MK4 Seat fitting guide

[Dan_GTi8v]

First off, this is my first proper guide so be gentle, I've writted bits and pieces in the past but this is the first full blown guide  OK, lets get down to business!

Rear seats

rear seats are pretty straight forward, almost a direct fit just a bit of modification is needed to the
mounting points. The backs just push in on the outer hinges same as the mk3 seats, the middle hinge
however needs to be moved over a small amount towards the passenger side and new holes drilled. This is
because the split in the mk4 seats is in a slightly different place, but just too far to be able to
bodge it
You will also notice on the mk3 seats they have a large pin which fits into the hole on the middle hinge
bracket. The mk4 seats dont have this, instead they have a hole where I assume the mk4 hinge has a pin
to fit. All I did was push a piece of pipe through the mk3 hinge to create the pin to fit into the mk4
hole. I also had to cut a bit off the central bracket so it didnt foul the seatbelt mount





For the bottom parts you sit on, these are even easier. They are just held on with 4 brackets which have a
hole through them for the seat hinge pieces to slide in. For both of the seats one of the brackets is in
the right place and the other needs to be moved over slightly, otherwise whenever you tilt the seats
forward they fall out of the brackets. Not really a big deal and you can just push them back into
position but if you care that much about it just drill some new holes and move the brackets over
See in this pic how much out they are. I have'nt moved my brackets yet but I will do at a later date



Also for the backs of the rear seats to hold them in the upright position you will need to either make
something up or get the brackets from a mk4 and bolt them onto the turrets. I believe these are
available from VW but I have no idea on the part number or cost. What I have done for now is fasten my
rear seatbelts to stop them falling forward on hard braking etc. I will add to the guide when I
eventually get round to fitting the proper bracket




Front seats

OK, the fun part First off remove the mk3 seats which is pretty straight forward, slide them all the
way forward, remove the track guard from the outter track, then slide them back and remove the small pin
holding the seat adjuster in place, then once this is out the whole seat can be pulled back and out of
the tracks and removed from the car.
Once removed you will see the post where the adjuster was mounted to. This is all that needs to be
modified within the car. I used a hacksaw as I burned out my grinder on my boost piping Its not too
bad though there isnt much cutting to do. What you want to do is cut most of it down and just leave
enough at the front to drill in 2 holes for the mk4 adjuster. Its a very similar design to the mk3 seats
it just mounts differently at this point

Unmodded mount



Firstly I cut along the sides as shown, then bent and pulled off tops with pliers




Then cut the rest of the uneeded metal as follows until you are left with just the 2 tabs at the front




As a bonus you may find as much crap as me under the seat! Heres a pic of the pin that needs removing from the mk3 seat along with all the stuff I found under the carpet. I actually found 2 pound coins but I used one to buy a sausage roll for lunch 



Now onto the mk4 seats. Not much needs doing here really, the wheels need cutting a bit to make them a
tad slimmer and some bits and pieces need removing.



First off the wheels. You need a m10 spline to undo the nut holding on all these bits, once off you can
remove the wheel and the spring with the guide thing on it. The spring can be binned but keep the wheel,
what I did was cut one side down so it was flush with the middle. I also filed a smalled amount off the
outsides.




Remove these and bin them



You want to be left with something like this



You need to do this for all 4 wheels, when you put them back on it might help you to not tighten the
spline nut all the way on the outter sides so the wheel can be pulled out a bit further than if it was
tight. You can put washers in there once you get the right position so the nut can be tight again. No
pics of this but I hope its understandable, this part isnt compulsory but it makes the seats much easier
to slide forward and back
Last bit of modification needed is on the metal piece that bolts on with the seatbelt adjuster.



 Its shaped in a way so it can catch on the groves in the mk4 seat runners, but I can only assume the
mk3 runners are a different design as this isnt neccessary and all it seems to do is make it almost
impossible to adjust the seats. What I did here was undo the bolt holding on the seatbelt buckle and the
pain in the arse metal piece, and grind down (by hand!) the pointed bit so its round and slides easily
in the runners. Annoyingly you cant just spin it round so the point angles differently as the way the
buckle fits on it has to be pointing towards the grooves




This is pretty much you finished now, try the seats in the runners and see how easily they slide. Some
grease may be needed to make it smooth but I didnt need any in mine. Once all the minor adjustments have
been made and they are sliding ok you can get the runner lined up with the mounting point and mark where
the holes need to be drilled. You should end up with something like this



When I did mine I did the wheels and runners first so I could eye up how much needed to be cut off the
old mk3 mount and get it just right
Now bolt everything in clean up the mess and admire your new mk4 interior

Rears with headrests (and crap on the backseat)



Fronts

[tshirt2k]

You may find the front edge of the front seat will be sitting to high, making your knees close to the steering wheel. The mk4's  are closer to the floor.

[Dan_GTi8v]

I checked this when fitting the passenger seat as I was concerned the mk4 seats would be too high without using the mk4 mounts, had the mk4 in the passenger and mk3 in the drivers seat, they are almost identical hight wise 

This is the reason I cut so much off the mk3 mounting point for the adjuster, spent ages on the first day trying to get it just right but leaving as much of the mount as I could for strength etc, but in the end I had to cut nearly all of it out so the mk4 adjuster is sitting on the floor, the bolts just stop it from moving when trying to pull the seat forward or back on adjustments.

Only downside is there is practically no space under the seat if you wanted to mount an amp or whatever, but it suits me fine 

These are the later GTi seats so they may be different from the earlier or lower spec ones I'm not sure

[VR6_Wherry]

Well f**k me sideways you got round to doing it

Good guide I'll add it to my faq thread :-)

[b3an6030]

amazing thank you!

[murraymint]

nice! i like how you mounted the front seats, i welding mk4 mounts into my floor lol.

as for the back seats heres what i did to hold them back

i made these



then mounted them like this




then put rivet nuts in and bolted them to that, then put the plastic trim back, marked where they hit the trim and cut a hole out so they fit thru.

il try and get some more pic for you, my phone died

[Ninja]

Awesome job.

[dan_apps]

great guide

only thing i thought was i see you used copper pipe for the rear seats, the only concern for me there is copper is a very soft metal and in the event of an accident id have concerns. steel obviously the best way to go, i havent done this mod so it maybe just as a support so ok

[murraymint]

I used a bit of threaded bar and a couple bolts Insted of copper pipe

[Dan_GTi8v]

I just used whatever I had laying around in the shed tbh  its not really supporting anything though tbh its just used as a hinge type thing, once the seats are held in place against the turrets I dont know if they even do anything. Good point though I may look at changing it for something a bit stronger just in case, especially as I'm so lazy I still haven't got round to getting the brackets to hold them back!