First off the obligatory but important safety warnings when dealing with the air bag system on any vehicle:
Alright, now the pay off (cabpatch):
After some time looking, I found Mazdaspeed 3 front bucket seats at an auto salvage yard in South Bend, Indiana. I picked them up during a recent trip to Chicago for work training. They weren't quite as mint condition as the pics indicated but they ended up cleaning up really well.
Seat back has been cleaned, bottom next at bat.
Inspiration:
http:// http://www.caranddriver.com/photo-gallery/return-of-the-boss-wagon-mazdaspeed-5
As I found out while the seat tracks between the speed3 and mz5 are 99% the same, its that 1% that makes them unrealistic direct swaps. The feet where the tracks bolt to the car on the mz5 are raised up approximately 2 inches for, I believe, two reasons. One, the heater floor duct outlet under the front seats and two, the raised dash height between speed3/mz3 and the mz5.
I think the seating position would be way too low for the average height driver/passenger. The driver's seat has height adjustability but the pass side does not. For this reason I did not attempt to just swap the whole seat assembly into the mz5. If I would have had more time to play around I would have test fitted the speed3 seat track but unfortunately time did not allow. First I'll cover disassembly of the seat assemblies, the two being very similar.
The seat bottom comes off first with the four 12mm bolts as seen in above picture. On the drivers' side the fabric flap at the bottom has to be disconnected for the bottom to clear supporting structure. Both drivers and pass will have to be removed later anyway. Also at this point the yellow air bag connector for the side air bag can be removed from the big black multi-connector by prying up on the retaining tab (removal can be made easier by removing large connector from bracket, see pic below) Also mark the location on the mz5 connector for installation of the speed3 connector and yes, they are direct swaps, although location in the multi-connector may be different between the two.
Next access to the 14mm seat back bolts/nuts is necessary, so the j-strip at the bottom of the back is undone revealing 2 zippers on the speed3 seats and 1 zipper on the mz5 seats. I found it necessary to remove the lumbar support lever on the speed3 seat but it was unnecessary on the mz5. There are two bolts per side to remove with the exception that the speed3 seats had studs/nuts on one side instead of bolts.
Now reassembly was fairly straightforward with 2 exceptions. One, the seat pan from the mz5 has to be switched to the seat pad/cover of the speed3 seat bottom due to bolt spacing in the pan. It seems that the seat track assembly and even the seat back are slightly narrower on the speed3. Removal of the pad/cover are fairly easy but man is that pressed metal sharp! Two, because the difference in width, tightening the seat back with the bolts/nuts you can see the the mount brackets/ears are pulled inward. This does not seem to have effected seat operation, at least in the short term. I really don't think it will have any long term effects either.
speed 3 on the left, mz5 on the right
Reassembly starts with the seat back, making sure the side air bag wiring is routed and tied as it was before disassembly. After switching seat pans the bottom can then be bolted on, again being careful of the wiring routing.
Ok, now here is the deal with the pass seat weight sensor. I reused the original mz5 that is mounted to the bottom of the pass seat pan.
If this or any seat swap is done, the vehicle should be taken to the dealer to have the seat weight sensor recalibrated. The air bag warning light will not be on, but codes will be set in the system and the seat weight sensor will be relying on a base program for pass air bag activation that will no longer be accurate because the base seat weight is not the same. The dealer will be able to calibrate an accurate zero baseline after clearing the codes for proper operation of pass side air bag. Again, if everything is reinstalled correctly the air bag warning lamp will not be on. This does not mean everything is accurate. Approx cost should be $100 or even less depending on dealer's labor rate/hour. It's a fairly straightforward process to re-calibrate the weight sensors using test weights, and having this done ensures proper operation of the air bag system.
This swap has been extremely gratifying due to the side bolsters of the speed3 seats. After driving it for a few days now, I can officially say that the mz5 front seats shouldn't be called bucket seats, but individual bench seats. The support of the speed3 seats is phenomenal. I will in no way miss the armrests because now I don't have to use it to hold me in place during sharp turns.
I like the look of the black seats on the tan bases because it matches the color scheme of the interior around the dash and the door panels, but the seat track covers, i believe, could be swapped, leaving just the tan lower covers in place.
Now just some random pics during the process:
Before disconnecting an air bag connector, always turn the ignition switch to the LOCK position, disconnect the negative battery cable, and then wait for 1 min or more to allow the backup power supply of the SAS control module to deplete its stored power.
