HOW TO: Swap gen1 seats into a pu

[anavrinIV]

There's a thread somewhere around here (here actually) that asks the question about swapping a gen1 interior into a gen2 car. tl;dr on that thread: Yes it's possible, but only if you fab a couple brackets and can live with a flashing airbag light and possibly no working airbags. WOO!

Okay. I'm not wiling to live with the possibility of my airbags not working. As much as I racecar this is too racecar for a DD and working airbags are a must since the car came stock with them lodged into every orifice Mazda could reasonably stuff them into.

Having owned a first gen I know that the seats are more comfortable. They're more bucket-y, they angle better, and they have lumbar support which my bad posture and generally noodly back bones enjoy. Plus, in 08.5-09 trim with the black alcanatara especialy, they just look fantastic.

And they say MAZDASPEED on them which cannot be ignored.

A note: In doing this swap you will lose the rear center seat belt. I gave this exactly no thought since I've never once used it in any of the cars I've had. But to someone this may matter. I can explain this if anyone asks about it.

So here we go!

Step 1: Acquire seats

This isn't difficult, there are plenty of cars being parted out on facebook, the forum, ebay. Plan to spend about $900 shipped for a clean set. Less is better but the seats may not be.

Mine were shipped via bus and took 5 days from Tulsa, OK to Raleigh, NC

Unpack the seats in the parking lot of the bus station, making sure to get packing peanuts EVERYWHERE, and load them into your car. They fit if you nest them together, and you can even bring a passenger along to laugh at you as you clean peanuts out of everything.



Step 2: Prep your car

This is easy, just take all the schmutz out of it. Since you'll be removing all the seats this would be a good time to get all the old receipts and candy wrappers off the floor, vacuum the pine needles and dirt from under the seats, etc...

Remove the cargo cover, spare tire cover and foam as well.

Step 3: The rear seats

I started with the rears because they're easiest. Leave the seat backs upright and locked in place.

Start by removing the seat bottoms. It's one piece of foam that pulls straight up and out of the chassis, pull up in the center of each seat until you hear a pop as the hook releases.



When both hooks are released slide the foam forward past the seat belt receivers and remove it from the car



Since I removed the center seat belt I also decided to remove the center receiver for a cleaner look. There are 2 14mm bolts to remove, one that holds 2 receivers, one holds a single receiver and anchors the seat belt.





Remove the bolts, remove the bolt retainers, and replace just the outer receivers. The center seat belt receiver is labeled "center" so there should be no confusion.









Next remove the seat backs. This is a simple process, there are 6 bolts that hold them in. Despite the folding they are a single piece.

Use a 14mm socket to remove 5 of the bolts and a 14mm box wrench (mine ratchets) for the center one that is directly under the seat back. Easy enough.







With that out of the way pop the lock on the seats and fold them down



and remove them from the car.

Installation of the new seats is reverse of removal. I put the backs in and locked them in place for safe keeping before bolting them down



slide the bottoms in , make sure the seat belt receivers properly sit in their gaps, them snap the hooks in place. Add headrests (I kept the pu headrests) and BAM



Looking better already

Step 4: Passenger Seat

This one is the most time consuming.

Pop the plastic covers off all the mounting feet (4 of them) to expose the bolts. Also remove the plastic seat belt cover. (Driver's side shown but it's the same on both sides)









Remove the 4 bolts holding the seat in place as well as the bolt holding the seat belt to the seat. All 5 bolts are 14mm.

Before you can remove the seats there are some electrical bits underneath you must disconnect. So tip the seat back as such



pull the electrical block off its bracket on the seat





Use a very small screw driver (or other flat object) to compress the clips and remove the 3 connectors





Remove the seat being careful not to scratch up your door panels or paint, it's one of the bulkier components of your car.

Once it's out lay it on its side somewhere you can work on it. I used the hatch with the rear seats folded down so I wouldn't scratch up the leather or plastics.

Unclip the connectors from the airbag module underneath the seat and remove the module via the 2 plastic screws.



Remove one of the brackets from the airbag module, I suggest the closed end one for reasons you'll see later. Note: These little boogers are thin and sharp, I suggest just yanking it out with pliers as shown. I cut a knuckle up pretty good trying to finesse it.



Remove the seatbelt receiver. It's held in with a single 14mm bolt and the wire is secured with a few zip ties, just give those a little snip. You will have to loosen the screw closest to the receiver on the plastics to get the connector through.

