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If the occupancy sensor, one has to wonder if there isn't a harness and/or sensor that can be ordered and added. We have one member here with a North American 991 where it sounds like this was worked around. Would be wonderful to have a plug and play option for the 991.1 and 991.2.
Years ago, I swapped 997 GT2 seats in and out of a 987.2 Cayman S at will, and all it took was a few old towels to protect the doorsills and an hour or two start to finish, if not less. I did disconnect the battery, which I am now told is a no-no. Maybe the right fuse could be pulled instead.
So the 918 LWB are $5200 in a Carrera T. Looks like the 997 GT2-style buckets—which aren't available in any US 991 and fit my body better than the 918 seats while offering access to the 991's rear seats and cargo area—go for $8k~, and my guess is they will retain a fair bit of that value. And you still have a pair of 4WSS+ that can either be stored in pristine condition or sold. These don't seem like a bad value to me, especially if the 991 version of the 997 GT2 seats Carnewal is selling (and Suncoast, it sounds like, can get) are plug and play. If not, and the harness or sensors need some work to work in a U.S. car, I'd love to learn more about that.
I will say the 997 GT2 seats looked great in the 991.2 GTS that I saw in England, maybe better in a 991 than in a 997—which I would not have predicted.
Hi Pete...I'm curious...I had the 997 GT2 LWB in my 997 GTS...they were great at th track...I took the velcro seat section out for the track....however both at the track and on the street these seats where not the best fitting for me for long days in the car. I'm 6'5" 220lbs. not skinny, not fat and very tall.
Would the newer 918 bucket seats that you can get in the GT3 cars fit better or worse for tall guys like me?
Hi Pete...I'm curious...I had the 997 GT2 LWB in my 997 GTS...they were great at th track...I took the velcro seat section out for the track....however both at the track and on the street these seats where not the best fitting for me for long days in the car. I'm 6'5" 220lbs. not skinny, not fat and very tall.
Would the newer 918 bucket seats that you can get in the GT3 cars fit better or worse for tall guys like me?
thanks Mike
Hey Mike,
Seats are like clothes—fairly personal, and really personal if we're talking about a perfect fit.
What you mention matches up with my perception: 918 buckets seem to be better for tall drivers who aren't neither skinny nor fat, or shorter drivers with fairly broad shoulders/torsos. I've got a long torso (6'3" with a 32-inch inseam), and am slim. The 997 GT2 buckets fit me very well, as did the 996 GT3 buckets, while the 918 seats are comfy but offer me little in the way of lateral support. I do like that the 918 seats sit very low, which will only be better for you at 6'5". Definitely worth a sit in them next time you are at the track.
My biggest issue is the carbon socket for my amputated left leg goes all the way up to the upper hip area....so there is no give like the human body...so wider seats will do me good. Never could fit in 996 buckets. In my 997GTS with LWB I use to take out the center sections so I really sunk down in the seat...but it was uncomfortable and tight as h*ll....but I could stand it for 20-30 minutes on the track. LOL....plus this got my knees down under and inside the steering wheel.
Hopefully in a year or 1.5 years my 2017 GTS with comfy 18 way A/C seats will be going back to the dealer and I will be able to buy a GT3 with LWB. We will see....thanks! Mike
bumping this up...lets say you get a Carrera T with sofas...and want to add just an LWB on the driver side...can this be done without warning lights? what is the cost of one LH LWB?
You can also find them in a 987 Boxster Spyder or Cayman R. There are a lot of these seats around in the Bay Area, so hopefully a Rennlister might be able to help. Mooty may even know of a pair near you.
Height is the one bummer with these, as they sat me up a bit higher in 987s or 997s that I like. It wasn't bad, and I figured that I might have a shop modify the stock brackets or make me new brackets if I owned a car with them. They looked like they sat lower in the 991 I saw with them, and I now wish I had asked to sit in the car.
stout - Do you know anyone in the Bay that have these bucket in a 991? I'd like to see how high it sits.
I don't, unfortunately—but should you find yourself in Essex, let me know and I'll point you to where the 991.2 GTS I sat in was.
