abie915
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- Joined
- Jan 22, 2014
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- Location
- Kansas City
- Vehicle(s)
- '15 GT PP, '16 EB PP
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- #1
I've heard that it is possible to add power front/back to the manual Recaros by swapping the bases. I currently have my passenger side Recaro and a power base taken apart. It looks like it should be possible to swap over the track with the power mechanism, but I can't figure out how to disassemble the tracks. Anyone know how to do this?
Edit: figured it out. I managed to swap the bases from my base GT with the bases from the recaros out of a Mach 1. Power front-back, height and lumbar are all working! Only thing I left out is the power seat bottom inclination, but I don't miss it. The factory Recaros don't have passenger side height adjustments at all, so I also got power height on the passenger side.
I also swapped in a nicer version of the center console with soft touch surfaces and white stitching from the mach 1, so everything is a lot nicer inside!
Tools needed:
1) Angle grinder with cutting and grinding discs
2) Welder: If you're going to put things back the way Ford built seats, you will need a welder. Although I think you could get away with a small nut and bolt or a couple of pop rivets
3) Torx bit set
Steps:
There are a ton of existing threads showing how to tear down and reupholster the seats, so I'm not going to go into that bit. Start by stripping down the front seats down to the seat bases for your Recaro and donor power seats.
Recaro base left, power base right. As you can see, they're almost identical. All we need to do is transfer the plate on the front of the seat that has the bolster support brackets from the Recaro base to the power base.
Start by removing the plate from the power base by undoing these fasteners. This is the part that pivots and lets you raise/lower the front of the seat. Note that you will lose this feature.
You can now remove these brackets that were held on by the screws at the top:
Remove the wiring harness from the bottom of the plate, it's just held in place by some christmas tree fasteners. The plate should now be free, unhook it from the top and pull it off.
Next, we need to adjust the tilt mechanism so that the recaro front plate sits in the same position that it did in the Recaro seats. This is achieved when the hole in the frame aligns with the hole in the tube:
Temporarily plug in the power seat controls into the base, and take the base to the car. Plug in the main connector on the bottom of the seat and adjust the tilt up/down till the view from the side looks like this:
We can now disable the tilt mechanism. Unplug the connector from the tilt motor and zip tie it safely out of the way:
Next, move on to the Recaro base. The plate for this seat comes off in exactly the same way as the power base, but the added complication is that the bolster support brackets are welded to the seat frame in the back:
Measure and record the side to side distance between the ends of the support brackets:
On my seat, this measurement was almost exactly 17 1/4" or 44 cm:
Next, take a grinder with a cutting disc and cut through the two welds shown above, there is no need to cut any other welds. After doing this, you should be able to separate the front plate with the bolster supports from the seat base. Plate from the power base left, recaro plate at right:
Clean up what is left of the factory welds from the bolster support bracket with a grinding disc.
Transfer the recaro plate to the power base and reattach all the fasteners (four on top + two on the side)
Adjust the distance between the ends of the bolster support brackets until the distance between them matches the measurement you took earlier. I used clamps to hold the ends at the correct distance.
Once you're satisfied with your measurements, weld the ends of the bolster brackets down to the seat base (please excuse my crappy welds, I've never welded before lol) Alternatively, you might be able to drill a couple of small holes through the ends of the brackets and attach them to the seat base with small nuts and bolts or pop rivets.
That's pretty much it. Reassemble the Recaro seats with the side panel from the donor seat that has the switches and you should be all set.
---------------------------------------------------------
If you want power lumbar, you will also have to take the seat backs apart. From your power seat, pry off the white parts off the yellow rods and unhook the cable ends from the sides of the seat. Next, cut the zip tie that holds the lumbar motor in place (the circled gray object) Disconnect the wire from the motor and the whole lumbar assembly will come off the seat.
Transfer it over to the recaro seatback and attach everything the way it was attached originally.
