Three In One Seat Project: Repair/Improve/Add Heaters

I'm not going to give a big write-up since there are other tutorials out there on much the same stuff. Rather, I'm giving an overview of all three things in a condensed form. Actually, there was some other stuff done relating to my Android HU (running cables for future stuff), but I'm not going into that, here. I'm going to list the parts I used to give an idea of cost, also.

PARTS:

1) One (1X4) four-pack 16"X16"X1" foam; Wal-Mart-$7.00. You'll use ~1 1/4 sheets per seat.

2) One (1) heated seat kit; eBay-~$45.00. This is a complete two bucket seat set. I chose the type with a single, individually-controlled switch. I don't think there's any difference in the Chinese stuff. I think most are manufactured by Kupai and sold by various merchants and possibly privately branded. You'll note that most seem to have the same switch varieties.

3) Two (2) cheap carpet mats, approximately 17"X 24"; Wal-Mart-$12.00 for both. You'll use one per seat.

4) One (1) can spray glue; Hobby Lobby-$7.00.

5) One (1) yard burlap, approximately 45"X36"; Wal-Mart-$3.00. This is enough for both seats.

6) Seat cushions by your requirements. The passenger side was fine, so I needed just one. I ordered it from Steve White Parts (Dodge dealer) from Amazon. Price was ~$150.00 shipped/tax.

7) Seat cover; again, by requirements. I ordered it from DAP Auto Parts. That's some Dodge dealer DBA, I think. Price was again ~$150.00 shipped.

Now, the process. I pulled the seats. The passenger seat is fine, but it's getting the enhancements. This is what I'm starting with.



First, the back. It's not getting enhancements other than the heater. There's a clip on the back bottom that unrolls. get that apart and roll the bottom of the cover up a few inches. Pop loose the velcro and trim the heater pad to the edges of the elements (top/sides only). That will allow the pad to be between the velcro. Undo the tape, inset and position to taste. Roll back down the cover and re-attach. Finish by unbolting the frame hinges for the next part(s).



Now, unclip/remove the old bottom cover and foam. Take one of the carpet mats and cut to fit inside the frame over the banjo wires. I let the carpet overlap the bottom front of the frame, but it's not necessary. Supposedly, this will keep the wires from cutting the foam over time. Note any rough edges and file/hammer to protect the foam. Then take one of the foam sheets and cut to fit the inside bottom frame. Use another piece of foam and cut a filler strip, as seen in the next picture.



Now, use the spray glue and burlap to cover the factory cushion underside. It's making contact with the frame and that's what another tutorial advised. I took the precaution to wrap the tapered ends and the back half of the seat, as that's where your weight is borne. Wrap the whole cushion, if desired. Just keep the velcro strips open. Frankly, I don't think the burlap is necessary as I saw no abrasion damage. For that matter, I saw no evidence of the banjo wires cutting the foam. The carpet is still worthwhile, I think.



Entire cushioning back in frame. The reason I said to remove the hinge bolts is because the extra thickness makes it difficult to place. You can lift the back to get clearance, but wait until the new cover is on before re-fastening those frame hinge bolts.



Now, cut two strips of foam ~1" wide. These will go in the cushion underside channels where the cushion would normally contact the frame. But because you're adding (in this case) an extra 1" of foam, you need these filler strips to maintain the same relative exposure of the frame to factory cushion. The other tutorial I read didn't call for it, but I realized if you don't, the bolsters will get flattened out because of only the center having the extra support. I think that man made up for it by overlaying the top with foam. That looks like **** and loses definition in the contour, IMO.




Remainder in next post.

Eh, that last couple of pictures/commentary should've been reversed, but you'll get the idea.

Bottom heater pad is affixed. Basically the same as the back; trim to the edges of the heating elements, and it's perfect. The wires were indexed on respective sides to the inside; that is, run them towards the console side when routing them under the upholstery.



New cover. Start with it inverted and if possible, let it get warm as it'll aid in fitting, especially when overstuffed. I affixed the velcro first and them flipped down the sides. It's a little difficult to fit a new cover over new, overstuffed foam. But ~1" extra is not that bad.



The finished product, ready for Phase 2-wiring. Seems like everything warmed and relaxed for a day settles in nicely.



Wiring..well, everybody has a different idea, but this is how I did it. I was already going to run some other wires, so I removed the seat belt anchor and side floor mat trim. I cut a single hole in the mat above the transmission hump as I knew it's be an OK location. The two seat harnesses will be under the console and I knew I'd possibly need to conserve wiring as I didn't know if the harness would be adequate length. I ran that harness section along the shoulder of the transmission hump as the floor has a lot of irregularities due to seat mounts. This allowed me to have access to the center dash, where I mounted the switch and picked up some power.



This particular kit uses a constant hot, switched hot, ground and illumination. I installed the switch in the panel where a passenger air bag switch would be. I picked up the switched hot and light wire for the ISO/Chrysler radio harness adapter I required for the Android HU. So, no cutting or splicing into factory wiring. The ground went to the metal dash frame and I ran a constant hot to the battery. There is a fuse and relay on section two of the harness. It fits in the dash recess behind the HVAC controls. From there, it goes to the switch.

Now, to test the switch and harness before re-installing.



Everything seems fine. I re-installed the seats and console. This is a picture of the switch with everything back together and illuminated.



You'll note the component cable; that has to do with the Android HU. While I had the seats out, I made/ran a harness for a powered USB hub to go under the back seat. Unfortunately, the USB extensions I needed to make it from the dash to under the back seat didn't arrive in time. So, I left my floor console out and will run the USBs (one to dash to tether hub to HU and one to console) and component cables later.

Time-wise, I did a lot of stuff not directly related to this. I would say a reasonably-competent person could do it in a day. Again, I did other stuff and took my time. Plus, it's hot as hell and humid in my shed. I did this over the course of two days working until ~noon.

The heaters work very well. Like the Android HU (which is doing quite well eight months in), they're Chinese, so no telling how long they'll last. I was going to do the seats anyway, so all it cost was ~$50.00 more.

EDIT: Forgot to add the entire harness is adequately long. I had to solder up a section for the constant hot and ground, but again that was due to my dislike of butchering factory wiring. Were one going to do back seats, you'd need to lengthen the leads.

If you use any of the Mozilla family of browsers, there are several extensions available to view Photobucket links. IDK if there's anything for Mac/IE/Edge/Opera.

Photobucket fix for Chrome users: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/photobucket-hotlink-fix/kegnjbncdcliihbemealioapbifiaedg

I still say use a different hosting service. Screw Photobucket!