Got the GT3 seats: some observations....

I picked up my GT3 seats yesterday. The Ruf distibutor for Canada had a display at the Concourso Italiano in Carmel and brought a pair down for me....saved me shipping and sales tax because they were invoiced before he left Canada. The Concourso was spectacular...hundreds of beautiful exotics of all makes and description and that was just in the parking area! A great day. But I digress... I installed the seats today, and it was all pretty straightforward. I spent a lot of time carefully examining everything, so the driver's seat took a while. A better gauge of the amount of time required was that it took about 30 minutes to get the stock passenger seat out and the GT3 seat in. I transfered the stock seat belt receptacles to the new seats, including the wire and connector for the seat belt warning light. This was accomplished by removing a retainer on the main connector under the old seat and sliding out the little sub-connector used to terminate the seat belt circuit. I plugged this back into the wiring harness with the new seats in the car and presto, the seat belt light still functions properly and I don't have to go to the dealer for a computer reset. My concerns about the seats being too low were unfounded. The driving position is very good, they are comfortable for me, the lateral support is excellent and they look cool as hell. Only one very small disappointment....the weight savings is not as much as I expected. My factory seats were full leather, full power, heated and equipped with lumbar support: about the heaviest configuration you could have. I picked one up and weighed myself on an accurate electronic bathroom scale and the seat came in at 60 pounds, not 80 as had been posted previously. Also, although the GT3 bucket alone may weigh 14 pounds, with the mounting brackets, rails, adjuster mechanism etc. as installed in the car the whole assembly weighs 28 pounds. This amounts to a savings of 32 pounds per seat or 64 pounds total...not insignificant but not the 130 pounds that had been mentioned in other posts. Still, I am very pleased with the look and feel of these babies and recommend them to anyone who wants to add something special to their 996. Thanks again to everyone who provided info on this. Mike

Thanks Mike. Was there anything more difficult about the installation of the driver's side seat? Also, what adjustments does the seat have? I have been considering new seats more and more with each day on the track, but I'm trying to weigh all the trade-offs; particularly daily driving comfort. Further, I'm 6' and my lady is 5'5". She really likes the 996. Is there an easy vertical adjustment? What other seats did you consider? And what did you pay for the GT3 seats, if you don't mind? Post a picture if you get a chance. On the weight, shame it's not more, but that 64 Lbs probably equates to about an extra 6 hp in terms of performance. Thanks, JW

Josh, The driver's seat had a couple of additional plugs to disconnect....might have something to do with the memory function on that side...but otherwise the removal and installation process was identical and used the same hardware and holes as the stock seat. I took longer with the drivers seat because I did it first and had to figure out the proceedure. The GT3 seat has only manual forward and back adjustment; no adjustment for height or even backrest rake. I'm 6'2 180 and long legged. The seat is a little lower than I normally sit, but not problematic at all. My understanding is that spacers are available to raise the seat slightly if that were necessary. The seat feels very secure and comfort is good although since I just got them yesterday, I obviously haven't taken any long trips to try them out. I didn't consider any other seats; I wanted the genuine Porsche pieces. They even have an embossed Porsche crest in the headrest, and they look as if the belong in the car. I paid $1500 each (no tax or shipping) which seemed to be a competitive price especially considering I have seen them for as much as $2200 each. I don't own a digital camera but if I can borrow one, I'll post a photo. Good luck with your choice! Mike

Here are my directions that I posted on Porsche Pete's Boxster Board. SO here is the basic text. Photos will accompany them on the SoCal Boxster Group website next month. I hope. Rob's famous 10 minute GT3 seat install directions.......can you beat my time? 1) take the key out of the ignition and dont put it back in until your absolutely finished with the seat install. Putting the key in before youve reconnected the seat belt loop is the primary reason for the airbag light to come on. 2) duct tape as much of the interior as possible to protect it. 3) use a flat head screw driver to pop off the plastic cap on the front outside rail and use a small philips to unscrew the inside rail cap. 4)use your torx bit (best to go to a sears store and buy a whole set as the boxster uses many different sizes. You may have to use other sizes to install or remove something else in the future 5) un-bolt the floor bolts. 6) reach under your OEM seat. You will see a black box attached to it. 7) The Box can be removed by simply pulling forward towards the front of the seat. Some force may be needed.place onthe floorpan. This is a big time saving step. Now , unbolt the female seatbelt recepticle from the OEM seat and unclip the electric airbag wire (black large wire containing 3 smaller wires) that go along the bottom of the seat that lead to the black box. This another big time saving step. 9) Remove the empty black box that is connected to the bottom of the seat. 10) Remove the female seatbelt recepticle on the GT3 seat. 11) Pop the plastic cap off the shoulder belt floor seatbelt anchor and unbolt it. 12) Attach your old female seatbelt recepticle to your GT3 seat. 13) Attach your old black box that has the wire leading to your old female seatbelt recepticle to the bottom of your GT3 seat. 14)Feed the shoulder belt through the shoulder belt holes and the outer side bottom seatbelt hole in your GT3 seat. 15) Rebolt the seatbelt to the foor anchor and reattach the plastic black cap in place. 16)Bolt the GT3 seat to the floor using the OEM floor bolts. 17. Re attach the black plastic caps (Your seat may come with new ones,same are your OEM). Your outer rail cap simple snaps into place. The inner cap must be re screwed into place. 18) Your done..........Go go drive your Boxster and Enjoy your GT3 seat!

