This has been a long time coming but finally I can let you all know what's involved in fitting these seats.
Firstly, can I dispence with the rear seat options. I decided not to use them in this installation as it appeared that the amount of work needed to get them in just wasn't worth the effort. If someone would like to have a go, great, I look forward to reading how you did it
. Having the rear seat match the fronts is very desirable though, so here are the options I would consider :-
1. Use the material from the rear seat to make, or have made, a cover for the Panda rear seat. There probably won't be enough material to do this without sourcing some extra to suit. If the seat trim has black in it, as in this case, it should be quite easy to do, or you could even buy two rear seats to ensure you have enough. Not as daft as it sounds as sometimes you can buy these interiors very cheaply.
2. If you're lucky you could find some Punto/Seicento seats that are a close enough match to your Panda rear seat, which is what I have for this installation. This simplifies things a great deal as you only have to buy and fit the fronts.
3. Check out other cars as a source of alternative seating, with a rear seat that will fit easily. I know Diahatsu Sportrak seats will fit, I have them in my 750L, and will be fitting another set soon into another Panda for someone else. I will post a new thread covering this option.
Ok, fitting of the front seats.
They can be bolted straight to the Panda floor once you have removed the Panda seat runners that are nearest the doors. The Punto/Seicento seat frames are just too wide to fit between the Panda runners and reach the floor, unfortunately making this necessary.
First job is to remove the old seats and carpet, also any sound deadening felt you find under there. I recommend using an angle grinder to cut out the seat runners and these produce alot of sparks, so anything flammable needs to go. You will now see that the wiring loom runs next to the o/s runner, and the rear washer pipe runs next to the n/s runner, ensure you are aware of there existence when cutting, cover them with a piece of wood where you can, then move them towards the middle of the car out of the way when this becomes possible.
You are now ready to cut across the top of the runner with the angle grinder. I stood up pieces of scrap plywood around the area to stop the sparks travelling too far, if you don't do this you run the risk of setting something alight, plus, the grinding dust will get everywhere and be a pain to clean up. A couple of pictures will best explain the actual cutting......
You can now see where you need to cut with the angle grinder. Once you have done this across the top you can then wiggle the runner in and out to weaken the spot welds that hold it at the bottom to the inner sill . As they weaken they will be easy to see, you can then use a chisel to cut down through them. It's then a case of tidying up the top edge a bit, either with the angle grinder or a file, then painting the bare metal. The spot welds will probably leave tiny holes in the sill, you can just see them in the second picture. This picture was taken after I had painted the area but before I decided I will fill the little holes after all, so my recommended order of jobs is.... Angle grind through top of runner, weaken spot welds and chisel through, clean up top edge and fill spot weld holes, paint area.
This doesn't have to end up looking too pretty unless you want it to, because once the carpet and seats are back in none of it is visible.
Now we are ready to drill the holes for the seats. The positioning of these holes is fairly critical to ensure that the seat adjusts freely, and also when you drop the bolts through and you go underneath to put the nuts on, you don't find that the bolt has come out inside a box section and you can't get to it. No, I didn't learn this the hard way. Because this is important I'm giving you a picture of each hole as a guide, please check carefully yourself before making the holes! ........
I now suggest you fit the seats and check that all is well before you reassemble the rest of the car. Once you are happy that all is well take them back out, and refit the carpet etc. When you fit the seats back in, use a screwdriver or similar to push up through the bolt holes from underneath and through the carpet, a little wriggle should be enough to open up the carpet for the bolts to pass through.
These are the bolts I used, cup of coffee is for size reference and keeping me awake...........
These socket headed bolts must be used as the head fits easily in the seat runners. A washer and nylok nut is then used under the car. Bolt size is M8x40mm. The ones I used were stainless steel, this is desireable rather than essential as they won't rust, therefore making any future removal easier.
One other job to cover, the seat belt buckle. this can be transfered from the Panda seat to the Punto/Seicento seat with a small modification. I wasn't able to take a picture of what is required at the time I fitted the seats, so will add this later after I have modified a spare one.
So here's the end result............
A vast improvement on the originals for support and comfort, rear access is still the same, as is hight and available adjustment. Also, to my eyes, they look pretty cool too. Long journeys will be much more of a pleasure in future.
EDIT.
Just noticed that in the fourth picture down ( second picture of holes ) there are two holes showing, the top one is the one you want the lower being a hole for the cable that holds the wiring loom.
