Seat colors and sizing for new covers

My 1982 244 is in great shape with the exception of heavily cracked blue vinyl driver and passenger seats. I know that there are some pretty good vinyl covers out there (Swedish auto lamps for less) and that is my plan. Volvo seat sizing and interior color code differences is where my question lies. The covers say they fit 90-93 240s and the 3 line blue color code is 5123. The first question is the blue color codes that Volvo used. My interior color code is 4306. Does anyone know if there is a significant difference in the blue vinyl colors?

Second is my plan, which probable sounds insane, but I need new padding anyway. I've heard the later cars had higher seat backs. If I get the seatback frames off of a 1990 car, will they bolt directly to my 1982 bottoms? If they do I can get a complete foam set from the same company and the covers should fit perfectly. This is a daily driver and seat comfort is very important to me so it's this or another thousand or so on used recaros. So will my seat frame switch/new foam/covers scheme work?

Have you checked with an auto upholsterer for ideas / estimates on a professional repair?

Worked great for me and my old brick.

I haven't yet, mainly because I think that would probably be the most expensive option. I'm going to need new foam at least in the bottom of both seats. The rear bench seat is in great shape, but both front seats are well beyond repair. They have split completely apart and the foam has been worn down. When breaking down cost options in my head it basically went, new foam for both seats 500, new covers, 240, new seatbacks, supports etc would come to about 1k. I can get a pair of rebuilt recaros for about 1500 and wedge brackets adds another 200 or so. I would think with the new foam and custom upholstery on the front seats I would be in the "recaro" price range. The car only has 88k miles and in great shape so I want to do it right, but I don't want to break the bank.

Here’s the cushions for the seats: https://www.wagonmeister.com/240-new-lower-seat-foam

I know that's one source and they look really high quality. Their shipping quote was pretty high and for almost the same price the same company that makes the vinyl covers offers the bottom and top foam https://www.swedishcarparts.com/models/22-volvo-240-260-1975-1982-and-1980-1993/parts/seat-cushions. My driver seat upper foam has dried up some due to a split in the upper vinyl too. They seem to get high reviews on ebay, but the wagonmeister stuff looks really nice.

It may seem like a long shot, but I'm offering it since I just had excellent luck with this... you might try doing a salvage yard search on car-part.com. After selecting your year, desired part (front seat), etc. you can eventually wind your way to a list of participating (tons) of junkyards that may have what you want (I say "may" since there's an issue with the junkyards keeping their databases up to date for cars as old as ours). If you're lucky, you will get hits that have photos. Click on the thumbnail and you'll generally get a photo gallery that you can scroll through to see the actual seats and their condition.

I just searched for you and didn't find any hits with pictures, but there are a number of blue seats that you could call and then request pictures for. It takes some work on the phone, but it could pay off.

I just scored 2 blue front seats in amazingly excellent condition for my '76 245. They came from an '82 240, but will fit fine and look virtually new (for a 40 year old car). The seats were $100 each...and the junkyard was very able to arrange shipping from IL to MA (wrong time of year for me to drive out there....bummer). Yeah, I know, I got your seats but there's bound to be others out there.

May be worth a shot.

Thanks, that might be worth a shot. I would have thought that the shipping for something so large would have been pretty expensive and made non-local seats too expensive. Can you tell me what you paid for shipping?

cmarquise said:

Thanks, that might be worth a shot. I would have thought that the shipping for something so large would have been pretty expensive and made non-local seats too expensive. Can you tell me what you paid for shipping?

Click to expand...

I paid $150 for shipping...which was for 2 seats plus 4 door cards (along with misc hardware like the armrests, pockets, etc.). Everything shrink-wrapped on a pallet and freighted to my loading dock. All things considered, it was fair. Obviously it would have been better if I had been able to pick it up in person, but this was the least expensive way of getting it (for me).

Also, the car-part search can be limited to look for yards close to your zip. I do not know where you are, but this thing lists junkyards nationwide. You may luck out and find someplace close to you.

Find a local PNP yard, get newer style seats then order the new covers. Car-part.com is a good starting point. There will always be color difference due to fading.