If any of the following work is performed, seat weight calibration should be inspected and re-calibrated if necessary:
Removal of the passenger-side seat
Loosening and retightening of passenger’s seat fixing bolts
Removal of the passenger-side seat
Loosening and retightening of passenger’s seat fixing bolts
Alright, now the pay off (cabpatch):
After some time looking, I found Mazdaspeed 3 front bucket seats at an auto salvage yard in South Bend, Indiana. I picked them up during a recent trip to Chicago for work training. They weren't quite as mint condition as the pics indicated but they ended up cleaning up really well.
Seat back has been cleaned, bottom next at bat.
Inspiration:
http:// http://www.caranddriver.com/photo-gallery/return-of-the-boss-wagon-mazdaspeed-5
As I found out while the seat tracks between the speed3 and mz5 are 99% the same, its that 1% that makes them unrealistic direct swaps. The feet where the tracks bolt to the car on the mz5 are raised up approximately 2 inches for, I believe, two reasons. One, the heater floor duct outlet under the front seats and two, the raised dash height between speed3/mz3 and the mz5.
I think the seating position would be way too low for the average height driver/passenger. The driver's seat has height adjustability but the pass side does not. For this reason I did not attempt to just swap the whole seat assembly into the mz5. If I would have had more time to play around I would have test fitted the speed3 seat track but unfortunately time did not allow. First I'll cover disassembly of the seat assemblies, the two being very similar.
The seat bottom comes off first with the four 12mm bolts as seen in above picture. On the drivers' side the fabric flap at the bottom has to be disconnected for the bottom to clear supporting structure. Both drivers and pass will have to be removed later anyway. Also at this point the yellow air bag connector for the side air bag can be removed from the big black multi-connector by prying up on the retaining tab (removal can be made easier by removing large connector from bracket, see pic below) Also mark the location on the mz5 connector for installation of the speed3 connector and yes, they are direct swaps, although location in the multi-connector may be different between the two.
Next access to the 14mm seat back bolts/nuts is necessary, so the j-strip at the bottom of the back is undone revealing 2 zippers on the speed3 seats and 1 zipper on the mz5 seats. I found it necessary to remove the lumbar support lever on the speed3 seat but it was unnecessary on the mz5. There are two bolts per side to remove with the exception that the speed3 seats had studs/nuts on one side instead of bolts.
Now reassembly was fairly straightforward with 2 exceptions. One, the seat pan from the mz5 has to be switched to the seat pad/cover of the speed3 seat bottom due to bolt spacing in the pan. It seems that the seat track assembly and even the seat back are slightly narrower on the speed3. Removal of the pad/cover are fairly easy but man is that pressed metal sharp! Two, because the difference in width, tightening the seat back with the bolts/nuts you can see the the mount brackets/ears are pulled inward. This does not seem to have effected seat operation, at least in the short term. I really don't think it will have any long term effects either.
speed 3 on the left, mz5 on the right
Reassembly starts with the seat back, making sure the side air bag wiring is routed and tied as it was before disassembly. After switching seat pans the bottom can then be bolted on, again being careful of the wiring routing.
Ok, now here is the deal with the pass seat weight sensor. I reused the original mz5 that is mounted to the bottom of the pass seat pan.
If this or any seat swap is done, the vehicle should be taken to the dealer to have the seat weight sensor recalibrated. The air bag warning light will not be on, but codes will be set in the system and the seat weight sensor will be relying on a base program for pass air bag activation that will no longer be accurate because the base seat weight is not the same. The dealer will be able to calibrate an accurate zero baseline after clearing the codes for proper operation of pass side air bag. Again, if everything is reinstalled correctly the air bag warning lamp will not be on. This does not mean everything is accurate. Approx cost should be $100 or even less depending on dealer's labor rate/hour. It's a fairly straightforward process to re-calibrate the weight sensors using test weights, and having this done ensures proper operation of the air bag system.
This swap has been extremely gratifying due to the side bolsters of the speed3 seats. After driving it for a few days now, I can officially say that the mz5 front seats shouldn't be called bucket seats, but individual bench seats. The support of the speed3 seats is phenomenal. I will in no way miss the armrests because now I don't have to use it to hold me in place during sharp turns.
I like the look of the black seats on the tan bases because it matches the color scheme of the interior around the dash and the door panels, but the seat track covers, i believe, could be swapped, leaving just the tan lower covers in place.
Now just some random pics during the process:
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