Thread: Different Front Seats in a D1

G'day Matt,
Roverparts in Ballarat advertise diaphragms and foam seat bases to restore seats, but a bit too expensive for me at the time, so I attempted a temporary fix that has lasted well. The diaphragms split along the black stretchy bit; I sewed a length of seatbelt webbing over the split, top and bottom, using an industrial machine. I am sure a local trimmer could do that quite cheaply for you. That gave a good base to work from. My car has seat covers, so I cut some 50mm foam to fit under the covers on top of the original seat base, tapering the edges so it was only thick in the middle and at the rear where it had sagged the most. An electric carving knife is good for shaping foam rubber. It took a bit of trial and error to get right but there were no complaints on our recent 6000km Simpson trip, even from the better half. If you haven't got seat covers, you could try putting the extra foam between the original base and the diaphragm.

The drivers seat in my D1 had the diaphragm let go earlier this year. I bought a seat from a wrecked D1 and got a motor trimmer to swap the rubber diaphragm over to my original seat. If you have the time/skills, you can also follow this tutorial on YouTube.

Part 1 Exmoor Trim Discovery Seat Re-Trim Kit - YouTube

Hi guys, I've had a few temp fixes over the years on the drivers seat, I was prompted to get them sorted when the passenger seat finally let go aswell, the other half is some what more sensitive to ultimate comfort than I am.

I ordered replacement rubber diaphragms online and fitted those but I find that are a bit stretchy and you sink into the seat to much, they are miles better than nothing though.

I'm not in a rush, was thinking if I got a nice pair of XR seats or something like that how hard it would be to make them fit.

Classis Rangie seats ??

we had the bases rebuilt from scratch at a very reasonable price by one of the local upholsterers - very satisfactory result that has lasted almost 3 years with no noticeable sag since then - wonder if I'll keep it long enough to be getting him to do them again.

Shop around at the wreckers to find some decent 2nd hand D1 seats

AFAIK they're still available from Exmoor Trim, the original factory suppliers.
Discovery 1 Front Seat Diaphragm | Exmoor Trim

Best thing I ever did to my D1 driver seat was spend that $200 to replace the foam!
mine was all collapsed too and made any journey a PITA(literally).
I also got the rubber diaphragm too, but mine didn't need it.

Note that the foam is the same shape on both sides, so you could easily make one up using the pattern of the other.
Mine's my daily driver so had to do something on the day I started it all, so time was critical for me to keep it going too.

I'd get some foam from clark rubber type retailers and mock one up next time.

if you ever get to this point tho, note that the cloth is now quite old and easily perishable, so when removing the stitched holding lugs, they rip off easily from the plastic holders.
Removing the rubber diaphragm won't reveal this, only when you go to remove the foam do you see(or experience this).
If those plastic holders rip off, the cloth material then doesn't sit tight onto the foam. It looks terrible to a degree, and it slips around a little.

But this replacement foam is better than the original foam used.

I also got my stuff from Rovaparts in Ballarat.