Although it's almost spring I finally found some time to install the seat heater set I bought off ebay months ago.

The seats came out very easy - just four 15mm bolts. First step was taking off the hard plastic back. This car has been roasted in the past, and a lot of ABS plastic parts like clips are very brittle and weak, including the 4 round ones that hold the plastic back in place. All 4 were broken on my vehicle. To properly remove the back the top has to slide sideways and the bottom lifted up. There are two small catches on the side but they popped off easy enough. This exposes the long clips that hold the leather to the seat

You lift the clips away from the rods. There are five to remove: two each side and one on the bottom. The very top one I left alone as it didn't have to be removed.

One of the side clips. Just pull it off.




To get the bottom one off you have to remove the wiring cable and two connectors from the seat. You also have to pop off two round clips This releases the flap that goes down and under the seat back.

The dangling black things are the broken clips that hold on the plastic back. The round clips have to come out.











Pull the flap down and out the front, lifting it away from the seat. You have to be careful at this point, because the leather is still attached to the seat in the seam with the bolsters via a thin plastic rod that is held to the seat by staples, and to the front leather by a very fragile strip of fabric that tears very easily.




Two plastic rods hold the seat cover tight to the bolster seam. The pinkish stuff on the right is the fabric that tears easily away from the rod.




I pulled the leather off the bolsters to give it as much slack as possible.

I was hoping to be able to lift the leather right off the seat but That would mean pulling out those two rods, and one look told me getting that back in there would be a nightmare, and so I opted to just shove the heater pad up under the leather. Ideally you would tape it in place, but it just wasn't worth tearing the seat down further, and I can't see why it would fall down anyway.

To be able lift it away this much some of the binding fabric tore. You couldn't tell once the leather was all stretched back into place though. I just wanted to make sure the pad was good and flat




Once the leather is pulled back and clipped back in, everything smooths out again.

The bottom seat was even easier. While I was first intending to shove the heater pad through the rear of the seat, going that way was a lot more complicated, so I opted going through the front instead, which only entailed removing a single large clip. The leather here is also held to the bolster seam just like the back, so once again I had to shove the heater in.

Unclipping the front




I lined the two power wires alongside the seat towards the console where everything is hidden. The relay I screwed to a plastic frame under the seat.
I only have to connect the power wires to a ground and switched power source, and run the control switch lead to wherever I'll put the switch. I'm of mixed mind right now; I can either install them where the stock switches go or on the centre console.

Once connector for the top heater, one for the bottom.




Relay installed.




Ready to go back in.

 

Decided on the usual location for the switches. They almost look stock except for the shape.