What’s needed to convert from Daytona seats to Carbon Race Seats

It might be cheaper to buy or trade for a car with the seats you want. I looked at the cost of this a year or two ago and seats were 20k and racing seat car premiums were negligible.

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couple disclaimers.

I can’t say if a software update would be needed or not. The connectors for the jumper have Delphi written on them so if the jumper is unobtanium or the price of a child you could probably easily make one. You also had a thread asking about euro seats if I remember correctly. If you get euro seats all should swap from side to side with the unknown of the seat tilt mechanism. I would also be interested to know which side of the seat the baby smart tag is on as it is on the door side on LH drive models. The babysmart tag is sewn into the seat and if it were on the center console side on the euro cars it would support the seats being mostly the same and probably mean the tilt mechanism would be easily swapped. Just a thought not facts behind it.

Let’s start with the drivers seat. I suspect the harness you have is shown in the picture with the two connectors. These would be the wires coming out from the main harness under the seat. As you can see the seat only has a white connector on it with two wires. The picture is of the jumper and it on only 2 wires are used. It plugs into the blue connector on the body harness then to the white on the seat. I am sure this is for the seatbelt warning light and two wires makes sense.

Lastly the seat tracks. The seats bolt to the car with 4 bolts. One in each corner. I suspect the rails you have would bolt on to the seat. The drivers seat does have an manual height adjustment that would probably require you to buy so it fits properly. There is nothing to it as it is a LH and RH piece of metal with assorted holes in it for changing positions.


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The passenger seat has the one blue connector coming out of the factory harness. The passenger seat also has the same connector made onto it. This one looks like a direct plug and play. I suspect this is for the airbag. I am not clear if the airbag is vin coded in the computer thus an error message may arise.
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Why not unplug the seat you have and see if it throws codes, if not great its just a mechanical swap as the carbon ones have no electric parts in. Only issue I believe comes up if you have electrochromatic mirrors and electric adjustable steering column as those do go via the electric seat to sync up. I looked at doing it before but decided not to in the end as no one could give me a clear understanding of exactly needed to be done

 

Carbon seats swap are in essence plug and play.

There are electric parts on the carbon seats as they incline angle has an adjustment that is electric.
Many threads here on the swap and fchatters who’ve done it.

Also several on the board with seats to sell.


Most swap seats for use and swap back to stock when selling.

 

I do not have the part number on them.

I suspect a long search of the Delphi connector catalog would yield something.


If I have some time this afternoon I may venture into that realm.

 

Aptiv seems to be the new Delphi. After a little looking I believe it is a GT mixed 150/280 12 pin connector.

this should get you a good start. The Aptiv website is very good. Also an old Delphi catalogue may help also. Then you have to buy the pins and a few other pieces to build your connector.

I don’t t know your skills but it is tedious work.

 

@Citadel

The passenger seat has the same white connector that I believe is for the seatbelt. It also has the air bag sensor connector for the baby smart seat. As you can see in the attached picture the seat only has one connector to plug in to the cars harness. The wires are combined in the seat harness meaning you can see the white connector plugged into the harness that is made into the seat. I suspect you can’t buy this seat without that blue connector as you can see the wiring goes into the seat.

If you get closer to doing this I would like to help identify the parts list for the Delphi connector and work on a pin out diagram along with do a write up.
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Just did this on a 2014 spider. Bought seats that were originally from Europe. I found the electric and heated seats so uncomfortable around the upper thigh area that I almost sold the car. The seats in my 2012 Mac were so much better, considered a conversion to those at one point. Although the outcome is great, I would not recommend it due to cost, aggravation and ultimately modifying the car possibly affecting resale. Also you would have to buy many parts in order to keep the original seats in one piece for reinstallation on resale. My dealer, service manager and tech were all superb and interested in the project, but I can tell you that Ferrari will NOT sell you the proxy file that will make your life easy. You will have to do some work arounds and end up with a non functioning steering column (I found an ok work around for this too).

I understand that if you buy the seats from Ferrari, they will include the proxy file. This may be the easiest way to go if you plan to keep the car for a while.
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Issues that needed to be addressed:
1. European seat rails had a different bolt pattern, one didn’t fit and had to be modified.
2. Had to pull occupancy sensor out of old passenger seat and install in new race seat.
3. Had to remove seat ecu’s and move to new seats which had an area to mount underneath, but unfortunately they rubbed on the floor pan and I had to move them to the shelf behind the seat. Planning to build some sort of box to hide them.
4. The proxy file is the software that defines the car’s options for the main ecu, it must be programmed to tell the cars computer that it now has race seats with no heat or electric control. The drivers seat ecu controls the steering column, so without this proxy file the column does not adjust. It moves during key on and key off though. The work around is to set the column where you want it before you pull the old seats. I was able to adjust height by tapping the adjustment switch while the wheel was moving down on key on. It the. Held that height. No way to telescope. Ferrari will no longer sell or supply this file, which would allow the column to operate normally. I have heard that some cars lost power to the side view mirrors, but mine didn’t.
5. Dealer had to order two short seat harnesses for $1500.
6. Dealer charged $6700 total for the work.
7. Will have to build some sort of bins, speakers or glove boxes behind seats to hide seat ecu’s. More cost.
8. I had to reupholster the seats because of the unusual Bordeau leather color in my car.
9. I had the seat hinge plastic covers wrapped in CF.

The good parts:
1. Super comfortable and great looking seats.
2. Installed seat heaters which are not available in factory race seats.


Cost:

seats............... 8,000
Reupholster
& heaters........12,000
CF work.......... 3,500
Dealer............. 6,700


As you can see, maybe better and easier to order from Ferrari in the first place and get your proxy file. Certainly better for resale.




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Don’t know which country.
Passenger seat occupancy sensor is a thin pad that installs over the pad and under the leather. Tells the SRS that someone is in the seat.
Had to reuse ecu’s because new seats didn’t have them.
Without ecu’s nothing works and lots of warning lights on the dash. Electric rake adjustment wouldn’t work on seats.

 

Thats commitment, I just couldn't live with that mess. Better off just trading in for a different car with right spec.

 

The ecu’s were bolted to the bottom of the original seats and they were unplugged easily.
Each seat has its own ecu.
I didn’t raise the seats because my head is getting close to the roof.
Wasn’t there when the dealer hooked up the wires.
I am building a Box across the rear shelf that will hide the two ecu’s and give me a lockable glove box in the middle.

I didn’t want to sell the car and replace it as it is spec-ed exactly as I want and has many nice upgrades that I didn’t want to do again. The seats were the only problem. Just not comfortable for me. I thought over time they would break in or I would get used to them, but the thigh bolsters just don’t have enough padding. And yes this was a tough project and not much fun, but almost finished now.

 

My firm belief it EVERY Ferrari should come with the carbon Race seats! They are super comfortable and really no reason not to get them. As my wife put it, the car only looks like a real Ferrari with the "Race" seats. The other seats look bland and belong in a Mercedes....

Anyways, I knew this was the deal breaker option for us when we were shopping. We really wanted the front lifter but the seats was a make or break thingy so that was always the first question when shopping.

Here's my setup, love it! Frankly if the car did not have these seats, we would not own one.

 

My dealer went up the ladder and was absolutely refused when it came to an upgraded proxy file. Apparently there was some sort of lawsuit against Ferrari that made the lawyers stop the sale of modified proxy files. They will give you a copy of your car’s original one, that’s it I was told.
Don’t make the mistake I did by buying the seats first and finding this out at the end of the installation.