91 Cartier Memory Seats

[aharonLTC]

There's a beautiful 91 Cartier in the wrecking yard that I want to liberate the seats from as they're in great condition and a potential upgrade for my 88 Base. Does anyone know what I'd need to get to transfer the memory seat function to the 88? Thanks.

[gadget73]

pretty sure that involves the seat tracks at least, and those aren't going to bolt to the floor of an 88. You should be able to modify the seats themselves to fit the 88 seat tracks though.

it might be possible to transfer the position sensors or whatever over but really you need an EVTM to see what electronics are involved, and probably have to put both pieces side by side to see what needs to move or modify to make it happen.

or let me ask you this. How often do you actually move the seats?

[aharonLTC]

Thank you for reply.

I already figured out how to bolt 2nd and 3rd gen seats to 1st gen floors. 2nd and 3rd gen tracks have one elevated rear corner, the other 3 corners will mount to the 1st gen floor. For the elevated corner, I replace the original floor stud with a longer threaded rod, add a spacer, and make a new hole in the track corner to match the original stud's position. I retrofit a 3rd gen driver power seat track for my manual passenger seat this way.



I adjust the seat often enoughmemory is nice to put it back in the most commonly used position. Already retrofit other 3rd gen comforts like cupholders, power port, electrochromatic mirror with compass. I like more features. The 91 seats are plusher, are Cartier/designer style, have lumbar, power recline, and map pockets.

I guess I'm just wondering where the 91's memory module is.

[DerekTheGreat]

...How often do you actually move the seats?

This. The only time I move the seat is after someone else moved it. Then it takes me about twenty minutes of moving it to get it back to where I had it. This is twenty minutes over the course of several drives lol. Same thing with mirrors. Manual seats are better, only so many positions they can be adjusted to.

[87gtVIC]

I dont have any useful information to provide you with but I can give you some encouragement. Props for all the things you have done. Feel free to post about them.

[gadget73]

I *think* the 91 memory module might be in the door, but thats vague memory of someone discussing it elsewhere.

[friskyfrankie]

I know on the newer Town Cars the module is directly under the seat but not sure on yours. May be there as well and a quick look should locate it if it is.

[aharonLTC]

Thanks for the replies.

I did recover the seats this morning. Previous scavenger had raided the driver side switchboard, but left the passenger side intact, probably because the passenger window had exploded at all over it. So I was able to transplant the passenger seat controls over to the driver side and move the seat as necessary to access all four seat corner fasteners. It also helped that the junkyard was iced over enough to drag the seats, once removed, with me to the exit, since they are too heavy for me to carry more than 50 feet.

$212.50 including tax got me all the seats and the memory seat door button, which was secured to the panel by small Torx screws. With my 88's backseat bottom removed and the front seats in the forward most position, we all fit in the cabin for the ride to work and then home.



There was a black box in the harness under the driver's seat, fastened to the floor on either 11 or 12mm nuts, that the seat plugs all went into and I recovered this with the seat. I believe this is the memory module. I'll hope to find diagrams for powering the memory function, but ultimately even if I don't get that to work, the Cartier seats are a substantial upgrade over the Base seats in comfort, style, wear, and features. I'm not sure yet if I will attempt swapping the 88's pivoting headrests into the new seats, I generally prefer bigger headrests but the Cartier rests seem supportive enough as is.

I installed the rear seats tonight and they are much softer. The 91 seat bottoms have slots for the 3 point seatbelt receivers but the 88's belts are lap only and go the opposite way, and I don't want to risk stripping the torx fasteners messing with them more than necessary, so the slots will serve as coin pits of doom. Could possibly refit small storage basins in them, like the 3rd gen L models' kleenex holders.

Two reasons I prefer the power seats over manual is I can move the seat with one hand, without having to brace and push with my feet; and the power seats allow front and rear tilting, whereas the manual seats move only on a plane. I generally like the seat front tilted up, rear tilted down.

[DerekTheGreat]

Memory seats are actually pretty useful if you've got more than one person driving a car. I typically drive when I hang out with the old man. So when I drive his car, I press one button to put the steering wheel, mirrors and seat where I like them. He presses the other when I'm done and it goes back to his settings. I would not want to see these features at 20+ years old though, doubt much of it'll still work properly.

I'd like to get a 1990 TC, I do prefer the interiors of those, but love the exterior of the '80-'89 Lincolns more.

[Tiggie]

Nice seats really "make" a car inside. A good impact gun is the best way to get those seat belt bolts if you decide to tackle them in the future.

[gadget73]

always thought power driver's seat was standard after the very early 80s. I've seen full manual bench seat models in 80 or 81 but thats about it. My 86 is about as stripped as it gets, manual passenger seat but power driver's.

The harnesses are there to make it power on both sides, just need the switch and panel in the door and the seat track to plug it in to.

[DerekTheGreat]

Yeah, that is indeed correct. I wonder what the price difference was say between a stripper Town Car and a Ford loaded with options such that it was comparable to the base equipment provided by the Lincoln...

[87gtVIC]

The attachment pics are not showing.

[aharonLTC]

Here are Imgur image links to my attachments reuploaded.

Seats in the seats: https://i.imgur.com/4WmH9yQ.jpeg
3rd Gen seat frame corner to 1st Gen floor mod: https://i.imgur.com/0RVocwm.jpg

Meanwhile this looks to be a power seat diagram for 1994 Town Car that includes info on the memory seat wiring. https://portal-diagnostov.com/images...332572a691.svg

With any luck I can use this to hook up the memory seat module.

[aharonLTC]

Rear seats went in no problem.

I've gotten the electrical portion of the front passenger seat all taken care of. The 88 is prewired for the underseat courtesy lights through a 2 pin 18 or 20 gauge wire connector (courtesy lights feed and ground), although the lights were not present.

The 91 seats has two T10 sockets under the seat, although it did not come with bulbs. I put some LED bulbs in there for now and they work. The 91 powers these lights and the recliner motor through a 3 pin connector, one skinny wire for the courtesy lights and two 14 gauge wires: Black With White Wire for the recliner and lumbar switches and motors, and Black for ground.

I connected the courtesy light feed to the 88's factory connector through a flat terminal, left the factory ground blank, and ran my own 14 gauge wires to a 12 gauge constant 12V and ground in the passenger side kick panel.





You can really see the difference in footwell lighting from the passenger seat with the lights versus the driver seat without.