BMW E90 3-series Seat Swap

[Brian.]

I used the plantronics platform but since the seats already sit higher than stock seats, my headroom is almost nothing now. Feels like driving in a freighliner since it's so high, but so comfortable.

I feel your pain, the BMW seats also sit higher, and I'm 6'4" with a long torso. Sitting up perfectly straight, I'd need another inch of headroom to fit and not touch (Maybe a non-sunroof vehicle, I lean a little to get into the space occupied by the glass vs the track). I have to "gansta-lean" the seat back to fit with any reasonable comfort. And the worst part, anytime I'm the first vehicle at a stoplight, I have to scrunch way forward to see the farking lights. But, the comfort difference over the OEM seats... I can actually drive a block without being in excruciating pain.

I AM going to drop the rear seat brackets down as low as possible... sometime. I don't think there's much more than an inch of space to be had, but any little bit counts. My 5'4" wife doesn't care, which is good since the 4R is mostly hers anyway.

 

[turbozeke418]

I AM going to drop the rear seat brackets down as low as possible... sometime. I don't think there's much more than an inch of space to be had, but any little bit counts.

I did just that. I cut the rear bracket mounts down an inch and it made a world of difference for me. I'm 5'10" and the front of the seat sits higher but it's very comfortable. I just got into the truck a little while ago and as soon as my ass hit the seat I said....AHHHH it's so comfortable! Just be mindful that when you do cut the inch or so out of it, it also changes the location of the mounting holes unless you stretch/change the angle of the bracket also. i didn't account for it so I just rigged it up and it worked.

 

[thecespedes]

Just modified and added a 1993 Ford Taurus SHO seat.

Is that a planted seat bracket or one you made? Do you have more pictures? Curious if it has any effect on seat height over the stock brackets

Evasive Motorsports | Performance Parts for the Driven: Planted Technology Seat Bracket - Toyota 4Runner 95-02 (Driver)

EDIT: Yikes I see your second post. Been browsing this thread a bit too long...

 

[jsindorf]

Any final word on wiring for the F30 seats?

For the heater you need to bypass the passenger and drivers module, meaning you won’t be hooking up directly to the yellow plug, find the wires I used in my previous post and follow the diagram

I want to do this upgrade, but don't want to do a half-baked install. I have been following all of your notes (OCarb) going back to the original Reddit thread, and it seems like the two things yet to be worked out (or perhaps documented) are: the memory function and the electronics going into sleep mode. Is there any movement on this?

I really appreciate your skills and knowledge and your generosity in sharing it. Thanks!

 

[Brian.]

I want to do this upgrade, but don't want to do a half-baked install. I have been following all of your notes (OCarb) going back to the original Reddit thread, and it seems like the two things yet to be worked out (or perhaps documented) are: the memory function and the electronics going into sleep mode. Is there any movement on this?

I really appreciate your skills and knowledge and your generosity in sharing it. Thanks!

Those require some sort of CANbus communication (well, for drivers... pass doesn't have memory or go to sleep). If you're good with programming, there are CANbus modules out there for Arduino and the like.... or, if you want to invest a bit more time than I did, look into getting the LH/PASSENGER electronics out of a RH drive country car (no memory, but solves the sleep issue).

I ended up with a power switch for the drivers seat. On for moving, off the rest of the time (takes about 30sec of off for it to reset and turn on the next time, I tried "bumping" the CANbus but it was unreliable).

Heaters work fine, independent system... mine are a simple on/off system because that was easy and my wife (main user) only ever uses all or nothing with seat heaters anyway.

 

[D'arce]

I wired in a 555 timer I got off Amazon and it works fine. I can adjust the seats anytime. Super simple. Memory works, I just need to figure out how to program them. I think I might tackle activating the heated option this next weekend. I got the switch, just never dove into testing it out.

 

[Brian.]

I wired in a 555 timer I got off Amazon and it works fine. I can adjust the seats anytime. Super simple. Memory works, I just need to figure out how to program them.

More details? Looking at the 555 timer, it can be wired in many ways. I know just enough electronics to do some searching and learn more, but a little assistance to get started is needed.

Maybe Astable Mode to low or high canbus line?

 

[D'arce]

More details? Looking at the 555 timer, it can be wired in many ways. I know just enough electronics to do some searching and learn more, but a little assistance to get started is needed.

Maybe Astable Mode to low or high canbus line?

I wired the signal out to the orange/green stripe wire. I may have needed to play with the jumper setting to get it to work but it was pretty easy.

Anmbest 5PCS DC5-15V 4.2V V-PP to 11.4V V-PP NE555 Pulse Frequency Duty Cycle Adjustable Generator Module Square Wave Rectangular Wave Signal Generator: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

 

[Stick Stickly]

I did RX8 seats in mine with a easy custom rail...

The wiring harness was super simple, too!

Hey! That looks pretty sweet. Would you be able to provide any info on the custom rail you used to make these fit?

 

[4runner3rdgen]

2001 SR5 2wd 2014 f30 seats

Brackets from original 4runner to 2014 F30 328i seats. Great mod!

 

[NoLys]

Looking at tackling this project as well.
One discovery I made on my F30 seat was that by connecting ONLY the output of a 12v to 6v converter (Out+ to CAN High and Out- to ground) it is enough to cycle a small signal to keep the seat awake. It somehow cycles about 1.6v on and off to the CAN signal. My guess is the CAN is searching for a response and something about the converter circuit, maybe a capacitor, is making it cycle.
Originally, I tried a timer to cycle 1 second on and 3-4 seconds off. It works and probably uses a MOSFET so there's no relay clicking. I did find that by using the timer, I have to do timer first, then output that to the 6v converter and have that output to CAN High in order to make it work. CAN Low doesn't need anything. Just a sample size of one but those two options will keep my seat awake.

