hello - I have a Panda Eleganza and have notice that the 100hp has different seats. I would like to transfer some into my Eleganza as they look more supportive.

Can anybody vouch for this? thanks.

HP seats will indeed be more supportive.

They're also as rare as hens teeth, and they suffer from various degrees of failure, ranging from knackered bolsters to broken springs. If you find a decent set of HP seats there will be several HP owners who will fight you for 'em ;-)

500 seats, and Ford Ka seats will be more readily available, and should fit with minor modification.

Yeah, it's perfectly possible, but as has already been said, 100HP seats are really rare and you'll probably find that if you can even find any, there'll be 100HP owners willing to pay more than you to fix their knackered driver's seat.

Your best bet is to keep an eye on eBay and as many breakers as possible in case any written off 100HPs are being broken. However, you'll probably be in for a long wait and an expensive purchase at the end of it.

Thanks for all your useful replies. Just as I posted I found duplicate subjects so apologies for the replication.

I will probably fit some 500 seats in - does anybody know if the standard fit (without height adjustment) are higher set than the standard seats? I'm concerned about cutting my headroom

Thanks

Hello

I have KA seats in my panda, which i believe are the same as 500.

There's no difference in headroom, they're roughly the same dimensions.

what kind of modification is needed to fit 500 seats into the panda? Sorry, not having much luck searching the forum. Thanks.

Hello,

front seats:

one of the brackets on the floor of 500 is different,

Whatever you do don't take the 'easy' route of bending out the retaining tags and sliding the lower mount all the way off and replacing with the panda, all you'll have is a pile of bearings on your floor and a ruined mount.

Method 1: several people from this forum fitted 500 seats by cutting off the panda bracket and swapping them with some nuts and bolts.

Method 2: In the end i didn't need to take the panda mount out of the car, i removed the lower cushions with 2x10mm and the upper cushions with 2x T50 and simply replaced with the 500/KA items. The T50s should be heated from the reverse side with a blow torch, if not you will probably round them as they are thread locked. With a bit of heat they come straight out.

Rear seats.

Although they fit straight in more or less, you'll need to make up an mdf template to go under the rear of the bench, the 500 seats are soft foam and the panda has a steel cage because on the panda the rear seat finishes in the spare wheel well.



I started a full thread when i fitted my KA seats.

Best of luck!

thanks for the info, this forum is such a great resource and full of such kind people!

Do you happen to know of anybody around the sheffield area who's handy with cutting and bolting?

I'm pretty confident I could do it myself but if there is an easier, more experienced route - i'd go for somebody else do it for me!!

Id say have a crack yourself. By the time you pay someone it won't really be worth it.

As I said, using method 2 you don't have to cut and bolt. I did it with my seats. you need

10mm socket or ring spanner

T50 torx 50 bit or key.

Mini torch

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pencil-Bu...ini-Micro-Refillable-Blow-Torch-/231280184307

Its not too hard, you'll be done in a morning.

I'm starting surgery tomorrow when my seats arrive - I got some 2011 500 lounge seats with the leather bolsters in the end.

Any further advise on the MDF template would be greatly appreciated - any thoughts on thickness? :idea:

anybody want any orange panda seats in good nick? Once theyre out ill post them on the marketplace here and on ebay

uberjonnoise said:

I'm starting surgery tomorrow when my seats arrive - I got some 2011 500 lounge seats with the leather bolsters in the end.

Any further advise on the MDF template would be greatly appreciated - any thoughts on thickness? :idea:

Click to expand...

I Think I I would use 18 or 20mm I didnt buy it, I used a piece of Ikea furniture that was sat in my basement from when I moved in to my house. I keep meaning to do it properly, I literately did it in a few minutes to see if the idea would work I didnt even cut all the way around for the cut out. I drilled it several times and smacked it with a big hammer. don't laugh




Notice the cut out for the seat belts, it then goes all the way under the width of the upright.

When I do it properly I will double up (hight) on everything back of the seat belts and take a lot off the front (length) with the front angles triangle rather than square. And carpet it.

haha, genius! thanks :worship:

Sorry for be dense - I can't see how to remove the front seat back rests - where exactly are the T50s? Ta

uberjonnoise said:

Sorry for be dense - I can't see how to remove the front seat back rests - where exactly are the T50s? Ta

Click to expand...

Haha found them!

uberjonnoise said:

Sorry for be dense - I can't see how to remove the front seat back rests - where exactly are the T50s? Ta

Click to expand...

you have to take the plastic side bits off.

1) Take off the seat winder, it basically pops off. Don't by shy to wiggle it loose a bit then get a dull flat screwdriver or similar in there and give it a bang, it'll come off. It goes back on the same way.

2)unclip the plastic side bits, i would start at the back as that's where the biggest clip is.

If you're doing the seats still in the car you might have to move it backwards and forwards. for access on the door side.

You shouldn't damage anything, the clips don't break easily.

unfortunately 'method two' hasn't worked for me. The first bolster nut came out o.k with some heat but the second wouldn't budge at at and i've ended up carving the thread out of the nut .

Think i'll have to get on with 'method one' after some lunch!

They had me swearing too, even the one i rounded quite bad at first before i started heating came out in the end.

I applied heat from the inside with the lower cushion out of the way, it was good and hot the only danger was putting a hole in the carpet or my hand when it came out

theres a lot of torque needed though - I wrapped my t50 key in the grip from a badminton racket

good luck with the cutting. When working underneath, there's grease everywhere! have a rag and degrease handy so you can keep your hands and new interior clean.