E46 Seats fit in E36?

[RAWNG]

I'm about to swap some E46 M3 seats with the seats in my E36 328ic. Since you didn't hook up the airbag or belt tensioner wiring is it safe to assume you've got the SRS warning light? Have you or anyone else out there that's done this swap found a way to wire these so the e46 seats play nice with the airbag warning? I know from the hours of searching I've done that this question always seems to be left open.

[geoffbmw325]

I'm about to swap some E46 M3 seats with the seats in my E36 328ic. Since you didn't hook up the airbag or belt tensioner wiring is it safe to assume you've got the SRS warning light? Have you or anyone else out there that's done this swap found a way to wire these so the e46 seats play nice with the airbag warning? I know from the hours of searching I've done that this question always seems to be left open.

i was just thinking that the cloth/alcantera seats out of a competition m3 would look awesome.

[randomy]

One guy swapped the occupancy sensor into the new seats to keep the same logic for the SRS system.

Another guy did this:

[RAWNG]

The seats I picked up are black leather, full power out of a 2003 M3 with 37,000 miles. They're damn near in perfect shape. Although this means I'm gonna need to change my tan interior to black. I'll like the looks of that better in my Helrot vert anyways.

I'm not sure if the occupancy sensor in the E46 passenger seat is compatible with the E36 SRS or not. From what I understand, the mats in these seats aren't the most reliable and will most likely fail at some point in time anyways so I may just do that bypass . If I do I will need to make sure that anyone in the passenger seat is wearing their seatbelt or they're gonna feel like like they got hit by a 2 ton heavy thing if that airbag whacks them in the unfortunate event of an accident.

I also don't know if the seatbelt latch sensor is compatible with the E36. Otherwise my plan will be to bypass those as well. I found that solution by searching for "seatbelt substitute".

My 328ic is a 96 with mechanical seatbelt tensioners so that is one thing I won't need to worry about. The E46 tensioners will just remain inoperative.

I know that alot of you guys have done this swap so if anyone else has any better solutions or knows of the compatibility between the SRS systems I'd appreciate your input. Also, if anyone happens to have a wiring diagram for the power sport seats in an 03 e46 I'd greatly appreciate getting my hands on a copy of that schematic. I have an E36 Bentley manual so I already have the wiring diagrams for what I have to splice into in the car.

[mce36]

Here's how mine turned out..

[IhaveanE36]

^^^^^^^^ Kinda got ur finger in the way?

[TUNERZEDGE]

^^^^^^^^ Kinda got ur finger in the way?

Looks sweet.. did you get the power stuff hooked up too?

[E36EuroPWR]

I have the option of Buying E46 M3 seats BBUUT they are not manual they are Automatic, and my current Vaders are Manual, how am i going to get the power hooked up, or its not worth buying them???

[neptronix]

i wonder if the manual seats are lighter than the e36 power seats?

Been trying to get manual seats for a e36 coupe for over a year and i've pretty much given up by now.

[TUNERZEDGE]

i wonder if the manual seats are lighter than the e36 power seats?

Been trying to get manual seats for a e36 coupe for over a year and i've pretty much given up by now.

Just get some E46 seats.. The ones I put in my car were over half the weight of my power seats.. The manual seats are lighter because you dont have the motors and other misc parts to make them work.. I love my E46 seats in my car.

[moving3e]

I smell a DIY writeup coming up somewhere soon hopefully

[neptronix]

Just get some E46 seats.. The ones I put in my car were over half the weight of my power seats.. The manual seats are lighter because you dont have the motors and other misc parts to make them work.. I love my E46 seats in my car.

Looking for lighter here, not heavier.

I know that you can take 80LB total off the front of your car if you go to e36 manual seats.. e46 manual seats though.. not sure. I heard they're 55lb a piece, but that's just going off one person..

[IhaveanE36]

I was thinking about buying a set of seats from a E46 to put into my E36 but not sure if they will fit.. Does anyone know if they will or if i will have any problems doing so?

Just curious as to why you want E46 seats? They LOOK almost pretty close to the E36's? In my opinion, thats just money being spent away for nothing ._.