6v converter used:
Amazon.com: NOYITO DC to DC 6V 2A 3A Converter Buck Module 12V 16V 6V-22V Buck to 6V 3A Max Power Converter IP67 Waterproof with Overcurrent Overheat Short-Circuit Undervoltage Protection (6V 3A, Black) : Electronics

Timer used:
Timer WIFI 10 AMP 6V 12V 18V 24V TIME ON OFF DELAY CONFIGURABLE, CYCLING and OPTIONAL TRIGGER - - Amazon.com

As a side note, my F30 driver's seat module pulls 100mA in standby, which means that if wired with the constant power supplied to the Toyota seats, you'll get 100mA parasitic drain when the truck is off. I'd recommend having power supplied through an ignition controlled relay. I'd assume this is one of the reasons that the BMW seats won't adjust without the ignition on or in the accessory position.
No module on the passenger side so no need to add a relay.

 

[NoLys]

What did you guys do to address the seat occupancy sensor? If you just connect the seatbelt to the OE wiring, does the truck always think someone is in the seat or not? I just don't want a seatbelt light flashing at me the whole time and I want the airbag to work but I can't figure out how the BMW F30 occupancy sensor works yet.

Any info would be great.
Thanks!

 

[phattyduck]

What did you guys do to address the seat occupancy sensor? If you just connect the seatbelt to the OE wiring, does the truck always think someone is in the seat or not? I just don't want a seatbelt light flashing at me the whole time and I want the airbag to work but I can't figure out how the BMW F30 occupancy sensor works yet.

Any info would be great.
Thanks!

Different years = different needs and wiring. What year is your truck? 96-98 = no occupancy sensor, 99-00 = occupancy sensor that does nothing but flash the light on the dash basically, 01-02 = occupancy sensor that turns airbags, etc. on and off.

-Charlie

 

[NoLys]

Mine is a 1999

 

[phattyduck]

Mine is a 1999

Then you can leave all the passenger side (OEM stuff) disconnected. The passenger seatbelt light will never turn on, but it won't affect any other system.

I moved the sensor and wiring from my '99 seats over to a '97 when I did a Sport seat swap, though I didn't have to - that's another possibility if you want to pull the seat bottom cover off the new seat. Just keep that part all original.

-Charlie

 

[NoLys]

Brackets from original 4runner to 2014 F30 328i seats. Great mod!

I'm just starting to attack mounting my F30 seats and have hit a small problem. I've drilled the rivets from the 4runner seat brackets to remove the feet. (I drilled the spot welds from the top to save the metal on the feet.) Anyway, the feet are off.
The issue I'm having is the F30 mounting holes are about 36.5cm apart front to back and the rivet holes from the 4runner brackets are 33.5cm front to back. I don't see a way of drilling new holes in the F30 brackets without running into the front to rear adjusting rod and the rivet holes in the feet are already so far forward that a new hole in the feet would be in the downward bend of the foot so there's just no room on the feet. If using bolts to attach the feet, how the hell did you manage it? Somehow I need to lose 3cm or about 1.25" front to rear on the F30 brackets. I basically need to move each foot about 1.5cm or 5/8" closer together.

Let me know if my rambling made sense.

Next I'll have to tackle that the F30 brackets are narrower than the 4runner by about 1.5cm left to right but I think that'll be solved with a dremel.

Thanks!

 

[AbotDaConqueror]

Nice work

Your dash and side door panels where they original black or did you paint/dye them?


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OCarb, I can't see how you wired the switches on post #89 and made the heating pads work. I'm currently wiring E92 sport seats into my car and would like to wire the heaters in as well! Did you bypass the seat module and power the heating pads directly?

 

[KeithIsms]

This site has been a huge resource for me. Figured it was time to give something back. Here's a condensed video on how I installed my F30 seats

3rd Gen 4runner BMW F30 seats - YouTube

 

[RodrickHeffley]

I swapped in some 2nd gen covers onto my 3rd gen seat frame, but being 6'3", they're not great.

I was looking at E90s, F30s and some others but then remembered my friend's 2013 MK6 Golf.

Would VW MK6 seats fit? They seem to have flat rails like the BMWs do, but I know next to nothing about welding or anything so that seems like a big hurdle.

I want these seats because I remember them being super comfortable, and could also be nice when off-roading as you "sink" into the seat and don't move much.

Realistically I want to just get some manual seats so I don't need to worry about wiring, but I don't know if they'd fit to begin with.

 

[Griff12]

Then you can leave all the passenger side (OEM stuff) disconnected. The passenger seatbelt light will never turn on, but it won't affect any other system.

I moved the sensor and wiring from my '99 seats over to a '97 when I did a Sport seat swap, though I didn't have to - that's another possibility if you want to pull the seat bottom cover off the new seat. Just keep that part all original.

-Charlie

Currently doing this swap in my '01. Curious if you have any insights on wiring the power for the occupancy sensor (green/yellow strip) to which wire on a F30 seat to make sure the SRS system still fires if a passenger is present. Having trouble finding any BMW wiring diagrams online...

Unless I should just bypass it altogether and close the circuit so the SRS things someone is always sitting there. Not sure of the ramifications of this approach.