Thread: 04+ power passenger seat conversion/ driver's fold conversion

Got super bored and had some extra seats laying around, so why not!

What is it you ask? Well, I did the 04+ seat swap, but hated the fact that the driver's seat didn't fold like the passenger seat, and that the seat heaters didn't work other than full on. I've fixed all three issues, and as an added bonus, I converted the passenger seat to power with lumbar controls with coupe loops!

Still need to restore the leather, get the correct color coupe loops, and complete the custom control panel, so don't judge!





I'd make a write- up, but I doubt anyone is as crazy as I am with these seats....

Well, with the correct color coupe loop, it looks factory. Though I think I'm going to re-dye black when I restore the leather.

The heated seat portion took a bit of engineering on my part. I'll have to post the schematics. The newer seat uses a different control relay, wiring, and thermister since it uses the hvac data to communicate through the bcm, and the old switches just use a relay module and a switch.

To do it correctly, I had to run power, ground, and two signal wires to the switch and seat, illumination to switch, and splice the 97-03 driver's heat wiring and replace the thermister that's built into the seat. It was a bit of a project. There's a few other ways, but they only work on high (not full switched).

You're not crazy, it's been done before. I just installed black leather/suede middle 06 GXP seats in my 00 GT. I got the drivers side heated seat to work but yes, only works on full, no matter where the switch is set to. Decided not to wire the pass. side up just yet as I was in a time crunch to get the interior back together. Still worlds better than the stock seats that had 405K on them, lol.

405k? That's impressive! The worst part was swapping the fold down passenger-back to the driver's side and fitting the variable lumbar control into the fold back.

The real secret to getting the switch to work is swapping the thermister which is glued inside the seat.

Yea, I didn't convert the drivers to full fold like the pass. side as I have a 4 door, but I did install the full fold down rear seats so I can load a lot more things now vs. the old pass-through. Plus it makes getting to the fuel pump a breeze.

So you have Hi and Lo heat working on the drivers side? Interesting. Like to know the info on this. I've got another project I'm working on right now but this could be an upgrade in the future if I ever feel like tearing the seat out again at some point.

Yup! I'll have to post the schematics.

The only thing that stinks about the driver's side fold conversion is that the lever is stuck on the right side by the buckle. Other than that, everything feels stock.

Having a coupe, this conversion is almost mandatory if you have a kid. Helps out a ton.

How did you get the driver's seat to fold like the passengers? I feel like I should know this but I have no clue

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Nice work. I just started look for these seats for my 01. I am finding nothing but garbage. One yard had a car with only 43k miles. The seats looked mint, but have been exposed to the weather for almost 2 years because the windows were blown out. What a shame.

Can anyone recommend a good source?

WStefan, in the process of doing all this work did you find that the leather covers and the seat foam itself is identical between the passenger and drivers seats? The reason I ask is that often the passenger seat is mint when compared to the drivers seat. If they are interchangeable I could get 2 mint passenger seats and one ratty drivers seat and swap what's needed. I could even get a cloth drivers seat and swap the leather....

THanks and once again awesome work. I love to see someone doing what others don't..

Originally Posted by Jaredthefail

How did you get the driver's seat to fold like the passengers? I feel like I should know this but I have no clue

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Driver's side I had to take the seat apart then swap one from another passenger seat. Unless you swap the lumbar assembly from the driver's side in, you'll loose that. Unfortunately the handle is crimped to the frame so your seat back adjustment is wedged by the seat buckle which is a bit annoying, but totally worth it for me! I'll probably get around to doing a write up eventually

Originally Posted by bing98

Nice work. I just started look for these seats for my 01. I am finding nothing but garbage. One yard had a car with only 43k miles. The seats looked mint, but have been exposed to the weather for almost 2 years because the windows were blown out. What a shame.

Can anyone recommend a good source?

WStefan, in the process of doing all this work did you find that the leather covers and the seat foam itself is identical between the passenger and drivers seats? The reason I ask is that often the passenger seat is mint when compared to the drivers seat. If they are interchangeable I could get 2 mint passenger seats and one ratty drivers seat and swap what's needed. I could even get a cloth drivers seat and swap the leather....

THanks and once again awesome work. I love to see someone doing what others don't..

Bummer! I come across tons of these in the junk yards in great shape! Too bad they cost a fortune to ship though.

And sort of.... I say that because they fit, but the buckle strap is now on the wrong side. Also there's a small gap on the inner side where the plastic on the passenger side goes, but you can't really see it unless you're looking for it. The buckle strap is mostly covered up by the plastic side piece. I'll take some pictures later.

That being said, it doesn't look bad, and it definitely is better than ripped seats!

Originally Posted by buickman104

Curious of how you got the different heat settings to work.

I played around with modifying the original wire harnesses and finally figured out that the 04+ hi/lo has nothing to do with the module in the seat, but is controlled via class 2 data, so you can do a on/off switch but the hi/lo will never work unless potentially you wire up an arduino and figure out the assembly code! lol

Basically, what I ended up doing is swapping the driver's seat harness from the 97-03. Although the connectors for the heating elements do plug into each other, the pinouts are different.

Good thing is not a whole lot of modification is necessary from the factory harness other than the pinouts. The worst part of the mod is that the thermistor (temperature resistor) that is in your seat cushion that tells the control module when the seat is getting too hot so it doesn't burn you. Unfortunately it is different from 97-03 to 04+, so you have to peel back the tape on the seat cushion and solder in the other thermistor.

From there, you have to wire in the switches and power. It's a lot easier obviously if you have the driver's heated seat factory in your 97-03, but the switch signal is already wired in and there's a plug even in non-factory equipped models.

I got all the schematics off of autozone. Just register for a free account, and go under self-help, wiring diagrams.

I'll have to put together a how-to eventually....

Any chance you have the wiring schematics to connect the regular 04+ seats in a 2002?I cant find a working link for that anywhere.

I've got the schematic but might take me some time to find it as I'm still unpacking from my move. If I'm not mistaken I think it's just the orange for power and black wires for ground. There's two small black/white stripe wires for the seat belt indicator as well.

I'll be able to post the schematic in a few days, but in the meantime, AutoZone has most schematics for both years. Just create a free account. Hope that helps some!