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Here is an easy little weekend project I thought I'd share. I have had a lot of seats where the recliner attachment screws wouldn't thread. I guess its a pretty common problem as these cars age. Seen all manner of crazy stopgap fixes. Used a few myself! But I'd never really dug into a seat before to figure out the problem and how to fix it. Until last weekend. Had a pair of T5 seats. Surplus to my needs, and I'd made arrangements to sell them to a very nice fellow out in Ca. I'd told him some of the seatback threads were stripped and needed repair. Then I got curious and started looking at them. I hadn't received payment yet, so figured technically they were still mine and I could fix them if I wanted to.
Getting the upholstery off the frame was not as hard as I expected. Pull out a series of staples at the bottom of the seatback and it is loose. But then it wouldn't slip off, because the recliners were still attached. The screws were loose, but just rotated and wouldn't back out. Found I could reach my hand up inside from the bottom and feel around. Could feel nuts turning when I tried to loosen the recliner screws. Trial and error and I determined the nuts were 11mm ATF. Was able to get a wrench on each one, and then back out the screws. Recliners off. Slip off the cover. Then peel back the cushion, remove the rubber donuts and rubberbands, and slip the metal frame clear of everything. Not so hard. Never done this before, but it was pretty logical. Maybe 15 minutes work. I laid out the pieces carefully in the exact order for re-assembly later. Then on to repairing the frame. A little ugly at first. Treatment with bead blast and metal conditioner and now I can see what I've got. A little pitting, but good solid metal. No problems. Except the nuts.
Here's what the nuts look like. The only good one left out of six. These are just expanded into the metal. Not much of a fastener really. I see now why so many fail. On this side, 2 of the 3 were gone. And it was obvious someone had tried to repair them before, by welding from the outside. That must have been fun! Can't believe they didn't catch them on fire. It obviously didn't work.
Here is the other side. All three gone here. By the way, found all five errant nuts inside the seatback!
My planned fix is to make a nutplate. This will re-inforce the area, plus give me good solid fastening for the recliners. Here is a template I made to lay out the plate.
The completed plate made from a piece of 18 ga., sans nuts, being test fitted.
The plate with nuts held in place by the screws through the recliner. Insures all the nuts are exactly in the right spot on the plate. I then tacked each nut with the welder. A note here about the nuts. Got them down at the local auto parts store. M6 x 1.0. Thought having the little flange would make them easy to weld, and spread the load. But the not sure what the metal in the nuts was It welded strangely and sputtered a lot. If I had to do this again, I would get regular M6 x 1.0 weld nuts, like are used in many other places on a 356.
The nuts welded to the plate, and then the plate spot-welded to the seat frame. Nuts are welded very solid, but not very pretty because of the spluttery metal. I chose to use the spot welder here for the plate for a couple reasons. Its neat, fast, and completely reversible just in case the new owner doesn't like the repair. Used weld through primer too before installing, so no future corrosion between the pieces.
Here is the view of the repair from the recliner side. I think it came out nicely, and will add a little strength to the seatbacks too. A good solid platform to attache the recliner. I didn't worry about fixing the old weld hole from the previous repair. Someone else can if it bothers them, but I didn't see any real need to. I did of course grind off the old weld blobs, for clearance on the inside, and to not snag any fabric on the outside. Total time to repair each side of one seatback frame was about 1 hour.
Here is the finished seat back frame.Both sides done, all 6 holes like new. Freshly painted and preserved. After paint dry, slipped back into padding, re-installed the rubber bits, slipped the seat cover back on, re-stapled the bottom, and screwed the recliners back on, and voila! A functional seat again.
So, if anyone has ever wondered what its like inside a seat back. Now you know. Hopefully useful info for someone. Maybe? Maybe not?
Getting the upholstery off the frame was not as hard as I expected. Pull out a series of staples at the bottom of the seatback and it is loose. But then it wouldn't slip off, because the recliners were still attached. The screws were loose, but just rotated and wouldn't back out. Found I could reach my hand up inside from the bottom and feel around. Could feel nuts turning when I tried to loosen the recliner screws. Trial and error and I determined the nuts were 11mm ATF. Was able to get a wrench on each one, and then back out the screws. Recliners off. Slip off the cover. Then peel back the cushion, remove the rubber donuts and rubberbands, and slip the metal frame clear of everything. Not so hard. Never done this before, but it was pretty logical. Maybe 15 minutes work. I laid out the pieces carefully in the exact order for re-assembly later. Then on to repairing the frame. A little ugly at first. Treatment with bead blast and metal conditioner and now I can see what I've got. A little pitting, but good solid metal. No problems. Except the nuts.
Here's what the nuts look like. The only good one left out of six. These are just expanded into the metal. Not much of a fastener really. I see now why so many fail. On this side, 2 of the 3 were gone. And it was obvious someone had tried to repair them before, by welding from the outside. That must have been fun! Can't believe they didn't catch them on fire. It obviously didn't work.
Here is the other side. All three gone here. By the way, found all five errant nuts inside the seatback!
My planned fix is to make a nutplate. This will re-inforce the area, plus give me good solid fastening for the recliners. Here is a template I made to lay out the plate.
The completed plate made from a piece of 18 ga., sans nuts, being test fitted.
The plate with nuts held in place by the screws through the recliner. Insures all the nuts are exactly in the right spot on the plate. I then tacked each nut with the welder. A note here about the nuts. Got them down at the local auto parts store. M6 x 1.0. Thought having the little flange would make them easy to weld, and spread the load. But the not sure what the metal in the nuts was It welded strangely and sputtered a lot. If I had to do this again, I would get regular M6 x 1.0 weld nuts, like are used in many other places on a 356.
The nuts welded to the plate, and then the plate spot-welded to the seat frame. Nuts are welded very solid, but not very pretty because of the spluttery metal. I chose to use the spot welder here for the plate for a couple reasons. Its neat, fast, and completely reversible just in case the new owner doesn't like the repair. Used weld through primer too before installing, so no future corrosion between the pieces.
Here is the view of the repair from the recliner side. I think it came out nicely, and will add a little strength to the seatbacks too. A good solid platform to attache the recliner. I didn't worry about fixing the old weld hole from the previous repair. Someone else can if it bothers them, but I didn't see any real need to. I did of course grind off the old weld blobs, for clearance on the inside, and to not snag any fabric on the outside. Total time to repair each side of one seatback frame was about 1 hour.
Here is the finished seat back frame.Both sides done, all 6 holes like new. Freshly painted and preserved. After paint dry, slipped back into padding, re-installed the rubber bits, slipped the seat cover back on, re-stapled the bottom, and screwed the recliners back on, and voila! A functional seat again.
So, if anyone has ever wondered what its like inside a seat back. Now you know. Hopefully useful info for someone. Maybe? Maybe not?
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