Has Anyone Changed the Seats in their F355 Spider??

I installed 430 Daytona seats. Took some time to fabricate brackets, but end result is great.
In addition to the look, the bolsters keep you firmly in place and make you feel like the car is faster....lol

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Very nice! Did you convert the top to manual? Or is it still powered?

 

Paul had to bypass the Roof ECU completely. Initially he wired his roof switch directly into the roof emergency bypass switch wiring. However, the seats were taller than the originals and both had to be tilted forward to allow roof operation making the use of the switch difficult (when outside the car). His solution was to set up a remote control system with hand held controllers.

I recall that the windows still operated normally. i.e. they automatically dropped when the roof was unlatched from the windscreen frame and the manual window switches were locked out until the roof was fully down (?).

 

Man, as if the 355 spider roof is not already poorly designed with way too many switches and conditions to work properly... Is his top still working?

 

His top is wired into the bypass switch wiring. The only switches involved are the park brake switch and the two switches related to window drop.

The seat potentiometers are not required, nor are the switches in the actuators, the switch that triggers the buzzer, nor the ECU. The secondary ram system isn’t used.

 

Yes, it works perfectly today as it did when I set it up.

It may sound complicated, but it was quite simple to install. Ian provided a detailed wiring diagram which made it a breeze.

As mentioned, the seat backs are a bit tall so they need to be tilted forward for the top to clear. Standing outside the car I simply push my mini remote fob to raise or lower the top. So much better than original.

Highly recommend.

 

How does the top go down automatically without using the secondary rams?

 

The secondary rams are not used for opening anyway during normal operation. You are doing the job of the secondary rams by pulling back on the canvas (to get the beep). The secondary rams are only used for closing under normal operation.

 

Secondary rams are activated by a solenoid once the primary rams have completed their cycle.
FWIW: my secondary rams function properly.

 

Not sure how. The "F1" solenoid which activates the secondary rams are controlled by the Roof ECU. Haven't you bypassed that?

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The spring in the solenoid valve should keep the hydraulic fluid from entering the secondary system when the valve is not powered. If your spring was broken, allowing fluid into and out of secondary ram system, perhaps the secondary rams would work in both directions?

 

Can't remember exactly what was done, but the secondary rams work perfectly.