I recently bid on Ebay for a complete leather interior for the Green Goddess which I am pleased to say I won for a truly trifling amount!

The seller turned out to be a company in Chatham, Kent, called Medway Citroen, who made me very welcome when I went to collect the stuff. The company has been going for a few years and have amassed a huge volume of XM parts, the guy I met (and his girlfriend) drives an XM and may even be a forum member (If you are, Hi Remy!!) showed me around and I would think that you could rebuild a fleet of XMs, BXs and Xantiae from his stock...I also saw the owners rather tasty CX and another for spares.

Based on my personal experience these folk were good to deal with and I'm planning on spending next months wages there!

Phone number is 01634 849609; I'm going to call up during the week and see if I can get a discount for forum members...Watch this space...

Loopy

Nice one Loopy.

The more spares outlets we know the better for all.

I wonder if he would like to make a post on here in the appropriate catagory, it would be useful to us and benificial to him. If that is permissable. Noz?

Peter.N.

That's a great find, Loopy.

I was in Medway / Chatam a couple of years ago, my friends live just down the road from there. A very handy place to keep in mind!

Cheers.

Ciarán.

Hope you find them useful Ciaran; I've just fitted my bargain leather interior into the Green Goddess; Admitted, mine was a straight S1 to S1 swap-the only thing left to do is swap the ashtray and radio panels for the nice woody ones; I'm not looking forward to removing the centre console but will most likely bite the bullet saturday morning providing the weather is ok-ish; with a sunny morning, a continuous supply of coffee from Mrs. Loopy and a bit of Amy Winehouse for the ears it should be ok... fingers crossed!

I know that you have a little more work to do to effect your transplant but believe me, the first time you sink into that opulent hide and inhale the leathery vapours it will be worth it-Suzi is a great one for telling me to leave well alone (The if it ain't broke don't fix it train of thought..) but she loves the new seats as much as I do; we didn't change the carpet and it doesn't look out of place so unless you really want the black carpet save yourself some hassle and keep the grey, it will look super!

I've just checked the web address I was given over the weekend and it's worth a look, although currently in its infancy

http://www.geocities.com/medwaycitroen/

Enjoy..

Loopy

I too fitted-with the assistance of Citroen XM- a leather interior into my Si Turbo Onyx and left the grey carpet and headlining in-I think it goes quite well-all black is a little dour I thought, but that's just my opinion!

Alan.

Don't know if you agree Henry, but the leather-clad seats seem to be more supportive and comfortable than the old fabric items; does yours have the additional lumbar support adjustment on the drivers side?

Im wondering what extra work would be required to hook up the seat heating to my car, I'm guessing that it would be a fair amaount of work as there doesn't seem to be any wiring in situ to just plug into and where the switches go I have a pair of blanks. Has anyone added this function to their car? If so, what was needed to get them working?

Regards

Loopy

Hi Loopy

Put a meter on the heating elements and see if there is resistance first. The elements typically break in the creases of the seats and I have not yet come across a recovered Mk1 set that had all the elements ok. Seat base and seat back have separate elements and resistance is typically around 10 ohms. The bad news is that to get at the elements you have to take the cover off the seat and in Mk1's the heating element fabic and wires are glued to the cushion. The Mk1 (and Mk2) heated seat switches are no longer available from Citroen and are not easy to find secondhand. The Mk1 rear seat switches are a different design and go in the door arm rest. with the associated complicated wiring. If adding wiring for the heated front seats do not forget the centre console electric arm rest wiring as well. This should all be found in the scrap car you get the switches from.
The reason leather seats may be firmer could depend on the trim specification. Apart from the fact that leather is a bit firmer than fabric, t o make the seat sides adjustable a rigid metal quarter moon bar is fitted in the cushion side walls. In a matching passenger seat the same quarter moon bars are welded to the sides of the seat frame to support the seat back cushion sides.

Regards

XMexc

Yes I think I'd tend to agree -leather is more supportive but no lumbar on mine. I have noticed more 'creaking' from the seats-I think it's the leather rubbing but a nice improvement.

Alan.

Did all the leather seats have heating elements in them?

I didn't notice any extra wiring in mine to power this, but thats not to say it doesn't exist....

I've heard about this lumbar support but none of my three XMs (S1 2.0i velour, S1 2.0SEi leather and late model S2V6 Exclusive leather) have had it.

Has any forum member got it or is it another myth like CO2 inspired global warming?

Derek

Hi again Folks...

@XMExc.... You lost me at 'Put a meter'...... I'll have a word with an electrically-minded friend and get this checked out; Thanks for the info!

@Ciaran, The heating wiring on each part have brown connectors (On my car anyway) and the seat motors have white connectors....On the back seat base they are close to the corners....

@DerekW, The lumbar adjustment on my car (drivers seat only) is a plastic knurled wheel on the inner vertical about three inches above the centre armrest and turned through its full range makes quite a difference to the backrest... Are they that rare?

@Henry, My 'missis' complains that she gets a cold bum with the leather that she didn't get with fabric.....In the next breath she says how much she likes them....I have reached an unassailable conclusion. Suze likes having a cold bum. Bless 'er!

Regards

Loopy