Cool Mike, Thanks. I have a 928 in addition to my 996 and I tend to drive the 996 most everyday, so comfort is a big consideration for me. It sounds like the lack of vertical adjustability on seats might be a problem for my lady. I'll have to find the oppertunity to try them out before I could make the purchase. I'll just keep my eyes open at track events. Thanks for all the data. I'm sure they do like they grew there. Congratulations and enjoy them. Best, Josh

Mike, If you haven't already, you may want to make sure that the seat belt connector on the passenger side is well fastened to the plug. I have mine taped together with electrical tape. I failed to do this on initial installation and after a day at the track with some high g's the connector on the passenger side came loose and my air bag warning light went on, requiring a trip to the dealer to reset. Karl

Karl, Thanks for the tip on taping the connector; it seemed pretty secure but I'll tape it anyway. Thanks. Mike Hey Robert, I'm wondering if there aren't some differences between the 996 and the Boxster with regards to seat layout. For example, my "black box" resides in a cutout in the carpet under the drivers seat and is bolted to the floorpan; not attached to the seat itself. The passenger side had no black box. My GT3 seat did not come with an empty black box attached, or with a seat belt receptacle. (The shipping boxes had been opened since the seats were used for display at the Concourso; I wonder if I was missing some parts). Since my factory seats were fully powered, with memory, lumbar, and heat there were other connectors to remove. The main connector under the 996 seat had a retaining clip on one side. By removing that clip I could slide out the individual sub-connectors, including the one with the black lead (mine had 4 little wires inside, not 3) that went to the female seat belt receptacle. I simply transfered the receptacle and wire lead to the new seat and plugged it back into the connector leading to the box on the floor. The other parts of your instructions are identical and right on. In particular, the advice about protecting the interior is important since the ends and edges of the seat rails could easily damage paint or interior trim. I used towels and blankets to cover exposed surfaces. I think you've probably got me with your 10 minute record. I think I could do 20. Mike

My Boxster S has the same cut out as yours. 996's and Boxsters are EXACTLY the same when it comes to the GT3 seat and connections. In fact the Boxster and 996 are just about identical (mechanically) from the back ohe front seats to the front bumper. You'd be amazed at how every part in the front of my car sarts with the 996-***-*** number. Its only towards the rear of the car where you will see 986-***-*** part numbers. Yes, You are missing parts, but they are parts that you dont need. read my GT3 seat instructions and youll see that its easier to use your old OEM seat box and seat loop. I have also designed (inpart with Brey Kraus) a new TALL man seat rail for hte GT3 seat. It puts the seat on the floor for maximum head room. Its a fixed racing seat rail mount. But it still allows you to use your stock seatbelts.

I read through your post, glad you like the seats. One interesting comment was the weight. I'm sure you are stating your numbers correctly. I had stock seats (no options added because I knew I was ditching them first thing), I weighed them on the same scale as the sport bucket seats. I never even thought about the brackets because I weighed the seats shortly after they were painted (they of course did not have the brackets on during that time due to paint prep). At any rate, the sport bucket seat came in ~14 lbs and the stock seats were 76 pounds each. I actually just talked with the fellow who helped me and he recalls this number as well. We stuck a board across the bathroom scale (for both seats) and slapped them on their. It seems amazing to me that the stock seats you have would be 20 pounds under this. I'm in no way sugesting your information is incorrect it just comes as a real surprise and Im a bit baffled. My wife couldnt even carry one of the stock seats and she carried both the sport bucket seats (with the brackets) into the house. Certainly didnt intend to report false info, I actually wonder what gives. "My concerns about the seats being too low were unfounded" does this mean you feel you didnt drop at all in the car, or that it wasn't too low? I actually (at 6'1") have to sit a little closer than I would like. I felt I dropped at least 2 inches and if I had to put money on it would guess 3.5" Well despite them not being what you expected Im glad you are enjoying them. They are really great for track driving, I can't even imagine being in sports seats let alone stock seats for hard driving. Mike where in California are you? nathan

Nathan, You've got mail! For the benefit of the board, I double checked my factory driver's seat weight with my scale on a concrete floor and it is indeed 60 pounds (I weighed in at 182 w/o the seat, and 242 with the seat in my arms). Can't explain the discrepancy with your seat at 76 pounds unless you didn't deduct the weight of the board you used from the total on the scale or the board sitting on your scale distributed the weight unevenly. I guess either of our scales could also be off, but mine is right on with respect to my normal weight...it seems unlikely the extra poundage would screw it up that much.??? The GT3 seat is significantly lower than a stock seat, but only a bit lower than a full power seat adjusted to it's lowest position. I have become accustomed to, and very much like, the GT3 seat driving position. In all, I'm extremely happy with the seats. Mike