Installed RX8 seats but I need some more help!
 

Hi guys. I'm currently deployed to Iraq. I recently went home for leave and got a 1985 GSL-SE. I got it from another member on the forum. (Thanks Fire85GSLSE) While I was on leave I installed some RX8 seats. The installation was very easy but since the seats are red and black leather the drivers side is electric. I considered going with the cloth manual seats but I wanted the leather. Anyway, I manually adjusted the seat so it fits me. That was a pain because I had to partially take the seat and motors apart and turn the correct gear by hand. I want to do the installation right though, and make it so the seats are adjustable. I have seen plenty of pictures on the forum of people with the leather seats? How did you guys hook up the seats to allow them to adjust? I would like to hook up the heaters too but the first priority is to allow the seat to adjust. Any help would be appreciated. I Won't be home from Iraq for another month but I wanted to try and get a head start on getting this information. Thanks guys.

Also, this is my first time uploading pics so I don't know how it will go. I'll try and get some better quality pictures but this is all i have so far.

sorry i can't help with your question but those look awesome, was it straight bolt on?

No, it was definitely not strait bolt in. I had to do some modifications and drill some holes in places I didn't want to drill. My goal was to mount the seats in a manner that would allow me to go back to rx7 seats, and allow the rx8 seats to go back into an rx8 if needed. It was still pretty easy though. I just ended up drilling some holes strait through the floor board and putting a bolt through it. I also had to add some height in a couple places so I used small blocks of wood as spacers but later i might replace those with something more aesthetically appealing and durable. I have to go back in and install carpet so the seats are coming back out anyway.

The seats area great fit too. The passenger seat sits a little bit higher than the drivers side because of the hump in the floor. It isn't a problem if you slide the seat back and lean it back a little. The drivers side is fine because it is adjusted in the lowest position. I am pretty short too so i could probably even raise it a little. I would suggest this upgrade for anyone. The RX8 seats feel so much better than stock. When I get back I'm going to start re-upholstering other interior parts in red leather to match. It should look pretty good once I'm done.

It should just be a simple matter of feeding power to the correct wires. I would assume that there would be one for the adjustment controls, and another for the heaters....

I'm thinking about painting the back of the seats black to match everything else to. What do you guys think?

I think the heater controls will be easy. The power controls have several wires. There isn't just one wire to the controller. Maybe it is that simple but it doesn't look like it according to the wiring diagram. It looks like each motor has a power line. It may be that each motor is wired through a relay and the control switches just turn the relay on. I'm not sure though. I have never studied schematics. If it is more than a power wire and ground then I'm pretty lost.

Wiring diagram
 

This is what I have found so far. I have the diagram for the heaters too but I think I can figure that one out.

Here are some before and after pictures that are better quality. My wife just e-mailed me the originals that were not compressed.

Okay, it looks like it will have one power feed for all of the controls except lumbar support which has it's own. So, for adjustments you're looking at two power feeds. Shouldn't be that tough once you figure out the pins on the plugs, and which ones to wire the power into. That schematic should provide that information as well.

Nice looking seats, but your description of the mounting process probably has the highway safety engineers cringing. :)

I'm pretty sure those seats aren't going anywhere. I used the main mounting locations for most of the bolts. I just didn't have that option on every point. If I am in a wreck so bad that the seats break loose, then my brain would probably end up being jello regardless of how well the seats are mounted. They are pretty solid. I'll just make sure every once in a while that the bolts stay tight, but I had to do that with stock seats anyway. Besides, the highway safety engineers in Georgia would probably cringe, but only because it isn't being backed up with 100 mph tape.

Look pretty cool in the FB. I have an 8 so i know how comfy they are. I have the cloth seats however, which of course i believe are better:) I would say keep them the color they are, they look pretty damn good like that.

hey man its g3tr3ddy2gr3ddy from rx8 club, i sold you the seats :P

They look pretty dang good in there! On the harness you have a white wire with green stripe thats bigger than the others, on the same harness opposite of that wire i believe is another larger wire. The white/green wire is power and the other is ground. Just feed that to them and you can adjust the seat. The other wires are for the airbags and heaters. Power functions are those two wires only :)

Hope you enjoy and if anyone else is interested in rx8 seats i have a set of black/tan leather and a set of all black. Front sets 600 each, all four 800. Thanks!

omg heated s eats in a 1st gen

win =)

Thanks. I went with leather because I like the color. The stock seats were leather anyway, so I figure I'm not losing anything. I am planning on keeping them the same color. What I meant earlier was, I am thinking about changing some other things in the car to match the seats, like adding red leather inserts in the doors. I might also have the sun roof part done in red and the fake leather behind the seats done in black leather. Stuff like that.

