July 2016: I really didn't wake up this morning thinking yes today I'm going to buy some new seats. I've had my eye on these tbSTI front seats for awhile now. I was kinda tempted when they first came up for $550 but wasn't worried if they were sold. They ended up going done to $350 and I got really interested. Then yesterday the seller said $200 if picked up that day, so I basically had no choice. Despite the 2.5 hour each way drive I had to have them...
I would have barley made it on one tank, E85 life...
Anyway back to the seats. Due to the high k's on the car specially the drivers seat, there was much wear and ass juice, they weren't in direr need of replacement but I've also kept my options open.
The new seats. They need a bit of a clean and condition but should clean up nicely.
Out with the old.
After some seriously tough bolts the passenger seat was out, man that is a heavy bastard. The tbSTI passenger seat is much lighter not being electric. There is less bottom bolstering but I don't think it'll bother me if I really hate it I can also go back to the old seats. Plus I've always got my eye open for some Evo 9 Recaro’s.
The drivers seat has seen much better days…
After getting the drivers seat in I realised that the switch for the electric motor is actually different, 4 vs 2 wire plug. This is due to the memory function on FL seats. The solution looks like cutting the connector off the old seat is going to be the best option and adapting to the new seat, I'll likely loose the memory function but it's noting I've had before so I'm not fused.
The seats are in and I'm so happy with how they feel. Mainly because they came from a significantly lower KM car so overall they are in better condition. Loving the red stitch.
Wiring up the seats was easier then I thought. I was worried because the FL seat has memory control and I wasn't sure if that was going to be a big job to get working, I wasn't bothered if it wasn't going to be able because at the end of the day I wasn't loosing anything.
I decided the best way to try and adapt them was rather then cutting wires I'll pull the wires out of the connectors and see if they could be adapted first.
New FL connector, 4 wire.
Wires out.
I pushed the thick red and black wire into the original connector and to my surprise it all worked. What ever the smaller two wires were it didn't need them, both the electric motor and memory works flawlessly.