I seem to remember being bothered by how high I sat in 987/997s with these seats, but not in the 991s I've sat in with them—but need to try that again before saying the problem (for me) isn't carried over. And I suppose custom brackets could always be made by someone qualified to do so.
Hi Pete - I was planning to write an overall summary of my experience but since you asked I suppose this would probably be an appropriate place.
Background: I bought a set of GT2 bucket from a member here who bought from Carnewal to fit in his 991.1 Turbo (the seat was for 991 version). For him he only had to clear the airbag codes (not sure how). Fortunately he was local from me so I avoided all the hassle of shipping costs.
Installation/Results: I had Alekshop helped with the install. This is where the problem started. It was NOT exactly a plug n play situation.
Install was a direct fit but direct plug in obviously was throwing airbag sensor light.
991.2 T driver buckle assembly has 1x wiring sensor but passenger side have 2x sensors connector. See pic below
991 version Carnewal GT2 driver buckle assembly is the same as T, but passenger side buckle assembly does not have any harness cables.
In short, Alek had suggested he can swap the harnesses on the original 4 way Carrera T seat to the GT2 bucket to avoid the airbag lights and buckle errors from PCM
After the swap, passenger buckle assembly is still un-useable due to the lack of harness cables as it is throwing out lights. We end of retrofitting the original T buckle to the GT2 seat (that has 2x harness cables) in order to avoid the lights. Below is a pic of retrofitted buckle & the error codes.
The buckle is pushing against the seat buckle hole causing some warpage on the leather. OCD of me is telling me long term is NOT good for the leather form. But it's not giving me any lights
Final Review:
LOVE the seat and being able to fold to give me access to the back is a huge plus.
This makes me regret a bit not specing the LWB originally.
The seat definitely hugs your entire body MUCH more than the 4 ways sports seats even on spiritual drive.
Comfort I would rate 8.8/10 (10 being super plush). Compare to T 4 ways being 10/10. It's comfortable even on a long drive, but shoulders can be a bit stiff afterwards.
Style/Look I would rate 10/10 (10 being show car look). It does get a lot of looks. Exposed carbon is super unique and eye catching.
When the seat is folded, it can't fold 100% forward unless you flip over the sun visor. In another word, when folding forward it WILL hit the sun visor. Need to be cautious about this otherwise you might be replacing new sun visor very quickly
There also appears to be seat sensor on the padding but I can't confirm if they are. [EDIT: heat sensor]
The sitting position is noticeably higher than the 918 style LWB seats. In some way it's for the better in terms of position of the shifter and vision of the road. But I personally still prefer to sit lower to the ground (not a big deal)
What's Next:
I confirmed from @Blue Flame who has spec'ed these GT2 bucket in his GT3Touring (991.2) in Germany on the passenger side buckle, they still do not have the sensor cables on the buckle. Nothing underneath the passenger side for harness connection (from the pics provided). I think this is where the differences are between US & Euro. Which seems weird to me.
I don't think Porsche makes a GT2 folding bucket BUCKLE (it has a kink by the buckle) with the 2 harnesses for the 991.2. If anyone can attest to this let me know. Suncoast can't seem to find any parts like that.
I also checked with local Porsche dealer ALL buckle diagrams from GT2 bucket, 918 LWB buckle, 991.1, 991.2 buckle. All of it does not show any harness cables including 991.2 T 4 ways seat. I think the diagram is incorrect. Some even have the same PN.
Long term I think I may try to find a fabricator to help me make an extension using the original 991.2 buckle with 2 harnesses like the Pic below. If anyone know any GOOD fabricator in the Bay Area, please let me know.
Or maybe retrofit GT2 bending buckle to the 991.2 buckle with the harness. Might be do-able but I need to look into this.
Try 918 style LWB buckle for 991.2 (which is few mm longer than GT2) to see if it has the 2 harness cable.
Would I recommend it?
If price is not a concern for you and you want the support & cool factor from the bucket seats. Go for it because retrofitting the harness and buckle is a do-able solution and does not give you any lights.
The only downside is using the original passenger buckle puts stress on the leather seat, but still functional.
