Swapping cloth for leather.....

[Sonia406]

I have managed to be a very lucky girl and got my hands on executive leather interior for Miss Pug.

It's come out of a 2003 executive estate, split rear seat so obviously not a 7 seater.

I've managed to get all panels, door cards and seat belts. I will probably have a battle on my hands finding rear beige belts for the 3rd row....

My question are these:

1) My 2nd row of seating is NOT split - the new seating is split seat, will I come across much problem fitting it, or will there be no difference?

2) The new seats are also electric, memory and heated seats, complete with switches and ECU. How hard will this be to fit
I'm not stupid I think it will be a very complex job - but I am a very determined woman and won't give up...........

[jonsowman]

Been there, done that. Mine's a D8, though there's not much difference in terms of the seats really.

I can't be sure on your first question, do you mean the bench isn't split, or the backs?

As for the electrics, it's all a bit of a faff. The first thing to do is get a 12V feed from somewhere. I took mine from the engine bay fuse box, since it's meant to be a good 30-35A max current. I pulled my cable through the grommet in the passenger footwell, it's the blue cable in this picture:


I took a ground cable from the earthing point underneath the stereo.

I then built a splitter with inline blade fuses and attached that to the end of the blue cable:


The passenger seat won't be a problem, you just need to supply 12V and ground from one of the splitter outputs. If you're lucky the wiring will be in place, I'm not sure on the plug colour since I believe it's different on the D9. Mine had this bunch of cables, including 12V/ground (unused on the cloth seats) and the airbag pretensioner (orange plug):


As for the driver's seat, the memory system will not work without the electric mirrors being installed as well. That is known to be a horribly tricky thing to do, since you've got to try and get 10-12 wires through each of the front door concertinas.

A far easier solution is to do away with the seat ECU, and splice the loom such that the switches are wired directly onto the motors (bypassing the ECU). I had a pin map somewhere but it was wrong - I highly recommend using a set of terminal blocks and some trial and error!


You also have to solder two additional ground lines to the switch panel, these are the two thick red (sorry, only colour I had) cables here:


A fairly big job, especially if (like me) I didn't really know what I was doing. But it's been really worth it, have done 20k in the car with the new seats in and they're so much nicer than the cloth. I've also wired up the heated seats which are wonderful in the winter!

[GingerMagic]

Well don Sonia. The door cards are a straight swap, does yours have the courtesy light in them, if not there should still be the wiring in place behind the panel, just plug them in.

Seat belts are quite straight forward, if they appear to be stuck with not much slack, bolt them in place before attempting to release the mechanism, they don't like unwinding!!

I don't think you will find beige back row ones but the seats are only available in grey anyway.

I fitted the 7 seat to mine and my seats are split/folding, so no issues there, maybe when you remove your bench seat there maybe blank bolts or holes for the split seats?

Not sure about the front seats, they will bolt in but will have to ask someone who know about the electric wizardry..

I think Captain Jack washed his seatbelts in the washing machine to clean them up, worked a treat and worth reading the topic.

Good luck, will look ace when fitted.

Jonsnowman beat me to the answer, but his is more thorough.

[Sonia406]

Well don Sonia. The door cards are a straight swap, does yours have the courtesy light in them, if not there should still be the wiring in place behind the panel, just plug them in.

Seat belts are quite straight forward, if they appear to be stuck with not much slack, bolt them in place before attempting to release the mechanism, they don't like unwinding!!

I don't think you will find beige back row ones but the seats are only available in grey anyway.

I fitted the 7 seat to mine and my seats are split/folding, so no issues there, maybe when you remove your bench seat there maybe blank bolts or holes for the split seats?

Not sure about the front seats, they will bolt in but will have to ask someone who know about the electric wizardry..

I think Captain Jack washed his seatbelts in the washing machine to clean them up, worked a treat and worth reading the topic.

Good luck, will look ace when fitted.

Jonsnowman beat me to the answer, but his is more thorough.

Thank you BOTH for your replies!

It's going to be one hell of a job but as you say, will feel a lot better than cloth!

jonsnowman, I already have electric mirrors!
Thank you for all the pictures, I need to re-read your message verrrryyyy slowly to try and let it sink in... I knew it'd be a big job but one worth doing and to be honest - I got them all for a bargain price!

I do believe it was FarmerPug that did the washing machine experiment with the seat belts, then he attached a washed, black seat belt to the tractor to see if it was less effective because it had been washed... Very interesting topic, must admit I have this in the back of my mind already...


Chap I have bought the stuff from has got THREE 406 estates!
One's being sold today so he'll be left with two.

In answer to puddle lighting - I don't have it... Clearly I'll be doing lots of playing with electrics......

[jonsowman]

Ah I didn't realise you had electric mirrors. In which case, have a look under the driver's seat to see what wiring you already have in place. It may be that you can just slot the seat ECU in and plug in the required electrics, in which case everything should be reasonably simple (or simpler, anyway). In this case, the major thing is getting a 30-35A battery feed, which isn't that hard really.

If you can take some pictures of the connecters on both of your current seats, and the ones on your new seats, that should give us a good place to start.

I must try this seat belt washing one day, mine are pretty grubby

[GingerMagic]

Yes, it was Farmer Pug - I remember the tractor test now. I have been getting people mixed up all weekend!!

My donor Rapier didn't have puddle lights but the wiring was there behind the cards so maybe yours is too? I think its a blue and yellow wire with a small white plug.

Take your time with the swap, read all the topics and read them again to be sure..

[Sonia406]

Ah I didn't realise you had electric mirrors. In which case, have a look under the driver's seat to see what wiring you already have in place. It may be that you can just slot the seat ECU in and plug in the required electrics, in which case everything should be reasonably simple (or simpler, anyway). In this case, the major thing is getting a 30-35A battery feed, which isn't that hard really.

