1st Gen R53 Cooper S Most liked posts in thread: Swap out front seats only.

This is the info I used for most of the my swap.

R56 Seats into my 04 R53: Installed and pics! - North American Motoring

The seat belts aren't compatible between 1st and 2nd gen so you'll need to use your old latch on the new seats. The mounts are slightly different between gens so you'll have to figure out to safely adapt them. I was never able to find out details of how people were mounting the buckle assembly, but I think most people just used a longer bolt. In the linked instructions he says he used the old bolt and cranked it down. This didn't seem safe to me so I had a sleeve welded on the new seat brackets to be closer in design to the original mount. The pins that keep the buckles from rotating aren't exactly in the same place either.

R53 bracket and seat belt mount


R56 bracket and seat belt mount


I also cut the carpet to make sure the new brackets made direct contact with the chassis so the bolts could be properly torqued. The 1st gen brackets had small round feet and the new brackets had larger rectangular mounting points.



Instead of cutting any of the connectors on both seats, I disassembled them and swapped the old plugs to the new seats. I'll eventually get to it, but I haven't rewired the heated seat plugs yet.

 

Take a look at my Garage, I just updated my mod list from the past year to include swapping out old Gen1 Panther Black Gravity leather seats to putting in Gen2 2010 MC Carbon Black English leather seats. To me they made a world of difference in looks and comfort! The English leather ones didn't come heated so took pads out from old seats to reuse. It wasn't that bad of a project. For those wanting to do so, keep an eye on Ebay. I got my Carbon Black English leather seats front and rear for only $700 including shipping (came in a wardrobe moving box) and they are in great shape! Best mod I've done to date by far!

Post note: If thinking of upgrading seat belts also, they are different and won't be compatible unless you upgrade belt and receptacle.

You can also upgrade your steering wheel from Gen1 to Gen2. It can be done! I took a 2010 Clubman Multifunction steering wheel and put it in my Gen1. I had to drill the hell out of it to make opening wider to fit, but once you enlarge the opening enough to fit, it will slide right on. Then you have to re-wire the airbag and multifunction controls to fit old connectors in Gen1. Not hard but can be done. The updated refined styling and the deeper black on the the horn plastic on the newer Clubman steering wheel looks so much nicer and matches my seats perfectly.

 

Yes it can or at least it can on an R53. I have seen several write ups here and /or on other sites with the details on how it was done. Sorry I don't have any more than that for you but you should be able to find the info fairly easily.

 

It's been done. Seat itself bolts right in (with the sliders from the R56), but you need to do some wire surgery to match the airbag connector. Heated seats don't match without cable surgery either, and the seat belt thing is different, but people have found ways to mod that to make it work. Just google "R56 seats in R53."

 

I have been thinking about doing the same. R53 seat is a little rough on my back, seems to be a common complaint. I would be interested in finding out what right up you use along with any notes/observations during the mod. Always good to hear another's perspective.

I might have asked you this already but where in northern CT?

 

I can use all the help I can get on projects like this. There is always that one little detail that gets left out that gets me scratching my head :idea:

Grew up in Willimantic. Plan on making a trip up to Storrs this year in the GP

 

This is what I followed when I put Mitsubishi EVO IX (Recaro's) in my MINI a few years back. They are 1000 times better than any MINI / JCW seat.

I have disabled the stupid OC3 mat sensor with a simulator from e-bay and used a resistor to bypass the silly airbag light for the seats since they do not have airbags in them. Also I do not have seat heaters but then again in the Recaro's you don't need them.

Recaro Sportster Install Complete in '05 MCS - North American Motoring