kawal

I have the original Z06 seats out, so I weighed them. The drivers seat (full power and no lumbar) weighs 50 lbs. The manual passenger seat weighs 39 lbs. for a total of 89 lbs. for the pair.

The lumbar support package weighs a couple of pounds, so each new seat will weigh close to 52 lbs. for a total weight of 104 lbs.

So I added a total of 15 pounds.

Dave Hill did an amazing job designing the Z06 and I'd never say anything negative about his decisions. The Z06 is a great car, period. But it is nice to have some options for those of us where total weight isn't our primary concern.

Heck, I wish I could lose 15 pounds around my belt. Then I'd be back to "OEM seat weight" in my Z.

(pssst: I also wish I could get rid of some of my wife's luggage!)

Ray

talon90

My pleasure Ray. Amazing project - yet again, Well done.

kawal

I received the seat connector terminals from Bob Wendorff at Fichtner Chevrolet today. Here's a photo of the final connector:



I've posted some more photos to show more details of the project. Here's the link again:

http://www.kawal.net/power%20seats.htm

Ray

BEZ06

Edited: Sorry, but if you're reading this old thread, I no longer have any of the terminals shown below - I have given them all away over the last several years.

I've got some of these terminals that Paul (Talon 90) and Ray came up with for a professional installation:




They were 12 cents each so while I was paying $6+ for shipping I ordered 10. I used one and I've sent a couple to another forum member (jvp), so I've got 7 left if anybody needs one for their project.

I finally just finished today!!!

I had done my seat (driver's side) a couple weeks ago, but had an airbag light. I checked all the wiring and the side airbag about 5 times, but I couldn't get it to go out. The seat belt receptacle was a little harder to get at when buckling the seat belt, and I was starting to wonder about the seat belt pre-tensioners. I read another thread by jvp about his project and he mentioned he had to get new pre-tensioners.

I pulled my seat out and compared the length of the cable from the pre-tensioner to the receptacle against the one on my original seat and it was about 1-1/4 inches shorter on the one I had in the car and the plastic corrugated cover over the cable was sorta crushed.

I took the one off my original Z06 seat and put it on the seat in the car and no more airbag light!

Apparently the car the seats came out of had been in an accident that had fired the seat belt pre-tensioners.

So.....after I got that problem figured out I attacked my wife's seat (passenger side). I don't have OnStar, so I thought the passenger side would be pretty easy.

Butt....when I tried to take out the seat one of bolts was just spinning and I couldn't get the nut off to remove the seat. After about 45 minutes of fooling around with vice grips and not getting anywhere, I jacked up the car and got underneath. The head of the bolt is a flat head about the size of a quarter, so there was no way to grab ahold of it. I ended up drilling a hole in it and trying to use an easy-out. I put a wrench on the nut in the car, but couldn't budge the bolt using the easy-out. I ended up continuing to drill, and finally used a stone tip in my die-grinder to widen the hole until I finally cut the bolt head off and could remove the bolt. So, instead of 10 seconds to take a nut off, it took a couple hours and was a real PITA to get the bolt out. I replaced it with a regular hex head bolt and a big washer.

I reskinned the seat with the Z06 seat cover and installed it in the car and everthing works great. We just went out to dinner and my wife really liked her new full power seat with lumbar and bolster adjustment.

This is a really nice upgrade, and I can't believe that the full power seats aren't an option (maybe they are now - I dunno). The only thing that was added was the lumbar and bolster bladders and inflation hardware on both sides, and the full electric adjustable stuff on the passenger side. This added about 3 pounds to the driver's seat and about 10 to the passenger side. I'll take that extra weight on my GT car for added comfort on long road trips - even when driving to track events, like the 600 mile trip to VIR the end of June.

Thanks, Ray, for your initial info in the thread you started here, but especially for the outstanding instructions on your website. And thanks Jason (jvp) for getting me thinking about the pre-tensioner to solve my airbag light problem.

Bob

kawal

Hey, Bob,

As far as I can tell, you are only the second Z06 owner who completed this mod. Too bad you had the trouble with the seat belt pretensioner and the passenger seat bolt - otherwise it sounds like this would have been fairly easy.

