Audi seats in a 74 Satellite

[archerN]

I figured I'd make this thread because I'm curious how FBBO feels about this.

The bench seat in my 74 Satellite 4door has been completely screwed since I got the car. I made it a habit to ignore it as this is not a car worthy of a $600-$1000 reupholstery job. Earlier this week I got tired of looking at the prestigious swiss cheese pattern vinyl and sinking into the seat. I'm on winter break from college right now so I have time for a solution:

These seats are from a 2012 Audi A4 and I picked them because it was $70 for the set off of FB and they look good. They're leather and they have a rounded outline akin to period bucket seats. My conditions were it had to be something modern and high quality that wasn't blocky with huge bolsters. Power everything, heating AND rear footwell downlights. I'm going to 3D print flush caps to replace the head rest hole plastic washer things. I'm not running head rests because I don't think the big modern ones look right in classic cars. The stupid bright red modern seatbelt clamp is not staying but I still don't have the stupid euro bit for it lol.

Technical details (warning: boring):
Seats are mounted with x4 grade 8.8 M10-1.25 bolts with spacers on the inner rails so the seats are even. Seat electrics are wired through the existing wiring of the old seat belt interlock system which was removed prior to my ownership. From the factory, the power for the seat belt interlock controller is provided by 12g wire that connects directly to the welded splice completely unfused (wow!) The controller for the seat motors is built into the seat and just had to be fed fused 12v and it does the rest. The seat motors consume about 2-3A average when in motion/inrush 6A. The seat heaters had a separate controller and I haven't bothered to figure it out yet. Wiring diagrams are readily availible online.

 

[RR Fan Dan]

It’s your car. If you like it that’s all that matters. Green would have been cool, but I doubt you would find green seats these days.

 

[furious70]

I'm sure you're already thinking about it but watch the load the heaters take. A lot more than buzz buzz put your seatbelts on

 

[OneWheelPeel]

You gotta do what you gotta do sometimes. I was in the same boat with my Ranchero which also has a green interior, it has Scion buckets now.

 

[3sloppydogs]

Yup one of my sons had to do that to his 69 torino. He used Mercedes buckets or something like that. Turned out fine

 

[archerN]

I'm sure you're already thinking about it but watch the load the heaters take. A lot more than buzz buzz put your seatbelts on

Fully intending on running separate wiring for the heaters and bypassing firewall plug. I have a spool of 14/4 speaker cable from an old job which I plan to use. The heaters are going to require some form of controller circuit anyway because a straight 12 volts to the heater wire may result in rectal burns. There's even a safety thermistor circuit built into the seat wiring. I also just got a later Denso style 120A alternator for a Dodge Ram to replace the ailing 60A stock unit. Amp gauge/firewall plug full bypass is already done.

It still does sound concerning on paper to run the motors through a seat belt sensor circuit, but Chrysler ran 16ga wiring for the entire seat belt sensor system which is ridiculous. Its nothing more than some sensors! The wires for the Audi seat belt sensor are hair thin for comparison.