NOTE: This may not be necessary in all cars. My seats are from an 08.5 or 09, I'm not sure which and my car is a 2010. The seat belts did not fit in the receivers. They also did not fit my 07 receivers. I have heard a report from a member with a 2012 that he did not need to complete this step but I cannot confirm. This is a quick step that will ensure the swap will work 100%







Unhook the occupancy senor clips on each slider. I carefully removed the little push-in retainer but you can cut it if you wish.







Pull the back rest angle handle and remove the screw underneath it. Or possible just remove the screw if you can get to it, I may have added an unnecessary step. you will need to do this to flex the plastics later.





Remove the slider bases. Each one is held on with 4 shallow head 11mm bolt (M8x1.25, information that will be important later), 2 on each end. These are pretty tight and will be VERY easy to strip the heads on if you're not careful keeping the socket flush. I didn't get pics of all corners but they're pretty much the same. The outside front corner is difficult to reach and you will need to flex the plastic out of the way to reach them, hence the previous step. The other 6 are no problem.





Repeat most steps on the Juan seats. The only difference is there are no screws to remove from the plastics and the reclining handle can stay. The rest must be completed.

The airbag module mounts differently but all clips are the same. You will need the bent bracket removed.





Reassemble the gen1 seat using the pu parts (slider bases, airbag module, seat belt receiver). No pics here, it's just the reverse of removal. All the seat mounting bolts should be quite tight, again being careful not to let the tools slip and round the bolts.

Keep the seat mounting bolts from the pu seats, you will need them later.

Put the rest of the juan parts away for safe keeping. Or throw them away. Or rebuild the pu seats, I really don't care what you do at this point.

Install the juan seat, reverse order of removal. Make sure you get all the wiring back in place.

TA DA!



Step 6: Driver's Seat

Seat removal is the same as the passenger seat save for the seat belt which is attached to the chassis not the seat. Remove it. Set it aside.

3 of the 4 bolt holes line up perfectly from the gen1. The 4th does not. So here's what you do.

lay the seat on its right side so the left side slider is up in the air. There are 2 chunks of aluminum (big, solid rivets) that hold the left rear mounting foot to the slider. Drill these out.



Head to your local hardware store and pick up a couple of M8x1.25 nuts and some M8 washers. There is a hole just ahead of where you drilled out the rivets that you will use to bolt the slider foot to (just left of the foot in the above pic). Bolt the front slider foot hold into this hole in the slider using one of your left over stock slider bolts from the passenger side, a washer on each side, and a nut on the bottom.

There is a a second hole in the slider that half overlaps with the second slider foot hole. Line these up as best as possible and tighten the hell out of the front bolt. Use an appropriately sized drill bit to clear out the overlapping portions of the holes in the slider and foot to make one solid hole and use another stock bolt, a nut, and a couple washers to complete mounting the foot.



Bolt the seat into the car. Snap some plastics on if you can (they don't really line up on the driver's side).






Now go for a drive. Smile because your seats don't suck.


@Raider; can I get some MSF bucks now?

[kenny7821]

This is a fantastic writeup! Great job. I am just starting to take my seats apart right now. This will definitely help. As you know, I am running this setup already, but I would much rather not have a soldered resistor to trick the system. Upon seeing how clean this has come out, I have decided to rip apart my pu seats and copy your wicked plan. Looks fuckin sick dude!! uploadfromtaptalk1444222251559.jpg

I can confirm that I did not have to swap the seat belt on my seats. 08.5 seats going in a '12 speed3.

[Raider]

Eleventy quadrillion MSF bucks sent.

[NCspecV81]

Does the airbag light go off? @anavrinIV;

[anavrinIV]

Originally Posted by NCspecV81 Does the airbag light go off? @anavrinIV;

Everything works like it's from the factory

[g00s3y]

I'm 100% doing this... Just need someone to give me their juan seats...

Awesome write-up, the 1st gen seats look 1000x better.

[anavrinIV]

My apologies for lacking pics on the driver's seat mod since that's by far the biggest operation of the entire swap, I wasn't 100% sure it would work as advertised and just went at it without documenting the process. If @mize13; ends up doing this I'll snap a few more pics and add to the OP as well as specific drill bit sizes. I'll also go back and add a comprehensive tool and hardware list to the beginning of the thread so any prospective swappers will have that available up front.

[jgarmo]

nice write up. i want to do this real bad!

