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Focus ST Recaros in SVT?

13K views 69 replies 13 participants last post by  FocalDestruction 
#1 ·
So Looking for rare SVT recaro seats on ebay i keep stumbling upon the ST Recaros, with some prices lower then i would have guessed considering how new the seats are and they were like a $2k+ additional option. So wondering if anyone has ever attempted modifying a newer focus seat to install into a Mk1 focus. I'm guessing highly doubtful as I could not find anything when searching.
 
#4 ·
Completely agree, it will be a 100x easier install. It's what i was originally looking for on ebay and then ST seats were popping up for prices much cheaper than i would have guessed which started to intrigue my interest. I do like the fact they would be 3 year old seats instead of 11-13 years old. I am guessing the colors would look a little off in the car though.
 
#7 ·
See if the frames are similar & the height & then the floor pans in the 2 vehicles or if you can get the seats on the earlier frames.
 
#10 ·
So went down to the yard and they actually ended up having both ST seats. They had just only put one on ebay when i first stated this post.

Probably not the wisest decision, but spur of the moment/impulse buy I picked up both. Leather is in great condition in both seats, the driver's did blow the seat airbag. So I'm going to have to find an upholstery place to sew that back up.

Also the bolt patterns didn't line up close enough as I figured so I'm going to have to find someone who has some fabricating/welding skills as i do not. I'll take pictures and keep people up to date one my process in case any one in the future has any desire to replicate what i'm doing.

I got to say i do really like the support, look, and feel of the seats. I might have briefly sat in one in a car show but i didn't remember them exactly. I feel it will help make the interior of my focus a little more updated.
 
#12 ·
$500 no tax, but realize i'm going to have to invest more for blown airbag and custom bracket work needed. Probably would have been a steal for someone with a Mk3 focus or Focust ST without the recaros since they have the fortune of simply bolting these in without a problem.
 
#17 ·
Sounds like a project quite a few will be interested in. I hope you make this happen but if you don't it shouldn't be hard to flip those seats. Good deal.
 
#18 ·
Completely agree, i probably will get some quotes on the fabrication and not try to do it myself. That way, if the quotes are crazy high I will probably just sell off the seats to someone else who wants to take a stab at it or simply install them in a Mk3 foucs. I don't want to start drilling/cutting and find I can't personally make it happen.

Also as a second attempt before completely quiting is, if the quotes are really high i may try and see if i can use something like this and just drill holes where the ST seat bolts. I imagine this will cause my seat to sit an inch or two higher though.

 
#19 ·
What are you going to do for the electronic side of the install? Are they heated and power? I might have missed that. Plus the airbags and sensors.
Edit- looks like drivers is powered and passenger isn't. Odd but I see a ton of vehicles that way.
 
#20 ·
Yes exactly right, i do wish both were none powered. I will have to probably find a 12V source for the power seats if it does not already exist in the stock connector. I have not got as far as to check for heated seats in the ST. My SVT did come heated.

I will say when i did remove my SVT seats when trying to compare sizes at the yard i removed the connector but it didn't cross my mind at that time to compare the two. When looking at the ST seats at home later i swear the connector for the seats look identical, but I'll obviously have to double check it A) will fit and B) the connections remain the same. I find it hard to believe seat connector would be the same for 15 years and across two completely different generations. I do want to make sure the sensor for the person's weight is connected so i don't get the airbag light. I was lazy and didn't connect the SVT seats, electrical connector back in when I reinstalled and got the light on the way home. Any warning/engine light drives me nuts and i always want to fix it.
 
#21 ·
I wouldn't mind the airbag light , I drove for years in my zx3 with SVT seats like that. I guess it would all come down to finding out what powers what in the connector and you can always splice the wires .... still i want to do it badly but I think $900 is like full blown retail price for the ones I'm looking at , but does include the rear seat . The ones I'm looking at are pretty much identical to yours , same rip and everything Lol .
 
#23 ·
Yeah that's why I got them, i just really love the look and feel of them compared to what i have right now. It will be a litttle odd having a blue interior rear seats and door panels with the ST logo being red. Would have been so cool if the logo was Blue. And yeah it is nice that Ford designed it so the seat is not completely destroyed when the airbag goes off. The leather didn't rip or anything. There is a wear line where it probably received some serious force but that's all you can tell. The rest ripped perfectly at the stitching.

So if you have an airbag light on my hope is just that by default the car fires off all the airbags? I'm guessing it would not be the other way around where it would fire off no air bags. It would suck having a ruined dash board if no one was in the passenger seat but beats the other scenario where the drivers does not get an airbag to discharge.

And $900 for for retail meaning for a salvage yard right? these seats are like a $2k upgrade and if you look for just some of the seat parts they run 400-700 just to get pieces. The backs installed would be cool too, that's in a whole different league I think. I forgot to even ask about them at the salvage place.
 