[neptronix]

Just curious as to why you want E46 seats? They LOOK almost pretty close to the E36's? In my opinion, thats just money being spent away for nothing ._.

I've been looking for e36 manual seats in tan for over a year now. It's pissin' me off :P

[TUNERZEDGE]

Looking for lighter here, not heavier.

I know that you can take 80LB total off the front of your car if you go to e36 manual seats.. e46 manual seats though.. not sure. I heard they're 55lb a piece, but that's just going off one person..

I didnt weigh them before I put them in.. Im sure it was around 40lbs.. Whats the weight of e36 power seats? anyone know? I guess I could take one out and weight it... I mean it is only 4 bolts. HAHA

Just curious as to why you want E46 seats? They LOOK almost pretty close to the E36's? In my opinion, thats just money being spent away for nothing ._.

I got the E46 seats because I got the pair for around $100 bucks I think. So in the end they are about the same price and I think the look was way better and def more comfortable them my old ones.

[neptronix]

My power seats are about 80lb, going from what i've read on here.

They are insanely heavy to pick up.. i've had 'em out of the car more than once.

[89e34PhoenixAZ]

I just put a set of e46 m3 seats in my e36 vert and I am loving them...

[Platinumpi4u]

Does it matter if the e46 seats come from a 4 door sedan or not?

I'm trying to fit them into my e36 4 door sedan, but I read somewhere that only 2 door or vert seats will fit... is this true?

[RAWNG]

I could be wrong but I'm fairly certain that the only difference between the sedan and coupe or vert seats is the fact that sedan seatbacks don't tilt forward for rear seat entry. According to this: http://www.maxbimmer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=124321 the coupe and sedan seats are interchangeable within the E46 so I would assume the same holds true when putting them in an E36.

[TUNERZEDGE]

I personally had seats from a sedan to put in my sedan.. I dont know if there would be a difference besides the tilt forward function of the coupe or vert seats from the sedan seats.

[osuwari]

I'm working on swaping e46 coupe manual seats into an e36 sedan with power seats. The problem I'm running into is where to bolt the seat belt to. On the e36 the seatbelt bolts onto the seat, the e46 seat doesn't have anywhere for me to bolt the seat belt to.

Anyone run into this problem?

[somebody5788]

I didn't have any weird issues. I just purchased the big plug for the E46 seat from the dealer and crimped new terminals onto the existing harness to pin the car to the new seats like they were stock. My seat belt setup went 100% the same as before. Only issue some might have run into with this on a later car like my 97 is that you have to code out the seat belt pre tensioners and belt buckle switch. Occupancy sensor can be adapted or coded out as well. A shop with Autologic has no problem coding all of them out.

[boarder2k7]

I didn't have any weird issues. I just purchased the big plug for the E46 seat from the dealer and crimped new terminals onto the existing harness to pin the car to the new seats like they were stock. My seat belt setup went 100% the same as before. Only issue some might have run into with this on a later car like my 97 is that you have to code out the seat belt pre tensioners and belt buckle switch. Occupancy sensor can be adapted or coded out as well. A shop with Autologic has no problem coding all of them out.

You have a coupe, osuwari has a sedan. In the coupe the belts hook to the body, but in the sedan the belt is attached to the seat bottom.


Osuwari, not sure how to solve that, maybe E46 sedan seats?

[osuwari]

I found out a way to mount the seat belt. I just used the same bolt for the rear outer mount point. It's the same thread and diameter so it fits perfect. I did have to flatten the seat belt anchor to allow the seats to move back and forth freely though. As far as widening out any holes, I didn't have to do any of that. The seats bolted up just fine.

[np0x]

I found out a way to mount the seat belt. I just used the same bolt for the rear outer mount point. It's the same thread and diameter so it fits perfect. I did have to flatten the seat belt anchor to allow the seats to move back and forth freely though. As far as widening out any holes, I didn't have to do any of that. The seats bolted up just fine.

Are you saying that you were able to transfer your tensioners from your stock seats to the new seats and believe you haven't lost any safety equipment? Which is to say in the event of a collision you believe you have your tensioners fully hooked up and they will fire? This subject is hard to pin down in the threads!