RMW limited seats into a Caprice

Has anyone done this ? Any wiring tips for the power recline and lumbar ?

I'm almost positive there used to be 2 threads over at ISSF about swapping out base RM seats for limited -which I assume is a similar process- but they died with the crash.

Jason, one of those threads might have been mine. I don't have time right now, but probably about 7 PM your time, I can respond.

Tom

Thanks. It's definitely not urgent.

The orange wire is always hot, and the black wire is always ground. If you can get the original connectors from the donor cross car harness, you can splice them into your cross car harness. They should go to the same fuse/breaker as the rest of the seat wiring. The switches only need a hot and ground wire. They send all of the correct voltage/grounds to the motors.

I'm putting up pictures of the connectors on the seats themselves, in case that's any help.

This is the driver side limited seat:



The black connector looks like it goes to the move fowards/backwards, tilt front up/dow, tilt back up/down modules
The teal connector looks like it goes to the lumbar and tilt back rest up/down switches.
I'm guessing that's an air hose for seat bolsters in the round grey connector? I guess that needs to hook up to the pump on the passenger side seat?

Passenger side limited seat has same connectors:


The current connector under my seat (which i assume is the cross car harness):


Guy gave me a cookie tin with lots of wires and no cookies.

MarcLachapelle wrote:

Guy gave me a cookie tin with lots of wires and no cookies.

LOL. Nice 1st post, 8 months after registering! Hopefully you don't give one of the OCD members an aneurism with all that dog hair.

I did this in my Caprice, but never had an electric passenger seat so I had to wire everything in. Do you have power seats in your car now? What year Limited seats are you adding?

Jason

Here is what I did, something similar, but not exact. I had a 95 RMW with limited seats, that I didn't like. I picked up a set of non limited seats that I was going to swap in. The seats had a different plug on them. I also cut the plug from the donor car that went to the seats.

So now, I spiced the pig tail and plug in the 95 RMW, color for color. That way I could use either seats as I had wiring for both.

That probably doesn't help you much, but that is my story.

Tom

The black connector under your seat will probably accept the black connector on the seat. The Teal one probably has a mate in the connectors you were given. If there are connectors that fit the teal ones, you can splice them into the cross car harness, which is the one under your seats. What you really need is the schematics of the seats from your car, and a RM with the "limited" seats. Other than that, you are going to have to figure out which wire does what by trial and error.

95BRMW wrote:

Do you have power seats in your car now? What year Limited seats are you adding?

94 limited sedan seats going into a 96 caprice wagon. The wagon does have power seats.

Fred Kiehl wrote:

The black connector under your seat will probably accept the black connector on the seat. The Teal one probably has a mate in the connectors you were given. If there are connectors that fit the teal ones, you can splice them into the cross car harness, which is the one under your seats.

I would also guess that about the black connector. I'll still double-check the wires are all at the same location once I remove the caprice seats. As for the teal one, it must fit to that green one from the cookie tin. I've got hot and ground that I can splice and the other 3 wires run between both green connectors.

If it's as simple as it looks, I should be able to plug the black connectors from each seat directly to the ones already in the caprice, join the teal connectors via the green ones, and splice the power and ground wires from the green connectors to any power and ground I can find. Then I'll just need some sort of air hose to join those white connectors, because that's not in the cookie tin. Make sense?

I'll be sure to report back once it's done. Can't do it today 'cause I need the car though.

95BRMW wrote:

Do you have power seats in your car now? What year Limited seats are you adding?

1994 seats are the best, with the triple lumbar and reclining headrest.

silverfox103 wrote:

So now, I spiced the pig tail and plug in the 95 RMW, color for color. That way I could use either seats as I had wiring for both.
Tom

Is it too bold an assumption, if I'm putting in a seat with more motors on it than the one coming out, that if I find a wire in the cross-car bundle that's the same girth and color as my extra wire, it should be the right one to splice to?

My project stalled because when I pealed back the carpet, I noticed there's a 2" bubble in the front passenger foot well near the firewall. My finger went right through it with a gingerly poke. Need to find someone to fix that. I'm letting the felt insulation dry before I put the seats back in.

