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How To: Aftermarket Bucket Seat Installation

35K views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  The_Stig_96 
#1 · (Edited)
Before I start- Mods, could you please make the how to section open so I can post my how to's there? Thanks

Locust has a great write up on this process in his build thread, but I'm a person who needs to SEE things in order to comprehend them better, because I'm too lazy to have to read and then search for pics to guide me through. So I went ahead and snapped some pics while changing my driver's seat, and figured I'd go ahead and make a how to. Since Locust's explanation was so clear, I just quoted stuff from his thread instead of writing myself because I'm lazy.

- Parts Required
Aftermarket Seat Rail- I used buddyclub rails, review for this will be coming up shortly
Aftermarket Bucket Seat- I used a Recaro SPG seat, review for this coming up as well.
A 7/16"-20 x 1" bolt, assuming you're using the buddyclub rails. This is for the seat belt buckle
Either a 2.0 Ohm (confirmed working) or a 3.3 ohm (confirmed working), both 5% tolerance and 1 watt resistors for the airbag light.

-Tools Required:
Torx Sockets/Tools, specifically T50 head for the OEM rail fasteners
12mm wrench/socket
13mm wrench/socket
14mm wrench/socket
17mm wrench/socket
Flat Head screwdriver
Pliers

^The above can vary depending on what seat/rail combo you have.

-Recommended number of People:
2 (I did this myself, but a helper won't hurt, unless they're trying to do so deliberately- then that's just hilarious).

-Difficulty:
4/10

-Time to complete:
About an hour or two, assuming you have all the tools.

Let's start with disconnecting the battery, I doubt you want an airbag hitting you in the head. We also need to understand that the OEM seat has two sensors, as well as an airbag. The airbag will (obviously) not be transferred, but the two sensors will be- one is the seat belt buckle sensor (inside the seat belt buckle), and the other is the seat position sensor. I'll cover that one down the road.

Removing the old seat:
Remove the OEM recaro seat. There are four plastic pieces on the floor on each corner of the seat. Pop those off and remove the 14mm bolts holding the seat down. Pry the set up and unplug the connectors on the bottom from the harness:

While you're at it, grab your resistor (2 or 3.3 ohm, both will work) and stick it inside the airbag plug coming from the main harness, like so:

Here's a pic of the resistors I got:
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Remove the seat through the rear door, as that's the easiest place to pull it out from. Watch those rails as they can scratch up the plastics around the center console. . Once the seat is out, lay it down on a piece of cloth so you can see the bottom.

Unhook the above plastic from the seat in order to access the clips holding the wires to it:


Use pliers to remove the clips from the piece of plastic, with exception of the yellow harness- leave that one there.
It should look like this when you've done that:

Remove the seat belt buckle. To do that, remove the 17mm nut holding it. There's a washer behind the buckle that you will use on the new rail, so don't lose that.

What you should have after the buckle is removed:

Set the buckle aside as we'll be coming back to it later.
Grab your T50 Torx and remove the three torx screws holding the seat to the rail. The black one might seem weird at first, once loosened- just hammer it out.

Remove the rail from the seat and set the seat aside, as now we'll be working on the rail.
You should see a black plastic over a metal bracket- remove that
This is what you should see under the plastic:

Remove the wire, and unclip the sensor from the L-bracket.

Reconnect the wire to the sensor and keep the combo handy, as we'll be putting this back into the car.
Putting in the new seat:
SPG vs OEM Recaro:

Grab your seat tabs for the brackets and loosely connect them to the seat.

Then lower the seat onto the rail, while adjusting the tabs to sit accordingly. For this to be easier, do not connect the piece used to slide the seat forward and back just yet, as it will create unnecessary tension that will just make the job more difficult.
Tighten the four 12 mm nuts holding the seat tabs to the bracket just enough to have adjustability.
Grab the seat belt buckle and connect it to the rail. It should have a buckle holder welded on it already. Do it before you put the seat in. This is where that 7/16" bolt gets handy:

The new seat can go into the car from the front door (unless you have a different brand seat that's bigger, then it may be different for you). Connect all the clips and wires. Now on to that seat position sensor I was talking about earlier, I'll let Locust explain what to do with it (and how it works).
The way this sensor works is that it reads if it is near steel to activate "driver is close" mode and if it doesn't read steel it assumes the driver is further away. If you want it to read the first mode you should shove the sensor under your floorboards or face it directly at your seat rails and if you don't want it to then shove it out of the way somewhere.
I have mine facing directly at the rails since I sit pretty close to the wheel.

Once you've taken care of these three sensors you can simply plug your car battery back in and turn your car on. After a few seconds the airbag light on the dash should turn itself off. YOU DO NOT NEED TO HAVE MITSUBISHI CLEAR THE CODE TO TURN THE LIGHT OFF.
Seat in the car:


There you have it, if you have questions or concerns or something isn't looking right, just let me know. Thanks to Locust for involuntarily helping me write this how-to.
 
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