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Has anyone done this? I have a set of R56 front seats and I recently acquired a project 2003 R53 that I am bring back to life. I see the wire plugs are different. I'm seeing if anyone has put r56 seat in a r53. Thanks
Yep. Do a quick search. The holes line up. You will need to swap over the seatbelt, and convert the plugs to match. You can install the back seats too. I put r56 leather in and love it. Makes the r53 truly the best model of mini.
I did the 2nd link in the above post, feel free to ask any questions. It was a quick install, maybe a few hours. I disassembled the connectors and rebuilt them using the old parts so everything would be plug and play. My mini is currently having the entire front suspension redone so I cant wait to finish and get to sit in these beautiful seats again!.
Yep. Do a quick search. The holes line up. You will need to swap over the seatbelt, and convert the plugs to match. You can install the back seats too. I put r56 leather in and love it. Makes the r53 truly the best model of mini.
Thanks for the info and DIY. I completed the upgrade this weekend. I have a 2012 R56 cooper s with a JCW interior/exterior package. I love the way it runs and feels. I just bought a project 2003 R53 Cooper S with a blown motor. Just did a motor swap and hated the seats. A few months ago, a member here dumped 2 r56 seats for 50$ pair. They were my garage seats for the last few months until this weekend. They went in without any problems! Thanks to everyone for the info!!!
The seats may bolt on to the floor with no problems, but what about the front seat side airbags? The passenger occupancy system on the R56 is not the same design as on the R53 seat. You can change the plug, but do the control modules sense the difference in designed systems? If the airbag light comes on after the installation of the R56 seats will the other airbags still deploy? Those you have put in aftermarket seats with no airbags, will your steering wheel and passenger dashboard airbags still deploy?
The seats may bolt on to the floor with no problems, but what about the front seat side airbags? The passenger occupancy system on the R56 is not the same design as on the R53 seat. You can change the plug, but do the control modules sense the difference in designed systems? If the airbag light comes on after the installation of the R56 seats will the other airbags still deploy? Those you have put in aftermarket seats with no airbags, will your steering wheel and passenger dashboard airbags still deploy?
The airbag is compatible. The resistance and spec to deploy is the same. The plug only needs to be changed. As for the occupancy sensor, I don't know about as my car doesn't have that feature so that wire in the seat has been abandoned. If you use a resistor to trick the airbag module to think the seat airbags are there the front airbags will still work. You can do some testing on a first gen occupancy may to see what the readings are and also do a second gen. Or if you have a airbag reset tool just try it and see what happens, or swap out the first gen occupancy mat into the second gen seat. A little work but well worth it. I love my perforated leather second gen seats, the look awesome and are very comfortable. For the back seat you need the center latch and the plastic bushings. You only need to take out the first gen plastic bushings and drill out the bracket to the correct size of the second gen pivot bushing, install the second gen center latch in the location of the original on and you are done.
Nobody I have seen has done this yet in a gen 3 , dont know if the plugs are the same or the line up of the seat mount holes are the same. If you do try it post up.
I'm looking to bolt in a set of f55 seats into my r53 while I decide on buckets as I can then sell in my full leather r53 interior. Not fussed about the wiring as long as I can get the seat belt tensioners working as buckets won't have airbags either.
Got to work out if they bolt straight in or if I need to use my r53 runners.
I'm looking to bolt in a set of f55 seats into my r53 while I decide on buckets as I can then sell in my full leather r53 interior. Not fussed about the wiring as long as I can get the seat belt tensioners working as buckets won't have airbags either.
Got to work out if they bolt straight in or if I need to use my r53 runners.
Did you get the seats in? I know R56 seats will fit in the R50/R53, but would like to know if the F56/55 seats will fit as well. Did the wiring change from the R56 to the F55/56
bumping this old thread up as we are trying to put a set of F56 seats in to an R53. We know we can make em fit, but more interested in any issues with the match up of the systems for seatbelts & airbags. I know there is some splicing to be done, just trying to know if resistors need to be changed and if anyone has the done this before?
I just did it with these sports seats +1 , you will need to splice the connectors to match .
Impressive! So these are Gen 3 sport seats?! And you just needed to modify the wiring harness to get them to work? Did the rails fit in the 1st gen with no modification?
I just did it with these sports seats +1 , you will need to splice the connectors to match .
Did the rails line up in the first gen, or what modding did it take? My local junkyard has some nice looking f56 seats in one of their cars I've got my eyes on.
I know this is an old thread but I wanted to thank everyone who contributed here. I just completed the swap, Heat, pressure, airbag, and seat belts all with the great info here and 1 your tube video. I think they
look awesome. Thanks again!
