Buying a friend's Bride

As mentioned previously, my friend Kam is parting out his Zed. As a result, I not only purchased a couple of his wheels but also his passenger side Bride seat; a Stradia II Sport to be exact.

So firstly, out with the factory seat...

Then in with the new seat, with modified fire extinguisher bracket to match (thanks Jim).

Airbag Reset Procedure

Another post for future reference. These new fangled cars have all these complex sensors and warning lights just waiting to make one's life safer, but potentially more of a hassle.

If you ever unplug the airbag harness on the 350Z seats while the car is on, the airbag light on the dashboard will start flashing. Once you have plugged the harness (or a 2.2 ohm 0.25W resistor) back in, a procedure must be performed to reset the airbag (SRS) system and make the airbag light stop flashing. I found instructions on the 350Z-tech forum and have modified them according to what worked for me.

The procedure consists of two parts:

1. Change the SRS system to Self-Diagnosis Mode.
2. Change the SRS system back to User Mode.

How to change to Self-Diagnosis Mode:

1. Turn the ignition switch from OFF to ON.
2. Within 1 second of the airbag warning lamp starting to flash, turn OFF the ignition switch.
3. Wait for more than 3 seconds.
4. Repeat steps 1 to 3 twice. (Perform 3 times in total)
5. Turn the ignition switch ON again and the dash should be in Self-Diagnosis Mode, signified by the airbag warning lamp flashing at a slower rate than it did in User Mode.
6. Turn the ignition switch OFF.

How to change to User Mode:

1. Turn the ignition switch from OFF to ON.
2. Within 1 second of the airbag warning lamp starting to flash, turn OFF the ignition switch.
3. Wait for more than 3 seconds.
4. Repeat steps 1 to 3 twice. (Perform 3 times in total)
5. Turn the ignition switch ON again and the dash should be in User Mode. After the initial checks, the airbag warning lamp should turn off and no longer flash.

Source: 350z-tech.com

Bride Holding Monster strikes again

I picked up one of these today - Bride Stradia with low cushion.

Installation:
1. Unplug seat belt buckle sensor plug from factory seat.
2. Unplug air bag plug from factory seat.
3. Unplug third plug (I can't be bothered looking up what it's for) from factory seat.
4. Remove factory seat.
5. Plug in 2.2 ohm resistor into air bag plug connector in car.
6. Remove seat belt buckle from factory seat.
7. Attach seat belt buckle to Bride seat.
8. Bolt in Bride seat to car.
9. Reconnect seat belt buckle sensor plug.

No DIY is a success without the obligatory fail, quite the paradox. In my haste and glee that I had completed step 5 and that it worked, I had forgotten steps 6 and 7 and proceeded straight to 8. As all good fails would have it, I did not realise I had failed until I had completed step 8. But alas, patience is a virtue and I reversed step 8 and did not attempt to rush it by completing step 7 with the seat bolted in.

A big thanks to Dan (c2888) for his electronics expertise and Kam80 for the online assist when I was picking these seats up.