thezentree
Senior Member
Thanks for documenting all this. :cheers:
BMW E90 3-series Seat Swap
- Thread starter Spktyr
- Start date
Dropped the BMW seats off at the welder's last night and left my passenger seat with them as a direct example so they didn't just have to work off my measurements. Some direct comparison shots - keep in mind that the BMW seat has flat rails but with the stock brackets on the Toyota seat cannot sit level on a floor.
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I now have a final price list for the conversion.
2009 BMW E92 (coupe) seats with part of the BMW's wiring harness included as a pigtail (yes, I will do the electrical stuff in the thread soon): $150 for the pair
1999 4Runner Limited power seat wiring connectors: $5
2001 4Runner SR5 cloth manual seats for bracket donors: $50
Welding charges: $70
Miscellaneous leather cleaning products and wiring supplies: $50
Total price: $325
By way of comparison: Leather seat back cover for driver's seat, which is ruined on my truck: $446.56 from Camelback Toyota.
I did get a deal on these seats - average retail on them in my area seems to be about $200 each or $400 the pair if you want top of the line seats from an E90 coupe (AKA E92). The sedan seats are more or less the same except they don't have the shoulder mounted manual seatback flip release or the shoulder mounted fore and aft traverse seats; those go for $100-150 each. If you want the non-sport seats without the adjustable bolsters and such, they are usually about $25-50 less and manual versions are often cheaper still. That said, most BMW owners don't like the standard non-sport seats. Both Sport and non-sport seats are offered with or without heaters and lumbar.
2009 BMW E92 (coupe) seats with part of the BMW's wiring harness included as a pigtail (yes, I will do the electrical stuff in the thread soon): $150 for the pair
1999 4Runner Limited power seat wiring connectors: $5
2001 4Runner SR5 cloth manual seats for bracket donors: $50
Welding charges: $70
Miscellaneous leather cleaning products and wiring supplies: $50
Total price: $325
By way of comparison: Leather seat back cover for driver's seat, which is ruined on my truck: $446.56 from Camelback Toyota.
I did get a deal on these seats - average retail on them in my area seems to be about $200 each or $400 the pair if you want top of the line seats from an E90 coupe (AKA E92). The sedan seats are more or less the same except they don't have the shoulder mounted manual seatback flip release or the shoulder mounted fore and aft traverse seats; those go for $100-150 each. If you want the non-sport seats without the adjustable bolsters and such, they are usually about $25-50 less and manual versions are often cheaper still. That said, most BMW owners don't like the standard non-sport seats. Both Sport and non-sport seats are offered with or without heaters and lumbar.
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rideexileex
Senior Member
Looks awesome! So, sounds like a momentary NC switch could be used as a "wake" button, if mid-drive seat adjustments were needed.
I wonder what it would take with something like this to fool the seats to stay awake...
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13262
That's a bit of overkill - apparently you only need to provide +5V and ground to a couple wires on each seat to keep the seat computers awake. A simple 12V to 5V converter will suffice and I'll order one in next week.
That said, I'm not entirely sanguine about the original Toyota 30A power wire when connected to the BMW seats - but I'll post more about that later after I recover from the all-nighter I pulled putting the seats in.
I don't know, but they don't seem to be very popular for seat swaps and the E90's do seem to be increasingly popular as seat swap donors for other makes. I do know some of the E46s have seat rail assemblies that aren't flat and that makes for a more difficult swap.
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rideexileex
Senior Member
Ah - I figured it was waiting for specific CAN messages when I was glancing through. Converter - just use the guts of an old phone charger or the likes - most are 5v for USB
I wouldn’t be too worried about the power wire. It will be used infrequently, and only in short bursts. Wire ratings are for continuous current handling anyway.
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You'd think it would be looking for CAN messages, but apparently it doesn't - just wants to see a carrier, as it were. -shrug- Others have found this out previously.
As for the power wire, I've looked at a couple of dead 3rd gen 4Rs in the junkyard in the last couple of days and they show evidence of scorching on their power seat wire too, even with I guess sporadic use. Since I'd like to get the seat heaters working on this thing long term, I don't think I can use the original Toyota power wire for that.
I'm the OP of that Reddit post, just came across this post looking for something else lol did you get the seats to prevent them from going on sleep mode?
I have now upgraded to f32 seats and gave my f30 seats to my friend with a 1st Gen Tacoma (yes, they'll fit a Tacoma). I also made my own rear brackets to set the seat a little bit lower.
The f32 seats have full lumbar support and you can adjust the sides so you don't move around when off-roading.
I have gathered e46 and e90 seats and possibly getting Volvo seats for testing and fitting to make a universal bolt-on bracket, I just had been really busy with work that I haven't had time.