Not having the Onstar module also saved you a lot of time, since moving it takes a couple of hours of goofing around.

I haven't heard that any new Z06's have the passenger seat power option, but the ZR1 does. So I'm curious as to where the factory moved the Onstar module for the ZR1. If they moved it to where I did, they probably made a nice bracket to hold the module in place. I had to fabricate my own - not a difficult job, but sort of a PITA.

The new seats are nice, aren't they? Do you have any photos?

Ray

jvp

Yeah, I'm enjoying my driver's seat, but I'm still too chickensh!t to try and move the OnStar unit. :-) I'm very envious of you both.

One of these days....

jas

BEZ06

C'mon Jas - get to work!!!

You must not have the same incentive I did - my wife's nagging comments!!!

After I did my seat, every time we went out in the car she'd comment about: "You got those seats so I could have power adjustments - where is it??"; "You've got your lumbar support, I wish I had mine"; "I wish I could tilt my seat bottom like I could on our 2005"; etc., etc. etc. I had to get her seat done just so I could drive in peace and quiet!

At least I could point to the airbag light and tell her I needed to solve the problem with my seat before I worked on hers. As soon as I got the airbag problem solved I knew I'd have to do her seat. If I hadn't had the problem with the bolt it wouldn't have taken more than a couple hours to swap the seat skins, swap the pre-tensioner, run the power wire, and bolt the new seat in.

I'll take a couple of pics and post them up later.

Bob

kawal

Jason,

I know that Onstar unit looks ominous with all of those wires going to it, but it's really quite easy and safe to move. You don't even have to unplug any of the wires to the unit. Just unwrap the black electrical tape to the main harness along the door jamb, then further towards the front of the car. All of the Onstar wires can then be easily separated from the others and made into a separate part of the harness. All you do is retape the harness and you'll find the Onstar bundle is now long enough to allow it to move a long ways.

I used 2" wide electrical tape to retape the bundles, which made it quite easy. I never disconnected any wires from the unit. But once the new harness is long enough to allow moving the Onstar unit, remove that plastic panel above the fuse block area and you'll find an area above it that the Onstar unit will just fit into.

I originally tested that area by cutting a piece of styrofoam the size and shape of the Onstar unit and seeing if it would fit up there. It did very nicely.

Once you get the unit up there, make yourself a simple bracket to hold it in place. I wrapped my Onstar unit in some 1/2" foam padding so it couldn't move around - all you have to do is just hold it up there. Then you can very neatly route the wire bundle back down to the door jamb area, just as it was before.

The only noticable thing you'll see is the rectangular hole in the carpet where the Onstar module was. But that's below the seat anyway.

Good luck,

Ray

BEZ06

Well, I took a couple of photos, but they don't show much!

The pics below just simply show my red-stitched seat covers on the cushion and the full power stuff on both sides. You can see the switch for the seat adjustments (which was on the driver's side to start with, but there was no adjustment at all on the passenger side except for the bar under the front of the seat for manual adjustment), and you can also see the little flat switches for lumbar and side bolster adjustments.

Hmmmm.....after looking at the pics I may have to loosen that trim piece on each seat and smooth out those wrinkles!!!

It's very nice to have my seats with the red stitching and Z06 embroidered on the headrest, plus full power, side airbags, heated, lumbar and side bolster bladders. Now my GT Z06 has the nice fully adjustable seats you can get in the highest trim level in the regular C6.

However, I'm really lusting after the Caravaggio treatment that Jason (jvp) had done to his seats!!!

Jason - like Ray said in his recent post, I don't think the relocation of the OnStar unit should really be holding you back from doing your passenger seat. It sounds pretty daunting, but you'll have that area almost completely opened up when you're adding your power line (which only took me about 20 minutes to add on). There are 2 fasteners that hold that plastic trim panel up above the fuse and CB panels. Like Ray says, all you really need to do is cut the tape on the wire bundle to get enough slack to move the OnStar module, then it shouldn't be too hard to fabricate a little bracket to hold the unit up there.

