle seat back from the seat bottom...

2. Pull off the padding and seat cover on the bottom of the beetle seat, replace with the Mk1 or Mk2 seat bottom. I think you can leave the seat bottom frame in the car, though I did not.

3. Bolt the new seat back from the Mk1 or Mk2 onto the newly recovered/padded frame. They should bolt right up - they did on my 78.
I have seats from an 88 Golf in mine - that's how I did it and it worked just fine. I think that seats up to Mk3 will work this way, as the mounts are the same basic design.

This is much easier than bending, cutting and welding the seat legs to fit the Beetle rails.

Tried that I just wreaked 2 sets of seats :evil:

Screw it im cutting out the shity mounts and putting in the old style.

Thu Jul 21, 2011 9:16 am

Going to look at seats this weekend. I found a near new pair of front Rabbit seats from a 2008, with the tracks still attached that I want to put in my 79 Conv SB. They are grey and I really want to get rid of the black seats. Besides, my original seats are really rusted from sitting outside. My Bad. Anyone had luck with these newer seats in a Late model SB??

Wed Apr 16, 2014 4:22 pm

Hey Everybody... I know this forum is long dormant but I wanted to share my experience on this topic. I recently installed some grey recaro front seats (out of the 91 GLI) into my 1974 Super. I wanted to thank you all who posted about this on thesamba and vwvortex. Without your help I couldn't done this.

After researching this for months I decided not to bend or cut the original recaro bases. As many have said, they almost work, but not quite... the tracks in a beetle are too narrow by an inch or so. I looked online for aftermarket brackets for a long time with no luck until I found out that the scat procar rally seat bases for a super beetle would work with recaro seats. And they did, but not without some modification. The bolts for the sliders were farther apart then the predrilled holes so I had to drill an extra hole. Then once the sliders were mounted to the seat, they were a half inch (yes just a half inch) too wide to bolt nicely into the seat bracket that bolts into the tracks. But I simply drilled into the metal of the sliders on each side by a fourth on an inch and then was able to bolt the seat with sliders into the bracket. But my troubles weren't quite over yet. The original lever for the sliders bumped against the new bracket because it was just a hair too wide. I had a choice to either cut this extra part of the bracket off, or remove the original slider level assembly. Since I wanted to be able to go back to stock seats if I ever chose to I cut the part of the bracket that bumped against the lever off with a dremel saw. Once it was all bolted in it was solid and I'm happy with the results. I've also had the back seat reupholstered to match my new front seats. I'm very happy with how it turned out, but it wasn't easy to be sure. But if you don't want to cut and bend MK2 brackets to fit (which I was told has the seats not sit level) or frankenstein an aircooled seat and an MK2 together, this will work.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1195372.jpg