[Ziggyboy]

Why did the genpu seats have to suck so bad? So tempted to pick up a set and make the swap. Nice job.

[SaveMelMac]

Thanks for the write up. I really might be doing this soon. I have the driver seat wobble and it's really starting to get on my nerves.
One question do you have to loose the rear center seat belt? As in the genwon doesn't have a center belt at all?

[anavrinIV]

Originally Posted by SaveMelMac Thanks for the write up. I really might be doing this soon. I have the driver seat wobble and it's really starting to get on my nerves. One question do you have to loose the rear center seat belt? As in the genwon doesn't have a center belt at all?

This is the explanation I mentioned, so I'll go ahead and give it.

Yes, you have to lose the center seat belt. Actually you may not HAVE to but I'm not doing the work to see if I can get it back, I didn't use it and don't want it.

On the Gen1 the rear center seat belt connects to the driver's side D pillar and is held in place by the head rest. It bolts to the chassis the same as the pu seat belt.

But on the gen2 the seat belt routes through the 60% of the split folding seats and bolts to the chassis with the rear seat mounts.

In order to run a center seat belt you would have to either rip all the parts out of a gen1 and find a way to make them fit the gen2 which may require chassis modifications at the D pillar, or tear up BOTH the gen1 and gen2 seats, use gen2 frame with the gen1 cushions, and cut a spot in the gen1 leather for the guide through the back of the seat.

I found unbolting the center receiver was easier and left it at that. It's cleaner with just the 2 and 100% as useful to me.

[macdiesel]

Is the lumbar support in the genjuan seats adjustable?

[thrisnospork]

Yep

[dagrimey1]

Hate to thread rehash, but nothing in this how to applies to the 2013 MS3. It is a completely different setup. I will see if I can get everything swapped. The weight sensors are completely different on the 2013.

Sent using Moto Fo Sho Doe

[hyejimany]

dagrimey1, any luck with this? I have a 2012, and the same holds true. Already bought a set of gen1 seats, so hopefully we can figure out how to make it work.

[Phoenix]

Originally Posted by dagrimey1 Hate to thread rehash, but nothing in this how to applies to the 2013 MS3. It is a completely different setup. I will see if I can get everything swapped. The weight sensors are completely different on the 2013. Sent using Moto Fo Sho Doe

Originally Posted by hyejimany dagrimey1, any luck with this? I have a 2012, and the same holds true. Already bought a set of gen1 seats, so hopefully we can figure out how to make it work.

Sorry to bump this thread, but the seats in my 2011 are completely different underneath as well. I noticed that my passenger side seat belt is bolted to the car like the drivers side is, not to the seat itself.

Is there a simple solution?

[dagrimey1]

Originally Posted by hyejimany dagrimey1, any luck with this? I have a 2012, and the same holds true. Already bought a set of gen1 seats, so hopefully we can figure out how to make it work.

Not sure how I missed this but a resistor is needed to bypass the air bag weight sensor.

Sent while doing Time Attack...

[Phoenix]

Originally Posted by dagrimey1 Not sure how I missed this but a resistor is needed to bypass the air bag weight sensor. Sent while doing Time Attack...

Already got the resistors coming. What did you do for the bolt hole that does not line up? I read of some people using an adapter bracket, but I cannot find a picture. Would a piece of flat bar drilled in the right spots work? I'm sure there has to be a cleaner solution.

[anavrinIV]

I wish I had answers for the newer year model cars. I guess I was lucky with the 2010 that everything worked with minor mods

Update on my end...18 months later and this is the best money I've spent modding a car to date. There's nothing better than getting into your car and being comfortable every day. 25k miles and they are no worse for wear, exactly as I expected since my 07 seats were is great shape at 113k miles

[Oli]

Sorry to bring this back up. I was wondering if anyone can post a pic of where the resistor goes to prevent the airbag light from staying on. I have a 2012 and the swap is not as easy as the OP as some have posted. I was able to get the seats mounted but just trying to see where the resistors go so i can get rid of the airbag light.

[07mazzy3]

Originally Posted by Oli Sorry to bring this back up. I was wondering if anyone can post a pic of where the resistor goes to prevent the airbag light from staying on. I have a 2012 and the swap is not as easy as the OP as some have posted. I was able to get the seats mounted but just trying to see where the resistors go so i can get rid of the airbag light.

I’ve only installed the drivers side as well because of this.... call me blind but the passenger seat instructions aren’t as clear!


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