Jas, I hope to hear soon that you've completed the project and have both of your beautiful Caravaggio seats in your car!!!

I can't believe that you couldn't get the Z06 with these seats from the factory. I don't mind at all adding less than 15 pounds to get a little more comfort when driving on long road trips.

Bob

kawal

I see that '08 Z06 owners are also asking about full power with lumbar support seats - even the 3LZ packages don't have them.

I'm anxious to find out how the ZR1 accomplishes the passenger power seat with their $10K option package.

Ray

ZL-1

When Dave Hill's team created the Z06, weight saving was a huge priority. Those expensive carbon fiber fenders don't even save as much weight as deleting the power/lumbar seats. So every 2006 Z06 had an outstanding power-to-weight ratio and earned its reputation for outstanding performance and thus its popularity. Many new buyers are not racers and would give up a little of the power-to-weight ratio in favor of more comfort and convenience. I would think that now that the Z06's reputation for performance is established, GM might allow more options to please those customers and increase profits at the same time.

The team that created the ZR1 didn't have to be as obsessive about maximizing its power-to-weight ratio because with well over 600hp it would be fantastic no matter what. To sell in the 6-figure bracket they had to allow more comfort options, like power/lumbar seats. I wouldn't be surprised if 90% of ZR1s are sold with the 2ZR package.

jvp

As nice as that would be, I'm going to bet against it. Simply because screwing around with the mass of the Z06 *WILL* have an affect on its fuel economy.

Ray's question was more of a technical one: HOW are they doing it? Assuming the ZR1 has OnStar (and it will), where are they putting the OnStar box in that car, if it's not under the passenger seat. If they're doing a full power passenger seat, there's no room under it to fit the OnStar box.

The coupe and vert store the OnStar box in the right rear trunk compartment. But, in the Z06 (and ZR1), the battery is back in that compartment. Given the manual/non-power passenger seat in the Z06, there is enough room under it for the OnStar box. But.. what about the ZR1?

jas

ZL-1

Very good points...funny, I started out intending to mention how the Z06 barely squeaked by the gas guzzler penalty. Then I forgot about it as I typed You're right, it will be interesting to see where the Onstar box lands. Thankfully they keep getting smaller.

kawal

In 2009, GM relocated the Onstar module to under the dash. So power seats in the ZR1 (and even the Z06) shouldn't be an issue anymore. All that is needed is the single power wire on the passenger side. That power wire may even be included in the '09 wiring harness. Then the standard power seats will fit in just like the manual seats.

Ray

gp2race

Hello Ray,
I hope you can help me.
I have a 2013 C6 GS 1Lt, both seats are powered. I purchased some 2012 ZR1 seats I believed they're 3lt or 4lt with side air bags, lumber and side supports control. The passenger seat installed without any issue. However the driver seat only the lumber and side supports work. No seat motor function. I do notice I have one black 8 pin plug that for memory seat or telescopic control maybe.

Regards
Gordon

kawal

Gordon,

Because you have a 1LT, you likely don't have memory seats. In the upgraded seats you will find a memory module under the seat, but you won't have wiring for it. If you email me at ray@kawal.net I can send you some wiring diagrams that should help you out.

What you will likely have to do is use the seat wiring harness from your 1LT so you will have direct motor control instead of through the computer. I would think you would have enough parts to do some part swapping and get the new seats to work (without memory of course).

Good luck on your project.

Ray

gp2race

Hello Ray,
Thank you, I spoke today to some Electrical Tech Guru's and they said he can override the memory module as you mention. I'll post up the fix one finish....I'm praying. I don't want to mess up my stock seats.
Plus the 1LT harness and connection points are totally different and would require chopping .

Myrddin6464

kawal

I'd be very surprised if you have a C6 and they changed this connector. Are you sure you have the correct connector, since there are a number of seat connectors.

If you'd like to email me at ray@kawal.net I can email you a couple of .pdf files on the seat that show lots of electrical information and the connector parts should be included.

Ray