davidnyc

So, I found this thread (thread about buddy club and OEM rails). I decided to do a more detailed write up.

Speciality Tools:
Security bit T25
Dremel with many cutting wheels



First: Get your OEM seats. I didn't have any so, I purchased some bad seats online to get the hopefully good rails and sensors:




Second: Remove the security screws from the OEM seat holders to the OEM rails. There are three T25 screws for each side. There are two in the back and one in the front. The one in the front will break your T25 bit (actually it will break three of them until you figure out you have to just drill and dremel it out!!)



Then you have this. Just the rails:





Third: Dremel off the "feet" on the Buddy Club rails. Cut at the welds and everything will be smooth.



Fourth: mate the OEM to the Buddy Club. The Buddy club rails have two holes that line up perfectly with the OEM. But, the Buddy Club holes have to be drilled out a bit to make them wider for the OEM T25 screws:



Now mated together:




Almost complete set:



Fifth step: Attach the middle rail that has the sensors, attach your seat to the rails and car (which is a PAIN in the neck)

Sixth step: This is where the "sort of" in the title comes in. I think you have to now go to the dealer or a body shop and they have to recalibrate the weight sensor with the special tool. Tripping the ABS reset light under the dash (and following the reset directions) does nothing.

So, I have not gone to the dealer and just right after I did this, I got car ADD and my car should be sold by the end of the week. Probably going to try and get an Elise/Exige sometime next year. If someone does this and gets it reset and the dealer and it works, please add it to this thread.

josh7owens

At first I cared about the light but now I'm over it. My brother got in my car the other day and was like "why does your dash have all these lights lite up", "Well Tyler, this one is VSA deactivated, this is the tire pressure sensors that are missing, the one is telling me I need to reset my oil life light, and this other one is telling me your passenger airbag isn't going to work because the sensor is unplugged." He just looked at me like "Oooo"

06Estukay

I did the same thing for my 06 passenger seat. However, I rarely have the passenger seat installed... it's usually out for competition. Anyhow, the above method works great, especially if the car sees street duty with a passenger.

davidnyc

I forgot to add that the front of the rails needs a nut and bolt to attach the two together. Ideally get a grade 8 bolt. I just used a bolt. You may have to drill a hole to mount the two pieces together.

//steve\\

Was the dealer recalibration necessary to keep the light off or make the airbag function properly?

TommySalami

Can't someone measure this with a multimeter and just wire in a resistor to fake the sensor output? The sensor can't be that complicated, can it? It doesn't matter for me since I've got an 04, but it makes me wonder

06Estukay

No, it's not that easy... It's been attempted, myself included.

thomsbrain

How about cutting out the sensor from the stock rail and leaving it plugged in but not attached to anything? The bag works with no pressure on the sensor, right? It's when it has light pressure that it cuts the bag (like from a child or laptop).

andrewhake

Or if the sensor is difficult to remove maybe you could just zip tie up the part of the rail that contains the sensor and leave everything connected?

Mocky

Very good read... and this is exactly the issue I'll be running into when I get aftermarket seats. I can get a brand new BC seat rail for the drivers side but I will have to modify a set of OEM rails and a BC seat rail to make this work. One of the Ohio guys I know is working on this as well... I'll be curious to see how the end result turns out.