TonyB66
New member
So, if E90 and F32 seats can me made to fit without much effort, that seems to indicate that aftermarket options for those become viable as well. Interesting...
I prefer manual over power seats, and that's why I went with Corbeau in my 3rd gen. Total shipped price for a pair (Moab), with double locking sliders, $728. Sold my OEM seats for $400, so $328 bucks for brand new seats.
I prefer manual over power seats, and that's why I went with Corbeau in my 3rd gen. Total shipped price for a pair (Moab), with double locking sliders, $728. Sold my OEM seats for $400, so $328 bucks for brand new seats.
I'm the OP of that Reddit post, just came across this post looking for something else lol did you get the seats to prevent them from going on sleep mode?
I have now upgraded to f32 seats and gave my f30 seats to my friend with a 1st Gen Tacoma (yes, they'll fit a Tacoma). I also made my own rear brackets to set the seat a little bit lower.
The f32 seats have full lumbar support and you can adjust the sides so you don't move around when off-roading.
I have gathered e46 and e90 seats and possibly getting Volvo seats for testing and fitting to make a universal bolt-on bracket, I just had been really busy with work that I haven't had time.
Following closely.
I'm the OP of that Reddit post, just came across this post looking for something else lol did you get the seats to prevent them from going on sleep mode?
I have now upgraded to f32 seats and gave my f30 seats to my friend with a 1st Gen Tacoma (yes, they'll fit a Tacoma). I also made my own rear brackets to set the seat a little bit lower.
The f32 seats have full lumbar support and you can adjust the sides so you don't move around when off-roading.
I have gathered e46 and e90 seats and possibly getting Volvo seats for testing and fitting to make a universal bolt-on bracket, I just had been really busy with work that I haven't had time.
Oh, hey - didn't know you were on here or I would have private messaged you with questions before I dived in. I haven't had a chance to get it set up in the truck permanently, but supplying 5V as I mentioned above keeps the seat from going into sleep mode for the several hours I tried it. Like you, work's been keeping me from getting around to getting the permanent setup installed.
The E90 and later 3-series seats with the flat rails seem to be pretty universal conversion seats for a bunch of different vehicles. The E90 Sport power seats I have also have the width adjustment you mentioned, so I would guess that'd been an option on some F30 seats as well.
Do keep in touch and let me know what you find out about Volvo seats - I have a friend who would like to use Volvo seats in his rig but neither of us have had the time to dig into the options and what would be required to put them in. If I can be of any assistance in your further seat conversion work, let me know.
As the other poster mentioned, he got F30 seats to work too. Also, at least on the E90, there are manual versions of these sport seats as well.
thezentree
Senior Member
When you guys say E90, are you talking E90-E93 or ONLY E90?
E90 (sedan) seats and E91 (wagon) seats are the same as each other and are your best option. The E92 (coupe) seats are slightly less optimal in some ways as the inside rail (right side for driver seat, left side for passenger) is a couple inches longer, but that's not a problem if you weld on the stock Toyota legs as the center console extends back further anyway. On the other hand, the E92 seats have that manual seatback release on the shoulder which can help with camping or cargo carriage. Otherwise, they'll work just fine. The seats I installed in my 4Runner in this thread are out of an E92.
The only E90-series seats that won't really work are the E93 seats (convertible/cabriolet) as they are significantly different and have integrated seat belts (among other issues). I forget the other issues with the E93 seats that made them a bad choice, but I think one was differences in the rails. E93 seats are very hard to find in any condition in my area and the E93 didn't sell that well to begin with, so on top of what my research indicated, I didn't bother with finding a set to physically compare.
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thezentree
Senior Member
Thanks for breaking it down like that. I had to go to wikipedia just to figure out what all the different E9x models are. :lmao:
It won't be significantly lighter as all E90s had airbags in the seats and the frame had to be sturdily (read: heavily) built to support them. Also, this, as with power windows, was the era where power seats started to become lighter than manual as the motors and such were lighter than the manual rack/gears/linkages.
That said, yes, there were manual sport seats but the adjustable side bolsters on the back are electric on all sport versions, power or manual. The 'manual' seats just have all the other adjustments manual except the bolsters.
One disadvantage of the manual seats - many of them have NO lumbar adjustment at all. If they do have lumbar adjustment, that is also powered. The power ones also had optional lumbar adjustment but it is far more common for them to have it. Below is a non-heated, non-lumbar manual E90 seat.
Bottom line is that more modern vehicle seats are pretty much all going to be some degree of "heavy", even the manual ones, due to seat mounted airbags' required support and engineering measures - so why not fit the power ones anyway?
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rickashay
New member
Great info and thanks for the post. These certainly look nice in the cockpit of the 3rd Gen and are another good seat swap option.
...now I'm curious of the approx weight of these (full power version) vs. the stockers.
