Driver side adjustable seat

boblyon1 · #1 (**permalink**) 05-21-2019, 07:59 PM

Hi gang. I have SPF633 (1999) and have driven it for 11 years with the seat in a mid or perhaps next to last position. Unfortunately a long-legged mechanic recently adjusted it all the way back. I've tried everything to get it back to my preferred and safe position, both seated (and pulling lever up) and wedging a wooden stake behind the seat while reaching down to the lever and prying on the stick. I don't want to damage the fiberglass. Any suggestions?

Calbullet · #2 (**permalink**) 05-21-2019, 08:46 PM

He probably jammed it. Take out the four bolts under the car and
take the seat out. Should be able to fix the slide bracket

Blas · #3 (**permalink**) 05-22-2019, 06:16 AM

The seats are bolted thru a steel plate on the chassis below the fiberglass. You may have a series of washers between the seat and the floor that adjusts the rake of the seat front and back that you may want to take notice of. Later cars have a wire for seat belt monitors yours probably not. A great time to add a drain port at the low point of the floor under the seat too. I replaced the original bolts with studs to make the reinstallation easier from the topside. You can easily restack the washers (if they are there) on the studs and keep them in place with tape and easily put the 4 studs thru the holes on the floor. I also ran a drill thru the mounting plate holes to enlarge them slightly to ease installation. Let us know what "Treasures" you find under the seat.
Blas

boblyon1 · #4 (**permalink**) 05-22-2019, 09:26 AM

Thanks Mel and Blas. I shall proceed as you suggest and I'll let you know if I run into any problems. Bob

Sawdust · #5 (**permalink**) 05-22-2019, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boblyon1

Hi gang. I have SPF633 (1999) and have driven it for 11 years with the seat in a mid or perhaps next to last position. Unfortunately a long-legged mechanic recently adjusted it all the way back. I've tried everything to get it back to my preferred and safe position, both seated (and pulling lever up) and wedging a wooden stake behind the seat while reaching down to the lever and prying on the stick. I don't want to damage the fiberglass. Any suggestions?

I installed new seat adjusters on mine when I purchased it. Take the 4 bolts out and remove the seat make the repairs and re-install. Real easy.

Stu.

boblyon1 · #6 (**permalink**) 06-29-2019, 11:37 PM

Well, today I took the seat out. At that point I thought it would be about a 20 minute job. I lithium-lubed the slide mechanism on both sides. I also put a crimp in the copper link to make it shorter as the teeth were barely clearing the anchor holes on the "pull" side. Then the fun began.

I could not get the seat back in. After a half hour of struggling I took the seat back out and measured the distances between all four bolts and the distances between all four bolt holes on the floor. The measurements showed nearly a 1/4 inch discrepancy. So....I had to manually move one side of the track to a new notch (so that the count of notches was different from one side to another) and finally the bolts all slid into place. Took more than two hours but my seat is working fine. Think there may be a seat installer in South Africa laughing about this.

Jim Vander Wal · #7 (**permalink**) 06-30-2019, 05:51 AM

Welcome to the club. You're certainly not the only one to have issues with the track alignment.

I always found copious quantities of bad language helped me, didn't do the seat any good, but I felt better.

Now for your next project you might want to lift the front of the seat to angle it back. Many have found this more comfortable. I think I raised mine an inch but this may require modifying the bolts with extensions.

Enjoy your car, it's worth it but that doesn't mean there won't be "those days".

Jim
SPO 1855, SPO 2584, FFR 8885