The only other concern I have is the actual functionality of the airbags. While there is no lights, but no one can confirm if the functionality of airbags would work, especially the SIDE airbag. The assumption is YES given I transferred the original T seat harness to the bucket seat. But I hope I never have to find that out.
If you are on the fence due to costs I would probably say to skip it. The cost doesn't seem to justify going through the hassle and running the risks of the airbag functionality.
I hope this short review helps for anyone is deciding on the seat. Sure looks cool though!
^ Great info, and all of it makes sense. So, if you run your T's original US seatbelt receptacle on the passenger side, you get no lights—suggesting everything is happy—but the US receptacle puts stress on the leather.
I wonder what the coding fixes that have been alluded to elsewhere are, but I like your suggested fix much better. The fact the system seems to be happy suggests to me that it would not only fire the airbags in the event of an accident, but that the side airbags would work. I would think there's a self-diagnostic process with airbags, but wonder if someone here knows more? Of course, there's no guarantee...and I'd love to know if there's a way to find out short of the obvious and highly unattractive one.
I like your idea of extending the US receptacle's arm, and wonder if that can be done strongly/safely. The hard part is obvious, as it's a highly engineered safety item. The alternative would be buying an extra US receptacle and seeing if the upper pinch joint (?) under what looks like shrink wrap can be carefully loosened so the Euro anchor can be swapped in. I think I just confused myself writing that, but hopefully it makes sense.
^ Great info, and all of it makes sense. So, if you run your T's original US seatbelt receptacle on the passenger side, you get no lights—suggesting everything is happy—but the US receptacle puts stress on the leather.
I'm thinking perhaps below MIGHT work. I need to look into this when I get home from business trip. Not sure how the anchor of the buckle is mounted to the actual receptacle. All I need to do is swap the anchor which has the bend for the bucket seat.
Or maybe retrofit GT2 bending buckle to the 991.2 buckle with the harness. Might be do-able but I need to look into this.
Originally Posted by stout
I wonder what the coding fixes that have been alluded to elsewhere are, but I like your suggested fix much better. The fact the system seems to be happy suggests to me that it would not only fire the airbags in the event of an accident, but that the side airbags would work. I would think there's a self-diagnostic process with airbags, but wonder if someone here knows more? Of course, there's no guarantee...and I'd love to know if there's a way to find out short of the obvious and highly unattractive one.
I think I read somewhere here that you could CODE the car to be Euro spec'ed seats. So it would tell the car you have a GT2 bucket and not the 4 ways. Then again, I suspect that would also means you're turning off some safety features that's in US and not in Euro? This is beyond my knowledge.
Originally Posted by stout
I like your idea of extending the US receptacle's arm, and wonder if that can be done strongly/safely. The hard part is obvious, as it's a highly engineered safety item. The alternative would be buying an extra US receptacle and seeing if the upper pinch joint (?) under what looks like shrink wrap can be carefully loosened so the Euro anchor can be swapped in. I think I just confused myself writing that, but hopefully it makes sense.
I think you and I are thinking of the same thing. Re-Use the GT2 bucket anchor, retrofit the original cable harness & receptacle to the GT2 bucket anchor without taking apart the receptacle. I think this might be the safest way. Obviously my long term is to fix the buckle issue so it's not putting stress on the seat. I'll take a look when I get home.
The other odd thing is, driver side only has 1x harness cable on the buckle assembly which matches to the original seat harness. No retrofitting is needed. I'm guessing the 2x on the passenger may be 1x for airbags and the other is for occupancy sensor.
Lastly, Alek also suggested 2 other routes
This one originally I wasn't entirely fond of. He suggested to mount the original receptacle with the 2 harness plugged in underneath the seat, and leave & use the GT2 buckle as is. Basically it would act as the passenger buckle is always plugged in. Thinking of this again, this may not be a bad idea.
See if the 918 Style LWB coming from GT cars made for 991.2 if the passenger receptacle have 2 harness wiring. If it does, it might work and the buckle should fit the GT2 bucket. The new LWB receptacle are few mm longer than the GT2, but both has the bend on the anchor.
07-05-2018 | 08:19 PM
