E92 Power to Manual Seat Swap

zhp43867 · 07-21-2019, 05:24 PM

I am quite tall, and want more headroom. I know that the manual seat track setup has more headroom than the power setup as I've tested it out. In my previous car (E36 M3) I swapped the rails on my existing seats from power to manual to pickup headroom. On my 2011 335i, I want to do the same.

I believe that the the process of swapping the physical cushions over to the new seat rail will be fairly simple, the added complexity with the E92 is in the seat control module.

Am I able to plug in the new rail with my old (powered) seat module? If there are internal faults or shadow codes I'm ok with that, if it would trip an airbag light I am not. Or could I reprogram my existing or the new (manual) seat module to work with my car? I will also swap over the active headrest.

zhp43867 · 07-28-2019, 08:09 PM

If anyone is looking in the future, this is possible.

It is of course physically possible to swap power to manual seats. I wasn't able to find any seats that would be bolt in, as my car has 40k miles and many are either higher mileage or older (don't have active headrests).

I bought a base manual seat from a 2008 328i coupe, and disassembled that seat. I made several mistakes- mostly that I tried to take the seat back cushion off of the original seat and put it on the base seat frame. Sport and non sport seat bottom frames are the same part, but the back frame on the sport seat is different.

You must remove the seat bottom cushion from the old seat. There are several DIYs from this. You swap over the new seat cushion to the manual seat base.

As far as the seat back, it's easiest to unbolt the two Torx (on each side of the seat with the bolt head towards the outside of the seat) and remove the whole seat back, wires and all. I then bolted this onto the new, manual seat base frame, swapped the sport bottom cushion over and plugged all of the harness into my seat's original seat control module.

No airbag light so far, will update with headroom findings after I drive for awhile.

I can write a DIY if anyone is interested.

polo 1992 · 02-05-2020, 12:28 AM

Very interested in a diy. This weekend I will be changing all four front seat cushions from one car to another before selling one. My new vehicle is in better shape but I want the leather out of my old one before I sell. Both cars have the same style seats and are heated one is power and one is manual. Hoping all goes well.

Knob · 03-17-2021, 05:15 PM

I guess you haven´t done anything related to a DIY? I was surprised how low I can sit with manual seats and now looking forward to do something like this, do you have a few pics?

07-21-2019, 05:24 PM	#1
zhp43867 Ohhai 19 Rep 134 Posts Drives: 330i Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Redwood City, CA iTrader: (0)	E92 Power to Manual Seat Swap I am quite tall, and want more headroom. I know that the manual seat track setup has more headroom than the power setup as I've tested it out. In my previous car (E36 M3) I swapped the rails on my existing seats from power to manual to pickup headroom. On my 2011 335i, I want to do the same. I believe that the the process of swapping the physical cushions over to the new seat rail will be fairly simple, the added complexity with the E92 is in the seat control module. Am I able to plug in the new rail with my old (powered) seat module? If there are internal faults or shadow codes I'm ok with that, if it would trip an airbag light I am not. Or could I reprogram my existing or the new (manual) seat module to work with my car? I will also swap over the active headrest.
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07-28-2019, 08:09 PM	#2
zhp43867 Ohhai 19 Rep 134 Posts Drives: 330i Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Redwood City, CA iTrader: (0)	If anyone is looking in the future, this is possible. It is of course physically possible to swap power to manual seats. I wasn't able to find any seats that would be bolt in, as my car has 40k miles and many are either higher mileage or older (don't have active headrests). I bought a base manual seat from a 2008 328i coupe, and disassembled that seat. I made several mistakes- mostly that I tried to take the seat back cushion off of the original seat and put it on the base seat frame. Sport and non sport seat bottom frames are the same part, but the back frame on the sport seat is different. You must remove the seat bottom cushion from the old seat. There are several DIYs from this. You swap over the new seat cushion to the manual seat base. As far as the seat back, it's easiest to unbolt the two Torx (on each side of the seat with the bolt head towards the outside of the seat) and remove the whole seat back, wires and all. I then bolted this onto the new, manual seat base frame, swapped the sport bottom cushion over and plugged all of the harness into my seat's original seat control module. No airbag light so far, will update with headroom findings after I drive for awhile. I can write a DIY if anyone is interested.
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02-05-2020, 12:28 AM	#3
polo 1992 New Member 0 Rep 7 Posts Drives: e90 n51 Join Date: Apr 2019 Location: usa iTrader: (0)	Very interested in a diy. This weekend I will be changing all four front seat cushions from one car to another before selling one. My new vehicle is in better shape but I want the leather out of my old one before I sell. Both cars have the same style seats and are heated one is power and one is manual. Hoping all goes well.
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03-17-2021, 05:15 PM	#4
Knob 30FF 30 Rep 301 Posts Drives: E92 335i N54 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Germany iTrader: (0)	I guess you haven´t done anything related to a DIY? I was surprised how low I can sit with manual seats and now looking forward to do something like this, do you have a few pics?
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