Taxi Driver Online

Was getting quite fed up of the original driver’s seat. To begin with it wasn't the best seat and after 400,000 miles it is broken so there is a big lump sticking into the top of your back. Bit horrible to use. Not to mention dirty scabbyness.

I spend a lot of time working on old Saabs so the replacement seat was an obvious choice. I have lots of old Saab seats so I set to work.

Here is a Saab seat compared to the original taxi seat. This Saab seat isn't very wide because the car it comes from isn't a very wide car. Even so, it looks big compared to the taxi seat.




I think you could fit any seat to a taxi because the seat is mounted so high off the floor that there is room for all sorts of seat bases and brackets.

The Saab seat rails are much further apart than the taxi ones.




Because this wasn't a planned modification and just something I decided to do in a mad moment I didn't buy anything. The scraps of metal I had kicking about were not ideal but good enough. I drilled out the ends to accept some M8 bolts similar to the ones holding down the original seat.




Did a bit of measuring up. The front-rear positions are almost identical but the Saab rails sit much further apart than the taxi ones.




Bolts are welded to the flat bar.




I found that the taxi seat was a lot further off the ground compared to the Saab seat. I had to add some box-section to raise the seat up. Gives handy working space under the seat as well. The box-section was more old scrap I had hanging about.




Placed the seat in the cab and tacked the seat in place. This was a disaster though. Even when fully set back it was far too close to the steering wheel. Two of my tack-welds snapped when I sat on the seat. It was also too close to the centre console.




I had to use more metal than I had first thought. Getting the seat to line up with the bar mounted to the floor was proving too tricky and given that I wanted the seat further back and further out I had to change the approach and join the four chassis mounts together. With hindsight that was the right way to do it anyway. I was just trying to cut corners.




Originally I was going to use the cloth seat in the first few pictures but I thought about it over dinner and decided to go for the best car seat known to man instead. These seats are made by Recaro, unique to the Saab 9000 Aero. Legend says they cost about £2000 each for Saab to buy. The 9000 Aero was an expensive car though... so it's believable. I have not had a more comfortable seat in any other car before or since! This one has seen better days meaning I didn't mind putting it into the taxi. It was quite literally gathering dust. It has a couple of little wear holes around the bolster and is a bit rough around the edges so perfect for this application.

Basically I'm very happy with the way this has worked out. I have not connected the electrics as I don't plan to move the seat and you can manually move the motors if you really have to.

Would this kind of modificatioin require any sort of testing for safety? Should it be notified as a modification to the insurance company?

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Grandad,

Both good ideas but 'no' to both. In the world I come from people change seats in their cars all the time. It's not the first taxi I've seen with an upgraded seat. It does not increase any risks so normally you would not inform your insurance company of a modication like this. In my case this is especially true as my insurance insures me rather than the car. As a mototrader I'm able to jump into anything I like and drive it about fully comprehensive.

Safety wise... I knew a guy who fitted bucket seats to his MINI and he attached them to the floor with cable ties. I thought that was a bit risky but he pointed out that he was actually secured by the safety harness which was bolted to the floor. I still wouldn't want my seats fixed down like that but he felt it was good enough. In the case of the taxi the seat-belt is separate to the seat in the same way as my friends MINI. Even if the seat were to give way in an accident the seat belt would be unaffected by any seat problems. Having said that, I have been cutting and welding for long enough now to know how to make secure structures and good strong welds so there's no chance whatsoever of the frame giving way.

At the moment it is adjusted a bit too far forward but moving the motor manually with a crank on the spindle reminds me of the process NASA use to transport the space shuttle to the launch pad. The seat moves so slowly you can't actually see it moving. Doing the work of the motor with your hand is quite a strain and the motor normally spins very fast to move the seat quite slowly. I'm going to see if I can eaisly power the seat but I know the car has relays to decide when the seat works and when it doesn't and I have to by-pass that so the electrics work with the ignition key.

Great post ejenner

I've been thinking of replacing the original seat for something more... ehhhr.. comfortable.

Living in Sweden means it shouldn't be to difficult finding a seat from an Aero.

Is the seat a snug fit in the cabin?

All the BEST!
/M

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P-reg with STT Emtec Clean Cab System

Wouldn't that fail an MOT? I thought that seat belts were tested to withstand the force of a person moving forward. Not the force of the seat and the person.

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Grandad,

No to the mot fail , been doing it here for years, most people want the ford scorpio leather seat.Were licensed for a tip up seat in front aswell

It is a snug fit. Mostly because I had the original seat with the back right against the window. Make sure you can adjust the seat all the way back or else you'll have to reposition like I did.

Probably. But the whole car was like that, not just the seats.