#22 ·
So I can't really tell by the pictures , but from your point of view does it seem like you can get the entire frame off in one piece ?
 
#25 ·
I hear ya , I'm really suppose to be getting this car fixed rather than spending money on new seats Lol ! I found some diagrams of a 2006 SES seat on this site , so it appears that you can get the frame off separately . Only thing I'm thinking that could go wrong with this is the ST seats you said are wider ? Or narrower ....ether way if you were to try and bolt the ST lower cushion to the frame it would have to be the same bolt pattern essentially . Diagrams are here in the link Ford focus 2006 ZX5 - SES If both seat heaters dont work
 
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#26 ·
wow excellent diagram, the seat dimensions for cushions and everything were almost identical. The rails on the ST seats were about 1.5" more narrow. This approach you present might be easier to fabricate a bracket for the svt frame to mount to the ST seat cushion holes rather then what i was thinking where i would have the floor mounting holes on the ST frame modified to bolt into the floor.
 
#27 ·
#28 ·
Definetly will be a trial and error type thing . Wish I would have kept my stock wagon seats now . I remember saying "oh I won't need these ever" . You really have to have them both side by side to compare .
 
#29 ·
Man the more I looked into the just the side airbag the more I am learning how critical the seat and it's electronics/connector are. I'm worried this my actually be the road block of stopping me on this project. Really wish I would have known to look into this.

Doing some researching on here i'm finding the following and if anyone can weigh in it would be appreciated:

1) An Airbag light on seems to mean, none of the airbags will deploy. This I just cannot accept. It's my DD and if I were ever in a wreck and someone was seriously ignored/died because the airbag didn't deploy because i wanted ST seats in my car I could never live that down.

2) I do have the official ford wiring manual for the 2002 focus. But i'm finding that the connector for the SVT is different and doesn't even match the manual. I will likely just need to go by this thread's pin out. http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/svt-interior-mods-upgrades/231151-advice-seat-wiring-needed.html. The picture on the left in this link the connector shown in the ford wiring manual, but the connector on the right is what i have i my SVT. Not sure where they got that official picture from. I would like to get a hold of that wiring manual if anyone has that.

3) I still want to make this happen badly. So my thoughts were to try and do the following to install these and try to do the following to have no airbag light.

A) Measure the resistance for all the pins on both seats for the airbag and seat sensors (sitting vs non sitting). Then try and see if they are close and if modifying those values will work.
B) Try and get a hold of another SVT seat connector (one on the seat) and then 2013-14 focus floor connector. It would be really nice to make a cable that had the female (seat) SVT to male (floor connector) 2013/14 Focus connection. So I don't have to cut my original harness on the floor or the ST's seat. I'm feeling less than confident on making this all work so I want to cut/splice original parts as much as possible.
C) Another thought is to try and install the SVT sensors onto the ST seats but that will be much more difficult I think.
D) Does anyone have the wiring manual for the Focus ST Seats?
E) If i were accidently hook up one of the pins incorrectly could I easily fire off the side airbag if a 12V source is hooked up to it? Or does it look for a particular signal to fire?
 
#30 ·
See my thoughts were to try and swap as much as possible over from the SVT seats . But I don't really know if that's possible . I mean some of the first gen focus' didn't even have airbags in the seats . There must be some way to bypass the system and fool it to thinking the seat is plugged in . But the seat is powered so it would be ideal to have it all working .
 
#31 ·
As for #1 yes I've heard no airbags will go off. No bueno. But, atleast on other cars, I have seen people 'trick' the wiring to think the seat is plugged in when really it's not and a racing seat is in it's place. That might be a tad difficult with the power seat though.
 
#34 ·




I'm hoping these are the right wiring guides from my ford electrical diagram. Unfortunately it does call out SVT. I know the SVT uses a different seat connector and my book doesn't have that connector, so worried the diagram might be wrong. I did find a thread that showed the SVT pin out so should be ok. I just need the 2013-14 focus seat pinout now.
 
#35 ·
Yeah I was looking for the ST pin out also , I found one that showed the seat heaters but not the others . I was reading somewhere about swapping out a gel pad in the seat from a non airbag seat car to keep the light off but unsure of how true this is .
 
#36 ·
Interesting in regards to the gel pack, i did find this link. I have not had a chance to download it yet. I will this weekend and let you know if it has the entire pin out. I'm also hoping to get some seat male and female connectors from a focus 2013 and svt focus. This way i don't have to splice/cut into my original svt or st wires incase i end up having to drop this project and selling the seats.

Focus ST Workshop / Service Manual (full, incl. wiring diagrams)
 
#37 ·
Hopefully you can get them working and in the car. I'm holding off on purchasing mine. Grabbing an Xbox one instead Lol . Gonna wait for a set that's not damaged . I know the guy who is selling the ones I'm looking at only paid around $2000 for the entire car . So I might even wait to buy a wrecked ST . I'll follow up on this thread though as I'm confident that it can be done .
 
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