The Recaro seats will not have the lumbar wiring, so take the whole wiring harness off the donor seat. Remove the existing recaro harness and attach the donor harness.
This is the only picture that I have unfortunately, but it's pretty easy to figure out once you have the seat apart.
Edit: figured it out. I managed to swap the bases from my base GT with the bases from the recaros out of a Mach 1. Power front-back, height and lumbar are all working! Only thing I left out is the power seat bottom inclination, but I don't miss it. The factory Recaros don't have passenger side height adjustments at all, so I also got power height on the passenger side.
I also swapped in a nicer version of the center console with soft touch surfaces and white stitching from the mach 1, so everything is a lot nicer inside!
Tools needed:
1) Angle grinder with cutting and grinding discs
2) Welder: If you're going to put things back the way Ford built seats, you will need a welder. Although I think you could get away with a small nut and bolt or a couple of pop rivets
3) Torx bit set
Steps:
There are a ton of existing threads showing how to tear down and reupholster the seats, so I'm not going to go into that bit. Start by stripping down the front seats down to the seat bases for your Recaro and donor power seats.
Recaro base left, power base right. As you can see, they're almost identical. All we need to do is transfer the plate on the front of the seat that has the bolster support brackets from the Recaro base to the power base.
Start by removing the plate from the power base by undoing these fasteners. This is the part that pivots and lets you raise/lower the front of the seat. Note that you will lose this feature.
You can now remove these brackets that were held on by the screws at the top:
Remove the wiring harness from the bottom of the plate, it's just held in place by some christmas tree fasteners. The plate should now be free, unhook it from the top and pull it off.
Next, we need to adjust the tilt mechanism so that the recaro front plate sits in the same position that it did in the Recaro seats. This is achieved when the hole in the frame aligns with the hole in the tube:
Temporarily plug in the power seat controls into the base, and take the base to the car. Plug in the main connector on the bottom of the seat and adjust the tilt up/down till the view from the side looks like this:
We can now disable the tilt mechanism. Unplug the connector from the tilt motor and zip tie it safely out of the way:
Next, move on to the Recaro base. The plate for this seat comes off in exactly the same way as the power base, but the added complication is that the bolster support brackets are welded to the seat frame in the back:
Measure and record the side to side distance between the ends of the support brackets:
On my seat, this measurement was almost exactly 17 1/4" or 44 cm:
Next, take a grinder with a cutting disc and cut through the two welds shown above, there is no need to cut any other welds. After doing this, you should be able to separate the front plate with the bolster supports from the seat base. Plate from the power base left, recaro plate at right:
Clean up what is left of the factory welds from the bolster support bracket with a grinding disc.
Transfer the recaro plate to the power base and reattach all the fasteners (four on top + two on the side)
Adjust the distance between the ends of the bolster support brackets until the distance between them matches the measurement you took earlier. I used clamps to hold the ends at the correct distance.
Once you're satisfied with your measurements, weld the ends of the bolster brackets down to the seat base (please excuse my crappy welds, I've never welded before lol) Alternatively, you might be able to drill a couple of small holes through the ends of the brackets and attach them to the seat base with small nuts and bolts or pop rivets.
That's pretty much it. Reassemble the Recaro seats with the side panel from the donor seat that has the switches and you should be all set.
---------------------------------------------------------
If you want power lumbar, you will also have to take the seat backs apart. From your power seat, pry off the white parts off the yellow rods and unhook the cable ends from the sides of the seat. Next, cut the zip tie that holds the lumbar motor in place (the circled gray object) Disconnect the wire from the motor and the whole lumbar assembly will come off the seat.
Transfer it over to the recaro seatback and attach everything the way it was attached originally.
The Recaro seats will not have the lumbar wiring, so take the whole wiring harness off the donor seat. Remove the existing recaro harness and attach the donor harness.
This is the only picture that I have unfortunately, but it's pretty easy to figure out once you have the seat apart.
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