Lesson Learned about Weight and Seat From Hell Continued

A

Austin74

True Classic
The carb from the 74 that I dropped off with a local rebuild shop that was promised last Wednesday was still not finished by Friday, so this weekend I thought I would try again to move the seat, and swap the struts from the 74 to the 87 and vice versa. The front fender lip of the 74 sits at 25 inches with 175 60 13 tires, and the 87 sits at 23.5 inches with 185 60 13 tires. I thought that maybe the springs had been cut and wanted to see how the 74 would look with the 87 struts. I swapped them out and both cars sat exactly the same as they had before. It amazes me how much difference the weight of the stock 87 Bertone front end affects the ride height relative to the 74 with its bumperettes removed. And I haven't even installed my Vicks aluminum radiator with single 7 inch fan, the lightweight battery, or replaced the dual horns with the single Chinese plastic one.
As far as the seat goes, I tried to winch it forward and it wouldn't budge. I also tried blocks of wood and a pry bar. Next step is finding and old scissor jack and seeing if that will work.
 
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seat

there is another thread here that was a reminder that there is a spring between the seat and floor to pull it forward when you hit the lever at the front of the seat to move it. a total bi##h to get to, let alone remove.
slide the seat back as far as you can and use your best pair of needle nose vice grips and give a tug forward on the floor portion of the spring and it should pop off backward.
good luck and I hoped this helped
mikemo
 
Springless

Thanks Mike - the spring was actually already disconnected and on the floor under the seat when I started. The invisible hand of God is now holding the seat!
 
I Did Too

I liked the comealong idea too, and that is what I used today. I tried hooking to both the brake pedal and steering column. After putting enough pressure on it that I could not ratchet anymore, and having both the brake and column tweak enough that I was risking damage to them, I quit. That seat is a beeyotch!
 
wish I were closer!

I would love to take a shot at the seat! I did want to add that I have a trick for the spring which I used for each of the three I just took out. When the seat can move you move it forward till the spring is totally compressed then back off just a little bit then you can bend the spring out of the path by applying pressure to the center of the spring. This allows the seat to move past the now doubled over spring... Have not reinstalled mine yet but I am going to attempt to reverse that move... You know if you are going to redo the seats anyway I would give thought to just removing the cover and cushion that will give you access to you problem and the shop will be able to work with whatever you tear off... Just a thought...
Rocco
 
Wish you were too

Rocco, I wish you were closer as well - I'd almost be willing to fly you out to have a look at this stupid thing - I am so frustrated! I'm not ready to dig through the seat yet, but it might come to that. I think once it is out I am going to see if I can remove the welds on the lower track and maybe convert it to a bolt down or something like that. I do not want to be in this situation again!
 
Donkey Kick?

left foot on transmission tunnel behind E brake,

stand facing rear, bracing hands on targa/roll bar (roof off of course),

seat back all the way forward, rails well lubed

sturdy shoes or boots preferably flat soles

donkey kick with right foot to lower seat back... repeatedly

Worked for me once!
 
Frustrating! Seems like the smallest but most stubborn issues (often involving rusted or frozen parts) cause the biggest problems.

But we've all been there and eventually found a way -- you will too. I like Alex's idea. Keep thinking "impact" -- several smaller impacts (or repeated kicks) which may work better in this situation as opposed to slow intense leverage.

...and if your seat is that frozen, get yourself an impact wrench for working on the rest of the vehicle. I spent a year wrestling with rusted nuts/bolts before I purchased an electric impact wrench from HF. Wish I'd purchased one sooner. They really work well. Ditto for the 1/2" pry bar.
 
Thanks

Thank you for the sentiment, Geekdaddy, I really am ready to move on to the next task on this vehicle! I definitely will be purchasing an electric impact wrench in the very near future. The house I sold in Northern CA when I moved to Austin had a very cool 3rd bay in the garage that was separate, and for which the previous owner had set up a remote compressor in an outbuilding with compressed air hard-plumbed to that bay with quick-releases along the wall. I've gone from that (and perfect weather) to working in an open apartment carport with no electricity or air available. I use tools from the trunk of my daily driver. It really sucks!
 
2 more things:

I know there's been suggestions to check the rails for blockage, but have you checked the ends to make sure they aren't bent inward or dug into the rails somehow? Maybe you could use a pry bar or large flathead to bend the corners outward slightly so they don't dig in while sliding

Secondly, I'd go ahead and strip the seat bottom vinyl and foam off the seat frame to get a good look and better access. It can be removed in situ if you're familiar with upholstery, if not we could walk you through it
 
Impact

Thanks Steve - I'll definitely keep it away from my wheels. They are magnesium and from 1972 so I very carefully hand-tighten them!
 
Seats

Alex, I am fine with removing the seat upholstery, but haven't because I have an even more remedial question: How do I separate the seat back from the bottom cushion? All I can see on the seat hinges that joins the two is a large (about 1 inch or so in diameter) chrome 'bolt' head with no slot that goes into the seat. If I could get that off I can remove the cover and foam.
 
Unfortunately I'm less familiar with the early style seats.... On a 79+ style seat there's just 3 Phillips head screws that secure the hinge to the seat bottom frame.

Is it 100% necessary to remove the seat back in order to take the bottom cushion out? On the later seats you could get away with pulling the upholstery out from under the hinge

Maybe someone here can chime in on how the early seats separate...
 
Thanks

Thank you Alex - I think it is about 73% necessary... I'd like to separate them before getting started, but if I can't I might dive in anyway.
 
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