MarcLachapelle wrote:

My project stalled because when I pealed back the carpet, I noticed there's a 2" bubble in the front passenger foot well near the firewall. My finger went right through it with a gingerly poke. Need to find someone to fix that. I'm letting the felt insulation dry before I put the seats back in.

Mark, cut up a some cardboard,.then stick it in with undercoating,. then cover it with fibreglas resin,.(lots of it,.)

when the car has rusted completely away in 50 yrs,. it'll be the only part left,..

Nick

Marc,are you Jason's older or younger brother?Either way you have my sympathy . Welcome to the group by the way!

phantom 309 wrote:

MarcLachapelle wrote:

My project stalled because when I pealed back the carpet, I noticed there's a 2" bubble in the front passenger foot well near the firewall. My finger went right through it with a gingerly poke. Need to find someone to fix that. I'm letting the felt insulation dry before I put the seats back in.

Mark, cut up a some cardboard,.then stick it in with undercoating,. then cover it with fibreglas resin,.(lots of it,.)

when the car has rusted completely away in 50 yrs,. it'll be the only part left,..

Nick

Red Green always stresses the use of plenty of primer when building with cardboard. Helps it maintain its integrity.

Flasheroo wrote:

Marc,are you Jason's older or younger brother?Either way you have my sympathy . Welcome to the group by the way!

Slightly younger and thanks! (for sympathies and welcome!)

Nick, any advantage of using cardboard as opposed to just fiberglass mesh? Welding won't be possible any time soon, so fiberglass it shall be.

OK, wires are in.

I ended up splicing wires from both sides at the same place on passenger side, orange to orange, black to black. Tested on passenger side seat (the one with the air pump!) and it works. Tucked everything into plastic wrapping, everything looks great. Just need to fix that little hole, and get the missing air hose, and the seats should be in and functional.

Conclusion: If you're swapping base power seats for limited seats, it's a very simple job if you have the connectors from the donor car.

when the cardboard is covered with resin (i mean really covered) its cheaper and easier and quicker than fibreglas,.
use scissors to get the right custom size,.don't worry about creating artwork for the fix,.

once the carpet is back in place it'll look great,..

Nick

to close the loop on this thread, the cross car harness is the same on 94 and below roadmaster limiteds.  I pulled one out of a 92 limited to use with the 94 Limited seats pictured above.  The cross-car harness was pictured in the above pic.  The harness itself has green connectors (to connect the BLUE connectors on the seat of course).

Here's what I pulled:


Cut tape on existing wire loom and insert cross-car harness and air hose.


On the Driver`s side, find largest orange and black wire.  They are the same gauge as the cross car harness wires.  Probably 14 gauge.



splice both orange wires from the cross car harness onto the orange wire on the wire bundle. Do the same with your black wire.  

Reassemble car in reverse order.  Congrats, you have limited seats in your caprice/base roadmaster.

I see I'm going to need the quick connect end fittings on my air line. I wondered what hooked into those sockets!

Do you think the cross car harness on my 95 Caprice is different then? Your post says 94 and older uses the same.

I haven't had time away from work to dig into mine and we are taking Shamu on family vacation next week, so I can't rip her all apart just yet!

Deadmanonduty wrote:

Do you think the cross car harness on my 95 Caprice is different then?  Your post says 94 and older uses the same.

no, I`m sure it will look exactly like this photo. You`re looking at 94 seats being installed in a 95 caprice in the pic. Someone parting a 95-96 limited told me the crosscar harness (the one that connects the seats) on his car did NOT look like it would connect to the blue connector I provided as a photo. I'm basing myself on that to make the statement that the 95-96 roadmaster limited crosscar harness is different.

I found some clear tubing at the autoparts store that fit perfectly in the seat air fittings. I think it would work if you secured it in place with an adhesive or tape.

Nice Work! Thanks for putting this on here, great reference for others!

Hope you post pics once the seats are in. Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

-Mike

The finished product.

That's a HUGE improvement!! Nice work! What are you doing with the rear seat?

81X11 wrote:

That's a HUGE improvement!!  Nice work!   What are you doing with the rear seat?

thanks. I agree. SO much more comfortable too.

I mulled over putting in the RMS limited seat but I decided to leave the stock grey wagon seat. We don't have kids and I think I've had rear passengers once. I prefer the seat to fold down perfectly flat. It's folded down almost all the time anyway.