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-Replaced my Rennline pedal set with SRP pedals.
-Replaced the stock steering wheel with a Sport Design wheel.
-Update on the ROW GT2 buckets: so damn good. I can say without question they are slightly more reclined and sit just a tad lower than when I had the 997 variant.
The added heat is very nice as well.
is your comments about the RoW GT2 Buckets in reference from the NA GT2 Buckets?
-Replaced my Rennline pedal set with SRP pedals.
-Replaced the stock steering wheel with a Sport Design wheel.
-Update on the ROW GT2 buckets: so damn good. I can say without question they are slightly more reclined and sit just a tad lower than when I had the 997 variant.
The added heat is very nice as well.
That whole monotone thing you've got going on is working perfectly. Uber clean and the business.
your comments about the RoW GT2 Buckets in reference from the NA GT2 Buckets?
That is correct. I had the NA GT2 buckets when I first bought the car, was not a fan.
Then went to the Pole Positions for a while. I really liked them but they just don't feel very premium and I wanted to utilize my heated seat functionality.
I read somewhere (cant say exactly where) that someone who put the RoW seats in their 997 had more helmet clearance then previously in the same car with NA buckets.
Now it could be something as simple as the cushion being slightly thinner or another small thing like that, but the 8,500 miles spent in the NA buckets vs the 5k miles I've done in the RoW buckets - they don't even feel like the same seats.
Originally Posted by RAudi Driver
That whole monotone thing you've got going on is working perfectly. Uber clean and the business.
Thank you for noticing! Always going for a OEM+ look on my cars.
That’s interesting… the 997 ROW GT2 passenger seat sits about 1 inch lower than the corresponding NA version of the seat because it doesn’t have the occupancy sensors in the seat frame rails. I’m not sure what would make the 991 version of the seat sit lower. Do you happen to have a photo of the seat rails from the side of the seat?
Can someone explain the functional purpose of the aluminum floor pan, looks kinda cool but it’s $$… curious why. Burning legs up of the whole thing is on fire?
That’s interesting… the 997 ROW GT2 passenger seat sits about 1 inch lower than the corresponding NA version of the seat because it doesn’t have the occupancy sensors in the seat frame rails. I’m not sure what would make the 991 version of the seat sit lower. Do you happen to have a photo of the seat rails from the side of the seat?
This much I did know. My girlfriend - who's been on many road trips with me - echoes my thoughts on them, at minimum, being more comfortable.
Unfortunately in my haste to install the seats I didnt take too many photos of them outside of the car.
Hope the attached photo helps.
Originally Posted by Wonderdan
Can someone explain the functional purpose of the aluminum floor pan, looks kinda cool but it’s $$… curious why. Burning legs up of the whole thing is on fire?
A "track mat"? Always thought they looked cool as well. Assuming it's there to reduce the damage over time of increased foot movement & pressure in track conditions.
Something a normal floor mat would do but avoiding the Final Destination outcome from the mat and its potential to move around.
That’s interesting… the 997 ROW GT2 passenger seat sits about 1 inch lower than the corresponding NA version of the seat because it doesn’t have the occupancy sensors in the seat frame rails. I’m not sure what would make the 991 version of the seat sit lower. Do you happen to have a photo of the seat rails from the side of the seat?
Good theory but the NA seats only have occupancy sensor in passenger seat to my knowledge and so it shouldn't affected the drivers seat... But maybe if NA Passenger/Driver use the same brackets? Might have to do some part number comparison.
They have gone up in price 3x in the last few months and a few more times over the last few years so I dont see them getting any cheaper. There is a lot of conflicting information out there on what you need to do to have the seats not fault the airbag etc.
I luckily have a friend who is well versed in this exact thing whom has 30+ years MT experience with PCNA and PCE.
I am brining the car to him in a few days. I'll post data so this can be a closed case of what works, what doesn't, and why with the RoW GT2 seats in a 997.
Just did this in a 718 but the conversion is the same as the 997. Long thread on this, which I was able to use the experience from to get the minimal no coding changes setup figured out. See https://rennlist.com/forums/991/1078...l#post18355118
I went the other way and added heating elements to NA bucket seats, repinned the yellow connector and boom, everything works including airbag weight sensor
Originally Posted by ChrisF
care to elaborate or post a DIY? IIRC you could get them in ROW but not here so assume the parts are available.
Originally Posted by nwGTS
Just get a seat heat mat and have it inserted into or under of the foam of the lower cushion and slip the cover back on.
Splice the wires from the heat mat into the yellow connector under the seat. You'll need the Porsche WDS schematics if DIY. You can enable heated seats via PIWIS or Durametric.
Get the lower console module that includes the heated seat controls and bing bang boom you're in the hot seat.
Originally Posted by Body In White
Exactly this.
I used OEM seat heating elements from 18-way sport seats and trimmed them to fit the buckets. On the plus side it gave me all the correct wiring pins to slip into the yellow connector under the seat, cons: they were expensive.
If I did it over again, I would buy commodity seat heating elements off of Amazon, then buy a used Mini seat heating wiring harness off of eBay to harvest the correct wiring connector pins since the seat connector in our cars was designed by BMW. If your car came with heated seats originally, then you’re done. If they didn’t then nwGTS’s steps are correct.
Noted for when I eventually put the folding buckets in an E46 M3.
Some good info from another thread I'm adding here.
I get a PM every other week with questions about the Recaros or the RoW folding buckets so hoping this sort of stuff helps someone out.
To add some other notes for posterity (and those who stumble on this later)...
The yellow seat connector is a BMW part # 6 954 587
Search eBay for a "BMW Seat Wiring Harness" you will find a number of them for $30-$40 that have the right "donor" thicker gauge red & brown seat heater power wires, and more importantly the seat connector pins. I tried to buy the pins from Mouser but was told that they are a proprietary BMW component.
The red wire goes in pin 8 and brown in pin 13 on the seat connector, then wire in your commodity seat heating elements to the donor red/brown power wires.
I’m super jealous of all the alcantara. ljmartrye, is the alcantara on your interior, stock? I’d love to get some recommendations on the best way to upgrade my interior with alcantara. This modding bug never ends…
I’m super jealous of all the alcantara. ljmartrye, is the alcantara on your interior, stock? I’d love to get some recommendations on the best way to upgrade my interior with alcantara. This modding bug never ends…
I went down this road once but in the end opted to stick to my build sheet and make existing ‘new’ again, unfortunately my interior carbon bits were way more than if I had re-alcantara’d the whole thing.
From what I found the most cost affective was a combination of new OEM Alcantara pieces and using companies like http://dallassteeringwheel.com w/deviated stitching for armrests, consoles, wheel, stereo side panels w/stitching, shifter, brake etc. Basically anything that can be wrapped.
I’m super jealous of all the alcantara. ljmartrye, is the alcantara on your interior, stock? I’d love to get some recommendations on the best way to upgrade my interior with alcantara. This modding bug never ends…
Funny enough I didn’t care at all about the full leather option when I was on the search and just ended up when I found this car it had both the full leather & the storage bin lid with “PORSCHE” in Alcantara. (Options 78 & XLG)
But if something happened and I had to search for another, I think outside of exterior color that full leather would be the next most desirable option to me.
Full leather should really be called full leather/alcantara to be more accurate.
On the .1 gt3: front portion of the dash, top portion of the door panels, and ac/radio surround wrapped in leather. Main part of the door panel, incl arm rests in Alcantara.
On the .2 gt3: same but with more Alcantara, notably on the glove box and lower part of the dash.