smith365film

I want to swap a pair of 997/987 sport seats into my 996, which I know is possible based on some of the other threads here. It looks like there's a fair amount of wiring involved, since the connections don't match between these generations, and I'm really not looking forward to going down that rabbit hole. Has anyone had an independent shop do this work for them? It seems like the kind of job that would be exponentially easier once you've gone through the process once. Hoping to find someone in the Southern California area to do this for me.

hatchetf15

OP - What’s the current seat in your car? Are the 997 sports 2-way or fancy?

smith365film

My 996 has the standard powered seats, with memory, no heat. I haven't picked up a set of sport seats yet, and would be fine with 2-way control if that's easier to install. Preserving the memory functionality is not something I really care about. If I find heated sport seats, I would love to retrofit that functionality (I've seen a Youtube video of someone doing that), with the switches installed in the blanks on the center console.

Mfletch

I installed a set of 997 GT3 sport seats in my 1999 996 at least 10 years ago. I had the basic seats in my car...no memory or heat. The sport seats were also basic. My car belonged to another Rennlist member, when I bought it. It had a dashboard fire and a salvage title. I had to replace the wiring harness, which involved a lot of splicing. I was perfectly happy to cut the connectors and splice the car connection to the seat connection. On all of my connections I stripped the wires, twisted them together, soldered them, shrink wrapped them, and finally wrapped them with the original style friction tape. I used a multimeter to identify the wires. It was an easy DIY.
You will love the 997 sport seats.

If you do it yourself, be aware that the 997 seats have side airbags. Make sure you disconnect the battery, before you attempt to install the seats.

ZuffenZeus

Off topic... Is your car Ocean Blue Metallic? Such a beautiful color - blue with a hint of purple under direct sunlight. AWESOME DUDE!

Mfletch

Thanks. The color is Iris Blue Metallic.

smith365film

Thanks! Your interior looks great. Was it hard to bypass the airbags in the seats?

c didy

They may be removable. That was my impression.

Mfletch

I bought the seats off a Rennlist member. The passenger side had deployed. I cut it out and epoxied the cover closed. The driver's side was intact. When you have the sport seat upside down, it is easy to follow the wires up to the airbag. I taped the connector and zip tied the wires to the seat frame. Your 996 has no provision for side airbags.
Thanks.

hatchetf15

Just don’t plug in the wire for the seat bags.

808Bill

Are the electrical pins in the connectors the same?

Mfletch

The connectors were not compatible. I did not investigate further. My seats will never come out of the car. I had already installed a Tequipment roll bar. I'm sure that if you cut the 997 car side connection out of a junkyard car, you could make it work.