If you can take some pictures of the connecters on both of your current seats, and the ones on your new seats, that should give us a good place to start.

I must try this seat belt washing one day, mine are pretty grubby

Many thanks - in fact I have to come to your neck of the woods to pick it up..

I think there will be pics of the original connectors in miss pugs working progress thread.....
If I remember rightly, there's a light blue, brown (seat belt pretens) and another colour of the electrics....... Where exactly does the ECU fit?
I am looking forward to doing it - but not looking forward to the car being in bits, tools littered around the place again I will definitely be taking progress photos along the way and if I need help, posting pictures for help! I spoke to the chap earlier and he said he was a little worried about fitting it, I said no no I am sure it's do-able, I thought about just creating a direct feed off the battery....

[waue1978]

Fitting split seats isn't a problem (remember I've done it) but I have warned you before to make sure that you get all of the bolts & nuts with it as you'll be missing the bolts that fix the split parts in the middle & the nuts that cover those bolts in front of the base that kept annoying you before! If you haven't already got them, go get some before you start stripping it (any 406 estate will have the same bolts as long as it isn't another 7 seater).

Don't bank on the courtesy lights being straightforward. I had the wiring on the door for them on mine, but couldn't get them to work when somebody enabled them with PP2000.

Seat wiring isn't too bad, but make your life a lot easier by grabbing the control switch & wiring from a GTX or GLX with electric seats as it is a bit of a faff trying to get around the seat ECU with the Exec set up. Biggest nightmare I had with the SE seats was wiring the live through from the engine bay as it's a bit awkward. I earthed them with a ring connector where the seat bolts to the floor.

[markw]

The seat ecu lives under the drivers seat (under a plastic kick guard).


Not sure if you'll be able to use it though , as just because you have electric mirrors fitted (good) doesn't mean they are fitted with the position potentiometers which the ecu needs for reference (bad).....
The seats can still be installed though albeit with some rewiring, especially on the driver's side, as has been said.
The feed to them doesn't have to be anywhere near as high as 35A though. You'd only approach half this current even if all the motors were operated simultaneously....on both seats! 15A should suffice. A 30/35 A fuse would imply a whopping great 6mm² cable on the end of it....total overkill.
If your seats have the heater elements in them, they consume less than 5A and really ought to be fed by a separate circuit to keep things segregated.

These are the load currents for the Coupe seat. They have a 5 motor set up to cope with the backrest folding forward to give access to the rear for passengers. Yours will be similar but without the auto glide motor.

Forward (manual) 2.2A
Backwards (manual) 2.2A
Forwards (auto glide) 4.9A
Backwards (auto glide) 5.2A
Backrest down 1.3A
Backrest up 1.3A
Seat Squab up 1.7A
Seat Squab down 1.1A
Height up 0.8A
Height down 3.5A

This is what each wire does on the driver's side switch. You have to add an extra 2 wires (one to each switch) if it's to be modified to power the motors directly when not using the seat ecu. I hope the colours are the same for the seats you bought!

Hope this helps! I'm sure there are members on here who'd help if you get stuck......if you were nearer Suffolk.....

[jonsowman]

Sorry, markw is right. Been a long time since I did this! Mine are indeed 15A fuses on each seat.

Fuses for the heater elements were already in the fusebox, since my car was already wired for them.

[Captain Jack]

The only trouble with leather is it will freeze your butt in the winter and fry it in the summer with the added danger of sticking to your skin on warmer days.

Heated pads do work but they take about 5 minutes to warm up (on mine anyway).

[Sonia406]

The seat ecu lives under the drivers seat (under a plastic kick guard).


Not sure if you'll be able to use it though , as just because you have electric mirrors fitted (good) doesn't mean they are fitted with the position potentiometers which the ecu needs for reference (bad).....
The seats can still be installed though albeit with some rewiring, especially on the driver's side, as has been said.
The feed to them doesn't have to be anywhere near as high as 35A though. You'd only approach half this current even if all the motors were operated simultaneously....on both seats! 15A should suffice. A 30/35 A fuse would imply a whopping great 6mm² cable on the end of it....total overkill.
If your seats have the heater elements in them, they consume less than 5A and really ought to be fed by a separate circuit to keep things segregated.

These are the load currents for the Coupe seat. They have a 5 motor set up to cope with the backrest folding forward to give access to the rear for passengers. Yours will be similar but without the auto glide motor.

Forward (manual) 2.2A
Backwards (manual) 2.2A
Forwards (auto glide) 4.9A
Backwards (auto glide) 5.2A
Backrest down 1.3A
Backrest up 1.3A
Seat Squab up 1.7A
Seat Squab down 1.1A
Height up 0.8A
Height down 3.5A

This is what each wire does on the driver's side switch. You have to add an extra 2 wires (one to each switch) if it's to be modified to power the motors directly when not using the seat ecu. I hope the colours are the same for the seats you bought!

Hope this helps! I'm sure there are members on here who'd help if you get stuck......if you were nearer Suffolk.....

WOW! Thank you so much for all this information..
I'm going to inbox you now if you don't mind?
Thanks again everyone

[markw]

I'm going to inbox you now if you don't mind

I love it when you talk dirty.....

[Sonia406]

I'm going to inbox you now if you don't mind

I love it when you talk dirty.....

You didn't hear me ask rwb if he had a big one at Pugfest
Best part of it was - he replied no

[markw]

I sort of had a big one at Pugfest...a big moment on the track that is! Did you see a silver Coupe go into the gravel on the steep hairpin?....well I was the passenger!