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I finally installed mine this past weekend, they've been sitting in my living room for the past few months, all polished up and ready to go. I was unable to find any *relevent* wiring diagrams for the Viggen seats and the 9-5 to compare, so I took a chance that they were plug and play because the few people who have swapped them, no one has mentioned having to rewire.
They are more or less a direct fit as the mounting holes line up and the wiring is the same, at least for my 2000. Other years may have different wiring.
I purchased a set from a convertible, so some modification/parts are needed if you go this route. You will need to remove the seat belt anchor point from your stock seatframe and relocate to the Viggen seats. Interestingly, there are a couple tapped screw holes that are missing, but they are only used for an internal plastic cover that "protects" the part of the seat belt underneath the trim piece. I say "protects" because it doesn't seem to actually be necessary. Also, the side trim cover with the power seat controls will either need to be notched to allow clearance for the belt, or replaced with the Viggen/9-3 5 door trim piece. I opted to go this route because one trim piece had a hole in it, and I think both of them had non-visible cracking/broken mounting points, probably from the mounting bolts being overtightened.
Re-using the 9-5 trim cover is not possible even though they physically will fit; the control unit for the power seat is different between the Viggen and 9-5 and the connectors are non-compatible- this may be possible with some rewiring though. The seat frames have the same mounting holes and the main wiring harness is all the same (I haven't tested the seat heaters yet).
I disconnected the battery and waited 10 minutes before unplugging the seats and did not get any SRS issues upon testing. Only issue I had is my "fasten seatbelts" lights wouldn't go out, and I don't know if that is just the seatbelt catch or something else. I pulled the bulbs from the overhead console and I had turned the corresponding chime off last year with a Tech2. I could probably swap the seat belt connector over from my original seats, but I don't think it's worth the hassle.
I did notice that the seat is now slightly shifted towards the centerline of the car, probably due to the 9-3 being narrower than the 9-5. A possible solution may be to pull the actual frame from the 9-5 and make a hybrid. While possible, I don't think it would be an easy process, and you'd have to take some detailed measurements to determine where exactly the differences are. I first noticed that the door armrest was slightly farther away and thought it was my imagination but then I noticed that the seat is not quite centered with the steering wheel. I would estimate it to be close to an inch difference. The interior side rubs on the center console.
As a side note, apparently heated seats were an option on Viggens (FTW??), and it's a good time to thoroughly clean underneath the seats- after 13 years it's pretty nasty under there. I found about 60 cents and a french fry.
The end result: as aggressive as these seats look, I found they just disappear beneath you. That's a good thing, you don't notice them, they're just "there". There are no pressure points, or unsupported spots. It's almost like sitting on air, but they are quite a bit firmer than the non-Sport seats I had (or they have less than 180K miles on them). I had to change my seat position by lowering the front edge due to the extra bolster underneath my knees. It's probably not worth the effort if you already have the 9-5 sport seats, but if you have the base seats it's a nice improvement over worn out seats with cracked leather like mine. Sport seats will probably be cheaper though, and more of a direct fit.
posted by 74.76.71...
, Sat, 10 Aug 2013 08:50:05
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