My beloved 2006 R50 that I've had for 10 years and 184,444 fun filled miles got swiped across the RR corner the other night by an uninsured guy 99 F-250 4x4. My insurance says it's totaled.

On the brighter side, I think my insurance is giving me a fair price and I have found a suitable replacement in a low-mile 2004 R53, but it doesn't have the cold weather package. According to the Carfax, it has sport seats, as does my R50, but they look pretty plain compared to my '06. How hard is it to swap the seats and heat controller switches? Is the harness for the heated seats (and mirrors) present in the '04? I hate to give up my heated seats, but for well over 100,000 fewer miles, and a supercharger, I will if I have to.
(and for the years and mileage, they are in surprisingly good shape)

I need to figure this out by Monday, because the insurance company has been bugging me to come haul it away. (I haven't accepted the check or turned over my title yet, but I have been dragging them along all week.

 

You will need a wiring harness from an 2006, along with the 2006 seats, to put into the 2004.

I have an 04 with some 2006 English Panther black seats in it. Have airbag warning light on because I didn't use the wiring harness from the 06 too. It'll be a Christmas holiday project!!

 

you can code out the seat sensor, the airbag connector is the same isnt it?

 

Apparently, what my '06 has is the English Panther black leather seats... I can't recall ever seeing another MC around here with these seats.


I don't have the time to make this a Christmas project. I was hoping for a plug & play swap, that I could do over the weekend. If I have to do any major wiring work, I don't have time for that. I figure I can push the insurance company out until Monday to finalize the claim. I suppose I could buy back the wreck but, I would prefer not to take on a project AND clutter up the driveway with a wrecked car and then have to deal with trying to sell what's left. I have too many unfinished projects already.

 

They look just like the ones in the initial post of this thread:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...her-seats.html


and this one:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ml#post4163439


If the set it worth >$1000, it might be worth buying the car back after all...

 

They look just like the ones in the initial post of this thread:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.com...her-seats.html


and this one:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.com...ml#post4163439


If the set is worth >$1000, it might be worth buying the car back after all...

 

If your car has English panther leather seats don't let the insurance company keep the wreck!!! They're probably not worth over $1,000 .. but in good condition you could get 8 or 9 hundred for them.

Physically, its literally a 30 minute swap (sans the wiring). BUT, and its a big but, if you're trying to swap heated seats into a car that doesn't have heated seats, its a far more intense process. I didn't care about heated seats, so I have seats from a car with heated seats, in a car that didn't have heated seats.

I think the wiring changeover happened with the facelift (someone can correct me on that if I'm wrong) - so the seat wiring for a pre-facelift car is different from a facelift car. Does your 2004 have a 3 spoke steering wheel and a 3 piece dash (facelift) or a 2-spoke steering wheel with a 5-piece dash (pre-facelift)?

 

Grab the seats. There are plenty of people looking for those, especially heated . There is a wiring retrofit kit for adding heated seats to first gen minis without heated seats. Other things to grab? = Harmon Kardon amp, speakers, Xenon headlights ....

 

The 04 I'm considering has a 2-spoke wheel/5 piece dash. Will my 06's 3-spoke wheel swap? Dash pieces? The head unit of the stereo looks the same on both, but the 04 doesn't have the HK logo embossed on the speakers and the copy of its build sheet doesn't mention anything audio related. Ironically, it does call the upholstery "T6PN Black/panther Leather."
I'd call the color of my '06's seats to be more of a charcoal/very dark gray with gray piping - like in the links I previously posted.


My 06 has the HK system, but no Xenon headlights (the 04 has the Xenons though). It also has DSC, f/r fog lights & driving lights, but the little OEM driving lamps were replaced with Hella 500's when I bumped (literally) into a deer one morning a couple of years ago. Probably not reasonable to swap the rear fog light since that's the backup light on the 04 and I am short a RH tail light due to the hit.


Any idea where to get the wiring retrofit kit for the heated seats?

 

Your dash pieces will not swap - your 3 spoke steering wheel, airbag, and MFSW, will swap. Does the 04 have cruise and audio controls on the wheel? Your 06 seats are the 'English Panther Leather' - the ones in the 04 are just the 'Black / Panther Leather'.

 

The 04 appears to have said controls.

 

Grab the HK amp from the 2006 car (one wrecked). Its in the rear kick panel passenger side. Not sure if speakers are worth it but that amp is (to sell). The wiring kit/switch can be had from one of the vendors. I just got one for my English Panther seats that I picked up. Note that my kit came with a switch which you dont need. Part number on the kit is 61 11 0 145 996 and is $200. I think you would need to use the harness from the 06 to incorporate the HK system and speakers. The head units are the same

 

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-...s/61120144084/

If you already have the switch, I believe you only need the wiring kit

 

COOL! So does that switch panel just pry out of the console? Looking at the other part that has the harness and the switch panel, that's what it looks like, but I would hate to break it if I don't know what I'm doing.


Speaking of that, my 06 also has the extended console and armrest that I would like to move over to the new ride, any idea how that comes apart? I don't see or feel any fasteners out in the open? Is that clipped down as well? Or are there hidden fasteners?

 

The switch appears to pry out. My replacement has 4 metal clips, 2 on each side about a quarter of the way down. Cant help you with armrest but thats worth saving too

 

It depends on what model of armrest it is . . if its the stock one from an 05/06 I believe it involves removing the armrest piece first (attached to the rear cupholder), and then there's a screw in the bottom of the cupholder

 

Correct. All you need is the harness. Im sourcing the seats currently for my 02 R50.

 

Does anybody happen to have wiring diagrams for the underseat plugs?

As per my posts above, I have 2006 seats in a 2004 MCS - I also have a set of plugs from a 2006 - what I propose to do is to swap out the plug from my car, or the plug from my seats, that won't fit - it is just one plug, which I believe is the plug to connect the seatbelt pre-tensioners (i.e. the black plug that is not the heated seat plug).

I took a look at the body-side plug from the 2006 last weekend and the body-side wires are different colors between 2004 and 2006, and there are 3 wires going into the plug instead of four!!!

Any help / ideas would be greatly appreciated