I am going to try my best to explain how to install the newer seats from Gen 5/5.5's. I installed heated, power front and heated rear seats into my cloth interior 97 SE.


There is 4 12mm bolts holding the seat bottom on. Remove them. Pull seat bottom out of the frame and set aside in a safe place.

There is 4 14mm bolts that mount the seat back to the recliner mechanism. To get to them, partially pull back the leather. There will be airbag and possibly seat heater wiring to disconnect also. Set aside in a safe place.

For the driver seat, you'll need to pull the seat memory module and the main harness if so equipped. Set aside for modification. The pass side seat electrics need no extra work and will connect to your A32's stock power wire.

Mark the inboard (tunnel side) seat mounts at the notch and before the radius of the corner. Use a hacksaw to cut a tab, and bend that tab flat.

Finished product of bending.

(to be continued)

 

Drill a hole in about the center of the tab. You will need to double check where the hole will end up, but this pic will give you the idea.

Now you'll need to drill out the 2 rivets and 2 spot welds on the 5/5.5 Gen seats and break off the outboard side rear bracket.

Do the same on the Gen 4 seat, you'll need the one on the left. Bolt the Gen 4 one to the Gen 5/5.5 rail using the holes you made while drilling out the rivets.


OK, so I left alot of stuff out. I will update this as I get more pics, but this should give you an idea of what kind of work is involved. If you happen to find minty new seats from a Gen 5.5 like I did, you may just want to attempt this.

 

The rear seats amazingly snap right into place with little mods needed. On my I35 seats, the rears folded down as opposed to how my original seats did not. The I35 seat bottom snapped right into place, and the outer leather pieces bolted into place using the same lower 10mm mounting points as the original seats. The seat backs require latches and hinges to be installed, so just use those parts from the donor car and screw them down with self tapping screws.

Heated seats: My I35 seats are heated front and rear. I am awaiting the Gen 4 center console and switches to arrive before I wire in the seat heaters. I have all 4 switches and harness stubs, so I'll just tap the power from the factory supply for heated seats, which my car was not pre-wired with. I will detail this after I receive my console.

EDIT: No need for special center console, even a base model has the heater switch knockouts. I just knocked-out the blanks.

Power Driver seat w/memory:
The I35 seat has a memory brain (white box). I taped up all wires, and just supplied power to the +12V and Batt (yes there are 2 sources to the box per FSM) and the GND and SIG GND are connected together to Ground. I connected these wires to the power seat harness that was pre-wired into my car, and voila everything works.

Power pass seat:
Plugs right into the stock power seat harness, no mods needed, same connector.

Power seat power:
There is a circuit breaker that needs to be installed in the driver's side kick panel. Use your FSM to find it. The CB is fed by the power accesories circuit thru a 30A fuse (all Maximas have this circuit, only Max's with pwr seats will have the additional breaker)

Seat Belt:
Use the old seat belt latches on the new seats. The 5.5's don't work on the 4.

Side Airbags:
If your car has the optional side airbags, make sure to do all work with the BATT disconnected. Feel free to hook up the side airbags to your stock SRS system (if so equipped) I am sure the Gen 4 SRS side airbag system will work fine with these seats.

Enjoy the new skins!

 

not bad i must say...

 

looks very nice

but i still say the 4th gen seats are sexy( front and rear)

 

Gen 4 max seats? Did you see the rear seat headrests on my I35 seats? My original cloth seats had "bumps" for headrests. Now the car looks less "generic" with all this headrest action going on. Anyways, my car came with the cheapest seats and I have not seen the nicer leather ones, so of course these are a huge improvement in comfort/looks over the old cloth crap.

 

subscribed

 

very nice newbie! lol
i need to do this sometime.




you need to change ur torn center console

 

I might be a noob here, but I am no stranger to swaps of all kinds.

I am trying to get a new center console, and a steering wheel too! My steering wheel leather is nasty!

 

i agree and too much trouble for just regular not so fancy seats

 

If you were closer, and I could find seats...I would pay you to install them for me

 

H#ll no, the fronts may be on the same level but the rears are nowhere close.
The rears in this post are really nice, much nicer then my I30 rears, howver I like my 350Z fronts better.

 

nice job .b

 

great work man..

 

Good stuff man.

I wonder if I could get seats from an M45/Q45 in... they have heating AND cooling...

 

damn those seats look good

 

Little bit off topic .Im thinking of getting leather without the seats.How could put the leather on my seats?

 

good job man . . .

 

props to you and a 5 star rating. very very nice...

 

very very nice

 

that's hot

 

I started this as a "How To" thread. I wasn't asking for opinions on the results.

I was not so keen on having "INFINITI" and the logo on the seats in my Maxima at first, but they blend in quite well. I only paid $1000 for these seats, VQ35DE
engine, harness, ECU, NATS Key assy and cluster from a 04 I35 w/9800 miles. So, the seats got put in. My point is to show how to make the seats from newer Nissans/Infiniti's fit in the A32. Yes G35c and 350Z seats are nicer, but these seats breathe new life into this old car!

 

Being small 5ft 4 and 115lbs, the stock 4g seats SUCK. i slide around all over the place when i corner. When i drive the 350Z the seats hug me, and i think that will be my next mod. For those of you who have done G35C/350Z seats, am i able to use the side airbags still? My maxima has side air bags, and i want to keep them, but im not sure if they would hook up to the 350z/g35c seats.

thanks!

 

I am sure the stock airbags in the 350Z seats will work in your car (if you have side airbags now). BTW, I was researching 350Z seat installs, and it seems that the seats will require very similar, if not the same mods as how I did these.

There is at least 2 good threads on here about 350Z seat swaps.

 

you mentioned something about the back seats coming down? I like to see pics of that. Frame by frame would be nice.

 

My 97 Maxima is a base model SE, so the back seats were fixed in place. Some cars have 60/40 folding rear seats, but my car did not. So, I have to install the hinges and latches if I want the seats to fold. Nothing special, just your basic split folding rear seats.

The special thing is that the rear seats are heated. That's it!

 

I think heated seats and folded seats are both special. Especially since the 4th gen max has fixed rear seats. Its basically a new feature us 4th gens don't have.

 

No need to get a new wheel. Save yourself a few bricks and just slap an all black wheel skin on it and you're good to go.

http://www.wheelskins.com/index.php

 

dude killer job... this is a great thread.. anyone who disagrees is just jealous .. most of these peeps def. dont have the ability to do what u did or the ballz 2 even attempt it

 

Re-bump. A few people have asked me to restore the pics in this thread (the Imagestation pics are gone) so I have replaced the missing pics.

If anyone needs wiring info on how to convert the drivers seat memory unit to work in the Gen 4, LMK. I'll be on vacation soon and should have some time to improve this write-up.

 

YOu are the man!!! Awesome write up. BUMP....

 

Hey Man i really need your help with drivers seat memory unit to work in the Gen 4??...

 

thanks for the writeup!