Firstly, can I dispence with the rear seat options. I decided not to use them in this installation as it appeared that the amount of work needed to get them in just wasn't worth the effort. If someone would like to have a go, great, I look forward to reading how you did it
. Having the rear seat match the fronts is very desirable though, so here are the options I would consider :-1. Use the material from the rear seat to make, or have made, a cover for the Panda rear seat. There probably won't be enough material to do this without sourcing some extra to suit. If the seat trim has black in it, as in this case, it should be quite easy to do, or you could even buy two rear seats to ensure you have enough. Not as daft as it sounds as sometimes you can buy these interiors very cheaply.
2. If you're lucky you could find some Punto/Seicento seats that are a close enough match to your Panda rear seat, which is what I have for this installation. This simplifies things a great deal as you only have to buy and fit the fronts.
3. Check out other cars as a source of alternative seating, with a rear seat that will fit easily. I know Diahatsu Sportrak seats will fit, I have them in my 750L, and will be fitting another set soon into another Panda for someone else. I will post a new thread covering this option.
Ok, fitting of the front seats.
They can be bolted straight to the Panda floor once you have removed the Panda seat runners that are nearest the doors. The Punto/Seicento seat frames are just too wide to fit between the Panda runners and reach the floor, unfortunately making this necessary.
First job is to remove the old seats and carpet, also any sound deadening felt you find under there. I recommend using an angle grinder to cut out the seat runners and these produce alot of sparks, so anything flammable needs to go. You will now see that the wiring loom runs next to the o/s runner, and the rear washer pipe runs next to the n/s runner, ensure you are aware of there existence when cutting, cover them with a piece of wood where you can, then move them towards the middle of the car out of the way when this becomes possible.
You are now ready to cut across the top of the runner with the angle grinder. I stood up pieces of scrap plywood around the area to stop the sparks travelling too far, if you don't do this you run the risk of setting something alight, plus, the grinding dust will get everywhere and be a pain to clean up. A couple of pictures will best explain the actual cutting......
You can now see where you need to cut with the angle grinder. Once you have done this across the top you can then wiggle the runner in and out to weaken the spot welds that hold it at the bottom to the inner sill . As they weaken they will be easy to see, you can then use a chisel to cut down through them. It's then a case of tidying up the top edge a bit, either with the angle grinder or a file, then painting the bare metal. The spot welds will probably leave tiny holes in the sill, you can just see them in the second picture. This picture was taken after I had painted the area but before I decided I will fill the little holes after all, so my recommended order of jobs is.... Angle grind through top of runner, weaken spot welds and chisel through, clean up top edge and fill spot weld holes, paint area.
This doesn't have to end up looking too pretty unless you want it to, because once the carpet and seats are back in none of it is visible.
Now we are ready to drill the holes for the seats. The positioning of these holes is fairly critical to ensure that the seat adjusts freely, and also when you drop the bolts through and you go underneath to put the nuts on, you don't find that the bolt has come out inside a box section and you can't get to it. No, I didn't learn this the hard way
. Because this is important I'm giving you a picture of each hole as a guide, please check carefully yourself before making the holes! ........I now suggest you fit the seats and check that all is well before you reassemble the rest of the car. Once you are happy that all is well take them back out, and refit the carpet etc. When you fit the seats back in, use a screwdriver or similar to push up through the bolt holes from underneath and through the carpet, a little wriggle should be enough to open up the carpet for the bolts to pass through.
These are the bolts I used, cup of coffee is for size reference and keeping me awake
...........These socket headed bolts must be used as the head fits easily in the seat runners. A washer and nylok nut is then used under the car. Bolt size is M8x40mm. The ones I used were stainless steel, this is desireable rather than essential as they won't rust, therefore making any future removal easier.
One other job to cover, the seat belt buckle. this can be transfered from the Panda seat to the Punto/Seicento seat with a small modification. I wasn't able to take a picture of what is required at the time I fitted the seats, so will add this later after I have modified a spare one.
So here's the end result............
A vast improvement on the originals for support and comfort, rear access is still the same, as is hight and available adjustment. Also, to my eyes, they look pretty cool too. Long journeys will be much more of a pleasure in future
.EDIT.
Just noticed that in the fourth picture down ( second picture of holes ) there are two holes showing, the top one is the one you want the lower being a hole for the cable that holds the wiring loom.
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