99 Camry power seat swap?

I'm getting ready to send my DD 99 camry to it's grave and want to yank the seats out to replace the god awefull stock taco seats. Has anyone done this swap? What electronics do I need if any from the Camry? I know I'll have to mod brackets, but that's not an issue for me.

 

I can't answer your question, but I have a 2000 Tacoma (buckets) and I also have a 98 Camry(cloth with no lumbar). I have trouble sitting for extended periods of time and the Tacoma seats are way more comfortable than the Camry seats. I suspect Camry seats with lumbar would be a step in the right direction though.

 

lumbar for long road trips

 

A lot depends on what functions the seats have (and don't have). I swapped in seats from BMW 328i. They had lumbar, heat, power backs, six way power in the seat. What really complicated them was the memory function in the driver seat. Passenger seat was "dumb" (same functions, just no memory positions), and it was a simple hook up to a power and go. Had to basically lobotomize the driver seat, which entailed getting wiring harness and switch for a passenger seat. Luckily, I could flip the passenger switch and make it fit the driver seat.

What you really have to watch on these installs is getting the seat too high. The BMW's didn't seem much thicker, but when mounted on the same plane as the stocks, you sit higher. A little less headroom, especially getting in. I think there may be a work around if you were to remove a double panel at the front of the stock seat. You could probably lower them by a couple of inches. I'll be attempting this in the spring.

 

Yeah, power seats are too complicated. Just give me seats that are comfy for long road trips.

 

Had it not been for the "memory" function, the set up for the power wasn't much, just run a hot wire with fuse from power source. Easy peasy with a schematic to determine what needs power, and what is grounds.

I do a lot of 7-8 hour trips in mine, and I love being able to change the angle of the seat bottom, i.e. raising your knees up and down.

 

My process would've been to use relays to get the power function working. I noticed some power seats from other manufactures have the ecu under the seat and that makes it easy install.

 

I'm just waiting to find a good deal on some used seats. I don't want to spend an arm and a leg and when something comes around it will be fun to swap in some better seats. I did come across some 2003 Jeep Grand Cherokee seats. They are really comfortable but I didn't snag them up fast enough. I think the height on them (and width) would work.

 

I debated about using a relay for the movement, but wanted the ability to move the seats without the ignition. My wife is 4'9", and I'm 6'1", I can't even start to get in without adjusting.

I did use a relay only for the heaters. Obviously didn't want them to stay on!!

 

That makes sense. They should be operational even w/o the key in the ignition.

 

I shopped for mine on eBay, looking for something in my general vicinity. The yard that I found had probably a hundred sets in their building, and they were willing to pull the pig tail out of the donor car, once I found the set that met my size requirements. I only invested $225 in the seats at the yard, but spent more to get the necessary wiring to lobotomize the driver seat. But still well worth the money for the comfort.

 

This works until you get the right seat:

One of those wedge pillows...Driving to Death Valley was a "killer," until I tried this out

 

The Camry seats are basic cloth with power, no memory because Toyota. Shit our 2015 didn't have the option for memory seats, but that's another topic.

I know all the comfort workarounds for the Tacoma seats and have used them, can't wait to get these piles of crap out of this truck, the Camry seats are infinately more comfortable and I already have them and aren't junkyard seats that had a hooker murdered on them or God know what else...

 

I bought power seats out of a Lexus ES300. It is SUPER complicated electrically, there is something like 30 wires coming out of the driver's side for things like the airbag, seatbelt sensor, seat ECU (yes the seat has its own ECU), etc.

Surprisingly getting all that to work was the easy part. Welding and modifying it to work was the hard part. I haven't put em in yet, but damn they are comfortable. I sat in 100-200 different cars at the junkyard and the Lexus seats were the most comfortable with the leather and memory foam.

Has black leather, memory foam, two stage heat, memory positions, etc.

 

Should be a piece of cake for you then.

Blood stains just add "character"! LOL

 

There's about a million motors in each seat along with airbags and other junk.

 

I modded the seats in there now to sit lower with the cage, and eventually will be tieing the seats into the cage itself, so yea the welding is a PITA. I think there's a spot in the stock Tacoma harness for power seats, would be sweet if these plug right in.

 

I needed you around to deal with my wiring!! Not my forte!

 

Take a look at that double thickness area at the front of the seat. I think you could cut the inside layer of that out. That's the place where the front outside seat bolt goes in parallel to the floor. It's just a cavity, probably for reinforcement. Then just bolt through the real floor board, maybe reinforce with flat stock, and gain a couple of inches of drop at the front, and the back of the stock seat is already raised up by brackets, so just eliminate those, dropping the whole seat by two inches or so.

 

Already chopped the rear of the brackets and lowered them.