S2000 Talk Discussions related to the S2000, its ownership and enthusiasm for it.

heated driver's seat!

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Old Oct 22, 2002 | 05:22 AM
  #1  
rwr4a's Avatar
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From: Silver Spring
Default heated driver's seat!

I now have a heated driver's seat in my S!

I probably deserve a beating since I didn't take any pics of the install, but it wasn't really convenient....sorry. If I do the passenger side, I will take pictures.

I was able to acquire the seat bottom and back heating pads out of an Acura RL seat that we had at my lab (we did tons of side airbag testing for Honda). Anyway, once I realized that this particular seat had the heaters, I started disassembling...and it wasn't too difficult, but it did require removal of the cushions from the frame and then removal of the leather covers. Once I had the elements out, I figured out how they needed to be wired up. It isn't just a positive and negative lead...there was another lead and it has something to do with some temperature sensors in the elements. But, I decided (until I get my hands on the control unit/switch from an Acura/Honda with heated seats) to ignore the sensor and just develop my own high/low circuit.

The pad from the seat bottom was in two sections, which I had to rearrange to fit in the S seat bottom. The pad from the seat back was simply a rectangle, and it fit in the lower portion of the S seatback. I really wish I had pictures, but oh well.

After removing the seat, I removed four bolts that hold the seat bottom cushion onto the frame. Once that was off, I had to remove these upholstery clips (little copper rings) that held the seat cover onto the frame/cushion. That allowed me to peel off (not completely) the cover. There were other clips and bars that kept the whole thing from coming off (the yellow lines in this lame picture), but there was enough room to shove the pad in between the foam and the leather and smooth it out. On the seat bottom, the "sensors" are these one-inch diameter cylindrical things that are about a half inch tall. I was able to position those on the front-facing part of the cushion so they didn't protrude into the part of the seat you sit on (they are in the very back, recessed into holes in the foam on the RL underneath your butt). Once the pad was smoothed out, I pulled the cover back over the foam and put the clips back on. The clips are little copper rings that can be easily opened with a screwdriver or pliers, and I squeezed them back together with pliers. They go through these connectors on the seat cover to pull it tight against the seat cusion pan. For the seat back, the middle insert (perforated leather part) is stitched at the top of the seat, but is connected to the bottom of the seat back with a tongue-and-groove sort of thing. There is probably a better way to undo the tongue-and-groove thing, but I was able to get it started and then it was not problem (it goes across the entire width of that cushion). Then, the bottom of the insert is open, and it was quite easy to stick the pad in there. Once it was smoothed out, I put things back together and was ready to wire up the electrical stuff. This picture sortof shows where the heated parts are (red speckles). The yellow lines represent parts of the seat where clips and bars hold the leather to the cushion foam that I couldn't undo...thus limiting where I could place the heaters. I didn't even attempt to put heat pads in the bolsters, since they were hard to get to and the pads weren't shaped right.


For now, I just wired it up so it would work on high. I have some connectors and it plugs into the cigarette lighter. Eventually, I will hard-wire it with a switch to have high and low settings. On my drive to work this morning, after 15 minutes it was a bit too warm on the backside. Probably wouldn't have been so bad if the top were down, but it was early and kinda chilly and I just didn't put it down.

Anyway, sorry for the lack of pictures, but if you want more info on this little project, I would be happy to explain more. I am not an upholstery expert, but am good with the hands. I was a little nervous taking the seat apart like that, but I actually have experience with leather seat covers from the side airbag work we did, so I figured I could handle it. I am sure you could obtain seat heaters from junkyard cars or maybe there are aftermarket manufacturers....either way, it should improve comfort on those cold days when you just must have the top down

Rodney
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Old Oct 22, 2002 | 05:40 AM
  #2  
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From: Franklin MA
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great post as heated seats would be a godsend in New England

top down till Dec

love to see pics and maybe a price list
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Old Oct 22, 2002 | 05:56 AM
  #3  
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From: West Henrietta UPSTATE NY
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In my mind the two biggest drawbacks about the S2000 are the seats.
#1- the driver's position is too high, the seat should be lower
#2- no heated option
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Old Oct 22, 2002 | 05:57 AM
  #4  
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From: Silver Spring
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thing is, there wasn't a price list since i ripped the parts out of a seat i had at work. check out this thread for another heated seat install.
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