How to take out/install seats?

[fungo45]

Some if you might have seen a previous post of mine where I wondered if I could swap out my Aero seats for those of an Arc. I found the Aero seats to be too narrow, and the Arc seats better suited me.
I finally found some at a good price, but now I'm a little anxious to actually take my Aero seats out and install the Arcs.
Looking at the Arc seats, it appears that there are three basic steps:
1) Take out the four bolts holding it to the floor. My guess is that I should put the seat all the way back and undo the front bolts, then do the opposite for the rear bolts
2) Undo the wire harnesses (there appears to be two - I'm guessing for power and for heat). Should there be more than this (Airbag)?
3) Unbolt the seatbelt from the side of the seat. It looks like I have to take off the molding covering the seatbelt. This is the molding that also houses the powerseats switches.

I would then reverse the process to put in the new ones.

My fear is that it won't be as easy as it looks and I don't want to screw this up. Does anyone have experience with this? Is there any specific order I should follow? Any tips/tricks I should be aware of?

Any help, advise, pictures, diagrams, wordsof warning, etc. would be very helpful and make me feel more comfortable with this.

Thanks

[Chris 9-5]

Your post looks correct to me, done this a couple of times now, but there is a quick release mechanism on the FRONT seat belts, saves you loads of time and aggro!

If you look at this picture you will see where the belt meets the base of the seat right in the centre of the belt, poking through there is a small silver part which sticks out. If you press this in with a hook / screwdriver, the belt releases.

It's then a push and click to refit. Saves ages removing trim!

[bernardc]

There is only one wiring connector under the seats, its a 29 pin connector and it carries all of the required wires. You need to take care when dealing with anything that has an air bag like the seats as a) you can set a permanent SRS warning (needs Tech II to re-set) and b) they are almost literally a loose cannon when the object that they are attached to is not bolted down!
so :
Disconnect the battery and remove the key from the ignition and leave it for at least 15 minutes before disconnecting the 29 pin connector.
With power seats you can of course only do this after you have removed all 4 bolts as you need to move the seats back and forwards to expose the bolts.

The sequence is slide seat forward, remove rear bolts, slide seat back, remove front bolts.

Disconnect battery and remove key from ignition. wait 15 mins to allow all capacitors to discharge.

Lift or tilt the front edge of the seat to easily expose and disconnect the 29 pin connector.

Disconnect the seat-belt. This is probably the only slightly tricky part due to the location of the fastener, you have to almost feel your way there.

At the end of each seat rail there will be a plastic guide, the main purpose of which seems to be to avoid metal to metal contact when the seats are bolted to the floor. Some tend to remain attached to the floor when the seat is removed, so don't forget them and try to keep them matched with the correct rail end. They are all similar but slightly different and a real pain if you get them mixed up and have to match them up with the correct rail end later. They also vary from seat model to seat model, so don't get your new and old mixed up.

PS I've come to the conclusion that the velour seats are the most comfortable for long distance driving. My theory, the theory that is mine, 8-12 hours on leather gives slight DVT whereas velour's cushioning allows easier blood flow. Since I swapped from velour to leather, I get mild numbness in **** and lower thighs after 12 hours in the saddle.

[fungo45]

Thanks for the help guys. the seatbelt release will save me tons of time as I wasn;t quite sure how to tackle that.
As for the wiring harness, I'm a little confused as the Arc seats that I am installing have two wire harnesses each. I haven't had a chance to peek under my deats yet to see if they are the same. My car (and thus the current seats) are a 2002 while the seats I will install are from a 2001. My dealer told me that the seats are exactly alike and will fit in my car. Let's hope he was right.
Tomorrow night is the night, so wich me luck!
Thanks again,
Erik

[fungo45]

Wel,, I attempted my drivers side seat last night, and I can't get the rear bolts to turn all the way. Anyne have this issue?
And Bernardc - you were right about having one harness - thanks.

[SectorNine50]

Hey... so fungo... wanna send those 2002 Aero seats my way?

Haha are the 2002 Aero seats different from the 2000 Aero seats?

[Chris 9-5]

Originally Posted by fungo45

Wel,, I attempted my drivers side seat last night, and I can't get the rear bolts to turn all the way.

Sorry I dont understand? Slide the seat fully forwards, you might need a wobble bar to angle your ratchet perhaps? Not sure what you mean?

[fungo45]

Originally Posted by Chris 9-5

Sorry I dont understand? Slide the seat fully forwards, you might need a wobble bar to angle your ratchet perhaps? Not sure what you mean?

Chris,
I have the seats all the way up, and have easy access to the bolts. I was using a 3/16 hex driver, which worked fine on the front two bolts. On the back, I put the bolts in the hole, and got them both to turn a couple times. But then they become completely stuck - won't turn anymore. So I went out and bought a T-30 star-headed socket thinking that I could get more torque to turn them. No luck there either.
Tell me more about about the wobble bar as I'm not familiar with what that is.
Thanks!

[Chris 9-5]

It just allows you to go in from an angle, sounds like they are cross threading.


Are they definitely the ones that came out? And definitely the same holes?


Have you tried losening off the fronts to allow some movement?

[fungo45]

Originally Posted by SectorNine50

Hey... so fungo... wanna send those 2002 Aero seats my way?

Haha are the 2002 Aero seats different from the 2000 Aero seats?

They should fit - though I think I'm going to keep them for the time being!

[fungo45]

Originally Posted by Chris 9-5

It just allows you to go in from an angle, sounds like they are cross threading.


Are they definitely the ones that came out? And definitely the same holes?


Have you tried losening off the fronts to allow some movement?

I took the car to a nearby gas station that had a mechanic on duty. He thought they might be cross threading too. So he loosened the front ones like you said and got the rear ones in. Looks like I'm all set now.
Now I just need to bring the car in to the dealer to reset the airbag warning on the dash!

[Chris 9-5]

Originally Posted by fungo45

So he loosened the front ones like you said and got the rear ones in. Looks like I'm all set now.

Excellent!