B5 A4 1.8T Avant Quattro.

[Ian_C]

I'd definitely save yourself an absolute mountain of work and just bolt in a B5 Avant interior!

[Tractor Dave]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/335749857...Condition=3000

Or just replace the lower section with this?

[K Simmonds]

I'd definitely save yourself an absolute mountain of work and just bolt in a B5 Avant interior!

After a lot of measuring and thinking this is the conclusion I've come to. I have my eye on a couple of complete sets of B5 S4 seats as well as a complete TQS set, though the latter are very, very expensive and I can't get the seller to split them despite two attempts and a pretty serious offer. Also full leather seats make much more sense for me as I'm a messy sod and I often end up driving with my jeans and T-shirt covered in oil and this car is going to end up as my daily driver.

The cloth drivers seat in my old NG Coupe was like a waxed Barbour jacket by the time I'd finished with the car, as was my one in my first MK2 GTI that I drove as my main car for a long time. All my subsequent cars have had easily wipe clean leather seats aside from the RS2 which has Alcantara, though this is one car I won't be jumping into with stinking dirty cloths on or be eating pasties and chocolate bars in.

The B6 S6 front seats are lovely but it would take me a lot of work making it all fit properly, plus I don't want to permanently modify this car as well as have to take the carpet and sound deadening out to safely weld in the mounting points, then have to refit it all with new holes cut it it. Where as my B3 80 quattro is already fully stripped out and going to be so heavily modified that it would make far more sense to fit them in there. They're nice very supportive and sporty with a vast range of adjustment, it's also going to be a two seater as I want the weight as low as I can reasonably get it and they'll add just a touch of comfort, they're where one sits to drive after all.

I have to admit it was a somewhat rash eBay purchase. Though for the price I paid I can easily sell the door cards and rear seats as separate lots and end up with just the fronts fronts completely free, I'll actually make money if I don't factor in my time listing the parts and packaging them up. I can put the TQS fronts in the attic as no doubt either a complete interior or just the rear set will eventually come up for sale at a sane price and close enough to collect. I was very seriously considering putting them in my B3 80 if they ended up surplus but I'd have to start chopping the legs about to make them fit the runners so have ruled that out.

The complete blue weave carbon trim set arrived yesterday and is better condition than it looked in the eBay photos, which I'm very pleased about. There are a couple of tiny imperfections but in locations where it won't be at all noticeable when fitted, so minor I don't need to do any remedial work before fitting them. I totally forgot to take any photos before I wrapped them back up in the mountain of bubble wrap they arrived in, I'll take some pic's once they're in. I need to replace both rear trims anyway as one is missing and the other one badly damaged and as I've said I'm not a fan of the silver trim at all.

I'm going to have a full day on the interior one day this week, remove the front seats and deep clean the carpet as well as what remains of the original interior as it's very dirty with a lot of dog hair in the boot/back to hoover up, that'll then be one job done with for now. I can MOT it with no rear seats as long as I remove the seat belt clips from the floor pan, I can leave the belts themselves in place.

Next job is to get it running and driving again which really should have been first on the list!

[K Simmonds]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/335749857...Condition=3000

Or just replace the lower section with this?

Cheers Dave, that is on my watch list and something I've considered. However the seat backs and side bolsters are also totally knackered. Unfortunately the water damage to the leather is everywhere in the back, it's gone so brittle it fell apart as I removed the seats. Though thankfully the door cards are savable.

[Ian_C]

After a lot of measuring and thinking this is the conclusion I've come to. I have my eye on a couple of complete sets of B5 S4 seats as well as a complete TQS set, though the latter are very, very expensive and I can't get the seller to split them despite two attempts and a pretty serious offer. Also full leather seats make much more sense for me as I'm a messy sod and I often end up driving with my jeans and T-shirt covered in oil and this car is going to end up as my daily driver.

Good call imo! Full black leather in my 2.8 was extremely handy for this exact same reason.

Bung in a complete B5 S4 interior - and I guess if your existing half-leather TQS front seats are in decent condition, you could always keep an eye out to grab a matching rear bench as/when during your ownership of the car (maybe to fit when you sell etc)

[K Simmonds]

Good call imo! Full black leather in my 2.8 was extremely handy for this exact same reason.

Bung in a complete B5 S4 interior - and I guess if your existing half-leather TQS front seats are in decent condition, you could always keep an eye out to grab a matching rear bench as/when during your ownership of the car (maybe to fit when you sell etc)

Yep, that is indeed my plan.

The TQS front seats are dirty but the bolsters, fabric and leather are all in excellent condition and they will clean up a treat, not quite mint but not far off. How they survived the water damage is a little puzzling, I guess the metal legs kept them from soaking up water unlike the rears which are all totally ruined. I’ll put them in the attic until I can complete the set for considerably less than the £500 I’ve gotten the seller down to on eBay which I’m simply not prepaid to pay.

I’ve actually found an extremely tidy complete set of S4 Avant seats the seller will take £200 for if we do a cash deal. I just need to find a way of collecting it from Birmingham as my father is yet to pass on his T5 to me and it drops into limp mode so often I wouldn’t be really happy taking it on the motorway.

[Ian_C]

£200 sounds like a great price for a full set!

[K Simmonds]

In the end these cost £250 in cash for the complete set which is much better than over £500 for a replacement TQS interior. They do however both require a little remedial work, both have about an inch of leather that needs carefully re-stiching down in the base pleats. Not ripped, just a case of using some matching black thread through the existing holes.

A bit of a faff but I did exactly the same job on the ABY leather drivers seat that I put in my 3B, I even have the correct tool to tackle the hog ring's.

I need to use the seat belt receivers from my TQS seats and I'm also going to pinch the passenger seat base foam to refresh the S4 drivers seat. The outside base bolster foam is nearly worn through to the metal seat frame. The back bolster foam is fine and just needs going over with a black leather feed which I need to restock on anyway to prepare my Corrado G60 interior for selling on.

The carbon trims are still all cocooned in bubble wrap, they're really quite delicate so can stay stashed safe until I'm ready to fit them. The one in the photo has the worst damage and I don't think it's worth pissing about with it, once it's fitted it won't stand out, much better than the brushed silver!

A massive thanks to Jaswan is required as he not only collected them but also delivered them this morning which made the whole deal viable. My T5 needs the limp mode issue sorting before I'm happy taking it on the motorway.

I wanted to get them in today but the carpet is really taking some cleaning, I'm about halfway after spending four hours dealing with dog hairs in the back. No fag burns or other damage plus I have the OE mats which have protected the normal wear spot under the throttle pedal and even they simply need pressure washing.

Anyway, rain stopped play outside so I spent the rest of the day sorting out out my various K26 turbos and parts and stashing them away in the filling cabinet draw that previously contained all my 20V Dewalt tools. So I can get my clean workbench spotless as well as completely clear for stripping down the head from Dave's old engine. It needs a proper clean in a hot dip tank but is perfectly serviceable with a new chain and tensioner...

That's for in my B3 80 as I'm going to be fitting the complete ready to go AJL engine I have in the TQS. Putting a head on the bottom end that's in there is way too risky. That needs the pistons and rods assembly's removing so I can hone the bores properly and clean the ring lands.

Have invested in another pair of good quality engine stands, I'm going to use my B3 80's old 2.0 bottom end to build up larger capacity 20V motor that's not a stroker. And I need one for my MK2 Golf GTI engine, makes moving them about much easier as well as a lot nicer to work on.

[Jaswan]

Kit,

Happy to have been of assistance!

The seats look great already. Hopefully you can get them installed soon.


Jase.