Thanks! This is by far the best upgrade I have done just for appearance and comfort. Thanks for the great deal on the seats. For anyone interested in buying seats, Rotar Salvage was great to do business with. The seats came fast and packing was superb.

Also, thanks for the advice on hooking them up. That is exactly what I needed to know. I'll keep updates on this thread once I get back and work on finishing the instillation.

Whats the height like with those? Are they shorter then stock, besides the passanger side?

First of all, let me put this in perspective so everyone knows where I am sitting. I am 5'8". Sitting in the drivers seat there isn't much difference in ride height because the seat is adjusted in the lowest position. That is the good thing about going with the leather electric seats. Also, when you install the drivers side seat there is a metal peg that I assume is used for aligning the seats in the RX8. You have to grind that piece off in order for the seats to sit as low as possible. The passenger seat is a different story, however. When I sit in the passenger seat, my head will touch the ceiling if the seat is sitting strait up. It needs to be slid further back and needs to lean back a little. Then it is no problem. The passenger seat sits higher because the floor under the passenger seat has a hump. The mounts on the stock seats take this into account, where the RX8 seats are meant for a level mounting surface. It would be possible to lower it if one were to cut the RX8 seat mounting brackets off and fabricate their own mount. I think this would be the best scenario, I just didn't have that much time. Someone good at welding could probably mount the seats to be equal with the stock height. The back of the passenger seat sits really high too. It doesn't fold all the way forward without touching the ceiling. I don't think it is a big deal though. Besides, the only person that rides with me is my wife who is 5'1". I think she likes sitting up a little bit higher.

Rotor Salvage, I sent you a pm

Very nice Seat mod. :icon_tup:Mazda needs to restart the FB line with all the goods... (modernize it but same exterior). Damn RX8 is butt ugly without pop up headlights.

I know this thread is kinda old but I just wanted to post an update. Hooking up power to the seats was real easy. I think different year RX8's had different harnesses going to the seats but for all of them the power wires for the seats are the two fattest wires. One takes power strait from the battery and one is a ground. If you get them mixed up the seats will work backwards so all you do is swap it. I haven't figured out the lumbar supports yet but I haven't really tried to either. I put in a 30 amp fuse just in case I have a short somewhere. If anyone else doing this install has any questions I would be happy to help.

really looks great!!! any chance of using the RX-7's seat rails?

Looks great. You didn't mention if you had done this when you installed them, but make sure the bolts that you put through the floorboard have a backing plate or bigass washer between the head and the underside of the floorpan. Otherwise the head of the bolt could tear through the floor in a crash.

I used really big washers but I think i'm going to re-do it one day. If I can get access to a welder then I will just weld in better mounting brackets. I would probably take advantage of pulling everything out and do dynamat and new carpet at the same time. It is important to note though, that only one bolt on each side went all the way through the floor board. The seats are mounted pretty solid and in my opinion are completely safe.

As far as using the rx7 seat rails, there is a write up somewhere on the forum where someone did that although they didn't have full range of motion and I think they were the cloth seats. I can't remember for sure. I thought it was just easier using the rx8's rails. It isn't just a simple bolt on process.

My next step will be wiring in the heaters and the lumbar support, although this isn't really a priority because I am in Louisiana and the summer is nigh. I'll get around to it eventually though.

Looking good. Nice job. One of these days..................

RX8 wiring connectors
 

I too am installing RX8 seats in another application. I think I understand the wiring
diagram but would just like someone to confirm before I set off the airbags. The yellow connector is for the lumbar motor and the two biggest connectors on the left side of the white connector are the power and ground for all the seat motors. Is this right?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3617/...48c0f910_b.jpg