Who says the Through Load retrofit can't be done?! The results of my weekend project

[Keith Nguyen]

Well, with the other half out of town for memorial day weekend, I had an interior swap planned. I learned a lot about German engineering this weekend as opposed to Japanese engineering that I grew up with. These German things are tricky, but this is what I was able to do over the weekend:

1) Retrofit Contour comfort sport seats
2) Retrofit through load system

The major hurdles were the rewiring, wire diagram studying (damn German Colors kept confusing me, SW is black?!?!), and a lot of making it work! I researched the forums and all I could find; "The through load system CAN NOT be retrofitted". Any way, that didn’t' stop me, I stripped my interior, examined it and found that the structure is the exact same with that plate or with out. The engineers at my office thought that it should be structurally sound, and they were right. Any way, lets move on.....

The benefits of this project are:

18 way seats, comfort entry/exit, and through load convenience

I'm sorry but a sedan should have seats that fold down. People generally have to hull stuff around and it doesn’t fit in my Acura (oddly enough, since the Acura is larger than the E39).

Alright, and now for the pictures (Excuse the mess, the interior is getting detailed this weekend):


(notice I had the ugly burgundy/purple interior. I never really got the official color name. Burgundy was the closest i came to color matching the interior)


(Look at all those seat settings!!! Both front driver and passenger seats are in, these seats rock! I missed them from my old E38)


(Chopping up a car isn't for the faint of heart, but I was on a mission)


(Half done!)








(now I got a complete Black interior)






Enjoy guys; sorry I didn't snap enough pictures of the old interior. Ugh, I was just in a rush to strip that out. I'm happy about the through load retrofit, more importantly, the car is damn comfortable with these new seats. The setas in the rear fold down flawlessly, and seal the trunk really well; it looks completely stock! I haven't noticed any difference in structural rigidity yet, and trust me, I drive my cars. I believe the rear of the car is reinforced pretty well due the pillars in the back, and never be able to push my car on the streets as how it's commonly done on the track. Any way, I hope you guys enjoy the pictures as I've finally answered my own question, the through load retrofit CAN BE DONE. --=Keith

[e39dream]

do the latches work on the fold downs?

[amancuso]

(damn German Colors kept confusing me, SW is black?!?!)(notice I had the ugly burgundy/purple interior. I never really got the official color name. Burgundy was the closest i came to color matching the interior)

SW= Schwarz, Schwarz= Black
burgundy/purple= Aubergine .. Aubergine= Eggplant

[Keith Nguyen]

do the latches work on the fold downs?

Yes they do, everything works as it came factory installed! Even the lock for the latches work.

SW= Schwarz, Schwarz= Black

burgundy/purple= Aubergine .. Aubergine= Eggplant

I figured out SW stood for Schwarz after I was comparing colors to the chart! I thought damn it, these diagrams are in German. I had an E46 that was Schwarz, but the Aubergine interior, that's news to me!

[racerx0911]

nice i want fold down seats...

[NNY528I]

May the Schwarz be with you!

[SHWELL]

Shwell is a Schwarz guy.. I like that word. It is kinda sexy, just like your seat upgrade..... Good work.

[azaytsev]

(notice I had the ugly burgundy/purple interior. I never really got the official color name. Burgundy was the closest i came to color matching the interior)


The name for the burgundy color is the Aubergine. My 97 came with the same color which I love it very much. So unique vs to black interior.
Good job on the swap. Where did you get sport seats?

[Keith Nguyen]

Thanks guys, I love the mod as well.

(notice I had the ugly burgundy/purple interior. I never really got the official color name. Burgundy was the closest i came to color matching the interior)
The name for the burgundy color is the Aubergine. My 97 came with the same color which I love it very much. So unique vs to black interior.
Good job on the swap. Where did you get sport seats?

Sorry buddy, I didn't mean to offend ya. The eggplant just isn't my thing. I will admit however, black is very common, although you can't go wrong with black. However, I'd like to have two tone, black with grey inserts.

I got the sport seats from a '00 740I sport. These seats are reminiscent of the older E34 //M5 of how the back of the seats go past the headrest, or how the head rest cuts into the back rest. The seats are 18 way!! That means everything moves, top half of backrest, backrest, headrest, lumbar support, thigh support etc!








--=Keith

[WagOnBagz]

pm sent

[MNsport528i]

Does the seat memory still work with the retrofitted seats? I've been thinking of the same upgrade - I need heated seats here in MN...

[Keith Nguyen]

Yes, the memory seats are exactly the same... You can also get the nice tilt away feature with the newer seats. It has something to do with the newer version of the memory module. The heated seats are another story, but you can retrofit those as well. I'm waiting for winter to come before I perform that project.... --=Keith

[reelizmpro]

Nice retrofit. So the E38 seats bolted right in? I didn't know they had all in one sport/comfort seats?

BTW, waiting for winter??? bro, you're in Irvine - SoCal. haha.

[Keith Nguyen]

Yes, E38 front seats bolt on. The seats came from a 740i with the sport package.

I agree it's SoCal, but it does get cold! And when it gets cold, i use the seat heaters. Also, what do you do when you take the car into the mountains and it's butt cold? =D I got spoiled my seat heaters on my Acura, now i want them in all my cars!

Nice retrofit. So the E38 seats bolted right in? I didn't know they had all in one sport/comfort seats?

BTW, waiting for winter??? bro, you're in Irvine - SoCal. haha.

[nwyrkfinezt]

Did u have to weld anything to the body of the car, for the seats to close ?

[cdb3113]

Wow. People need to stop giving me ideas. Hahaha! That is an AWESOME mod. Congratulations! It takes balls to cut into your car like that!

The results are outstanding.

[x2nervisx]

that's awesome... i can't seem to find seats from an e38 though since I want to do the same thing.

[cdb3113]

Is this mod possible if you have the factory dsp with sub box thing? It hangs under the rear deck. Here is a pic of my trunk... sub box is hanging down here.




and with it up




thanks!

[Philboski]

Wow, talk about resurrecting an old thread......

[cdb3113]

lol didn't even look at the date.. it just popped up on the first page!

[DP540]

I never knew that there were E39s that dont have folding rear seats.

[muddy4dsm]

I don't have the ski hole or the fold down seats. It sucks! I'd at least like to have the ski hole but haven't started looking for the parts to complete this project. If anyone knows of a wrecked car with a ski hole kit let me know!

[franka]

I've slept many hours with my seat leaned way back. Very comfortable if you can sleep on your back w/o rolling over.

[hurttech]

Is this mod possible if you have the factory dsp with sub box thing? It hangs under the rear deck. Here is a pic of my trunk... sub box is hanging down here.




and with it up




thanks!

Lets keep this old thread going haha. Anyway's cdb, I dont think DSP would pose a problem. I have fold down seats with the DSP box there.

[ScottVor]

cdb3113,
yes, you can have fold down seats with your DSP subwoofer enclosure.