Swapping seats, need advice
 

Hello all, I have a base '99 with regular seats, semi-powered passenger side. I found the seats I want but they're on the other side of the pond - UK - and therefore out of a RHD Boxster. Both seats are full power. My questions are:
1. Does the full power passenger seat plugs into a Boxster with semi-powered passenger seat?
2. Are the rails and mounting points the same on Euro Boxsters as our cars? I don't see why not but you never know.
3. I've read that removing the seats with the battery connected will set the airbag light on. Will installing Euro seats mess with the airbag system too?
Thanks y'all.

They should bolt-in just fine. I don't believe there are connectors in the seats in relation to the airbags (through the buckle latch), but I'm not 100% on that.

Biggest hurdle is getting the new electrics hooked up. :)

As long as you leave the key out of the ignition (to help you to remember to not crank the car which will set the airbag light if the seat belt receptacle isn't plugged in for both seats) you can swap seats without disconnecting the battery.

As far as the plugs for question #1 - I think the plug is the same but may just have less wires. Maybe Woody knows? He has removed a lot of seats I bet. You could have the seller send you a photo of the plug and compare it with yours?

For #2 - seems like it would be crazy for them to be different - and for the aftermarket rails that are available I have never seen any UJ only versions. Best guess is they are the sane.

They will definitely bolt in fine, but you should expect to encounter some wiring issues. I upgraded my two-way power seats to 8-way power seats using some components that I bought from other board members. While I don't have any direct experience with seats from a UK car, I suspect that the driver's seat will have wiring that is similar to the driver's seat on a U.S. car. The only difference is that the driver's seat will be on the right side of the car rather than on the left.

Check out this thread on Rennlist:

Upgrading Two-Way Power Seats - Rennlist Discussion Forums

It contains a pdf with all the information I learned about Boxster seats when I performed my upgrades. (I would upload the file here, but the file is too large and exceeds the limits on this forum.) If you cannot download the file from Rennlist, send me a PM with your e-mail address and I'll e-mail it to you.

You may also find this thread helpful:

http://986forum.com/forums/general-discussions/58080-full-power-seat-installation.html

You may want to ask your seller to send you a picture of the undersides of the seats. If you see that right-side seat has a black rectangular box on it, you will know what you are facing in terms of wiring modifications. I think you should be able to do it, but it may involve some trial and errror.

Shipping
 

I looked at some seats for my old E36 and shipping across the USA was crazy high.....I can't imagine the Atlantic.