Changes - Seats and a Cup Holder

Seats

So, once I decided to keep the car, I needed to make some changes. I wanted this car to be a daily driver and like I mentioned I'm 6'3". I grabbed a set of 318ti manual sport seats from a car we were scrapping at work. Black leather with gray cloth centers. I considered power seats, but the manual ones actually sit lower in the car when dropped down.

E36 seats are about 2" wider and 3" longer than E30 seats. To make them fit I went to Home Depot and picked up some flat bar stock drilled holes in it and bolted the bar stock to the seat rails. Then I bolted the bar stock to the floor of the car. Pretty simple. My car is a 2dr, so I had to take out that bar on the rocker panel that the seat belt connects to. I opted to use 4dr e30 seat belts and bolted the end of the belt into the hole where the bar was secured in front of the back seat. I used the E30 seat belt receiver on the new seats with no problem.

The nice thing with the E36 seats for me is more leg room. With the seat back and down, I have all the leg room I need. My head doesn't touch the ceiling any more either. My 9 year old daughter can still sit behind me without moving the seat up.

My original interior was pearl beige, so with the new black and gray fronts, I needed black backs. I got a hold of a set of 325ix black leather rears with the fold down arm rest and head rests. The kids like the arm rest so no one touches each other. I also put a sub in the trunk and used the ski bag hole to let the sound come through.



I was also able to get a hold of black door panels. I came across a front seat center console arm rest too and put that in. At first, with the 5 speed, I thought the arm rest might be in the way. But it actually works really nice.

Cup Holders

Why is BMW so against cup holders? There is no great cup holder for an E30 that I've seen. The arm rest I put in has a cup holder that slides out from underneath, but then I can't shift. My idea was to lose the ashtray since I don't smoke.

I got some 3" black PVC pipe and attached it to a board cut to fit the ashtray spot. I added the cigarette lighter back to it so I have power. It works quite well. It's not necessarily pretty, but it's quite functional.

thats my I-pod hook-up next to the cup holder

Now I had a great Daily Driver.