Thank's to PGT it is possible to have Recaro's in a GP, just like the other GP's world wide. He installed the passenger seat sensor into his Recaro's. They look great. I did this thread so he can post here what he did for you guy's to see.

 

pics and prices and info needed NOW!!!!!!!!

 

PGT show's some pics on the post I did "GP with SSR wheels"

 

Any idea how these compare weight wise to the stockers??

 

still waiting for price and picts.
The GP in EU with the Recaro seats were soooooooo nice . I was envious...


Any one thinking of a group buy perhaps?

 

sorry all...didn't see this thread until just now.

The seats are Recaro Sport out of a 2007 Mitsu EVO MR Edition. I got them for a song from an EVO forum member in Boston. I had a Subaru forum member go by in person and check them out and then ship to me. Many sell on eBay but buyer beware...easy to miss faults in pics alone.

you'll need a few things....seat brackets from Wedge Engineering or Speedware (where I got mine). I wish the seats sat higher with the Speeware brackets, but, I'm 6'2" and I can now fit with a helmet on for track/auto-x time. It seems the Wedge brackets sit higher, but there's an 8 week wait for them so plan accordingly.




I preserved the stock passenger's side weight sensor/OC3 system for the dash airbag. You'll lose the side-impact bags with this (unless you want to import the Euro spec seats for big $$$$$$$$).

donor OC3 mat from a junkyard seat (for mid '05+ cars):



Recaro cushion removed with the OC3 mat spray-glued on and sensor buried in the foam (pigtail through the seat bottom)





I used pink zipties instead of the hogrings to reattach - much easier to work with and just as secure



reassembled with the OC3 mat ready to plug in:



and installed:

 

But the seat you really want - the one that is used on the EU cars - is the Sportster CS.

 

you can use whatever you want....the install process is the same. And, no, the Sportster CS is not the exact seat as JCW. A little different

Forgot to mention...I used Recaro sliders too....the ones on the OEM Recaro's needed to be cut off.

 

That's right - the JCW version has side airbags.

 

and alcantara, a different shape and JCW logos. different. the Sportster CS is the closest aftermarket option to it but by no means identical

 

Wow! Those look awesome. Nice job.

 

But so d@mn close it hurts.

 

close, but no cigar

 

I notice that those GP seats have the "Airbag" tag.... so why aren't they on the U.S. cars?? Or available as a JCW accessory?

 

Close but no cigar?? I'd say those Recaros are smoking, indeed. I like them better than the stockers...yep, I said it.

 

Oops - my bad. Didn't realize we were in a GP forum. I thought we were talking about the R56 JCW seats. Those are the Sportsters. See here.

 

More pics of the R56 JCW seats here.

 

those are the Sportster CS but won't work in an R53....the R56 has single seat plugs while the R53 has up to five plugs. guess you could hack the harness if you wanted to

 

You'd have to hack the harness regardless, unless you could source the actual JCW seats.

 

no, not necessarily. there was no need to cut anything on my install. I went by the dealer and had them deprogram the seat airbags.

I unbolted the MINI seatbelts and moved them over to the new seats. That takes care of two of the plugs per seat. The third is the OC3 mat, which I kept. The extras were the heated seat option and seat airbags, which remain unplugged.

 

Ok, you're talking two seats. I just did the driver side and spliced in a resistor to keep the passenger airbag live. If you don't mind losing both sides, then you wouldn't need the resistor or any harness hacking. I know two different seats doesn't look as cool, but I honestly would not be able to live with myself if a disabled airbag could have saved the life of someone riding shotgun in an accident.

 

ok...we're getting off track here. you'd have no way of knowing for sure if the side airbag would matter (though it surely doesn't hurt things).

If anybody is at all concerned, stay stock or pony up the $7k for real-deal JCW Recaro's with side airbags.

 

JCW looks good but I would rather keep 7g in my pocket ... so , by installing it the way you did it you are loosing heated seats option right ?

 

yes, the heated seats and the side airbags that come in the OEM seats. I'd like to find some donor heated seats to try to extract the elements, but, with alcantara on these Recaro's and working from home now, the cold mornings aren't so often and not as bad as the full leather seats I sold

 

I was over at PGT's garage today doing a suspension swap. His Recaro seats look amazing in person. Very clean, the car should really have come that way. I know, air bags blah blah blah.