Greetings,

I am working on my SDL Seats as the driver's seat is horrible lopsided. I just got the seat off, and I have a couple of questions.

1. Can I remove the mechanical items bolted to the bottom of the seat? It seems it would be easier to get to the seat bottom. I just don't want to hose the seat.

2. I already see a busted spring. Since I do not have any injection line, is there another item I could get at the hardware/auto parts store that I could use?

3. It looks like this seat has been removed multiple times. the Seat belt guide(?) was bent and attached at only one end. This is the peice of the seatbelt on the right side of the seat, the part with the button. If it should connect forward, where should it connect?

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86 300 SDL - Vesuvius

96 SL 500

Assumption is the mother of all screw ups.

Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. - Dylan Thomas

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing - Edmund Burke

I left the moter and all that stuff on the seat, Sit on the seat and feel at the bottom. You should be able to get the seat cover off now. I put some pool noodles in the springs long way, (front to back) I think I put three of them in there, you will have to cut and trim them up to get them to fit. So far so good, my seat had two broken springs.

Thanks.

I did find two items that I can use to bridge the spring.

1. An aluminum spacer.
2. Flexible copper pipe.

Which do you think would last?

__________________
86 300 SDL - Vesuvius

96 SL 500

Assumption is the mother of all screw ups.

Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. - Dylan Thomas

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing - Edmund Burke

I am a bit confused, how do I get the seat cover off? I cannot seem to find a way to do it.

__________________
86 300 SDL - Vesuvius

96 SL 500

Assumption is the mother of all screw ups.

Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. - Dylan Thomas

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing - Edmund Burke

I've done three of those seats already. They do require some tricks.

1) You wish to remove the tracks from the seat frame. To do that, there are three Phillips screws in each track that secure the track to the seat frame. However, you can only insert the screwdriver when the screw is perfectly aligned with one of the holes in the track.........otherwise you can't get to the center screw. The end screws can be reached when the seat is in the opposite position. You may need to return the seat to the vehicle to move it one way or the other to get a straight shot at the screws. Make sure you use a #3 Phillips head on the screws.........or else........

2) Any solution that you use for a broken spring is marginal. It won't survive long term. The frame needs to be replaced.

3) The seat belt guide slips over the top of one of the bolts that secure the seat back. It's held in place by a special clip that probably fractured when it was originally removed. It's not quite a "C" clip but similar. Without that clip, you can't get the guide secured to the seat.

If you are doing the complete job, do yourself a favor and get a new replacement "horsehair" pad for the seat. The original is shot after 20 years. You can get them at www.gahh.com.

Steel brake line works. I also used a piece of 1 by 4 pine board about 8 inches long in my seat. Steve

Well, I think I got it.

I made a trip to home depot and found both aluminum and nylon spacers. fWIW the 1 inch long 5/16 inch nylon spacers seemed to fit the best. I am inclined to agree with Brian that this likely won't last long. These fixes seem to delay the inevitable. At least I bought myself some time to find the frame. I was tired of driving while sitting against the door.

I also figured out the pool noodle placement. It seems I was making this tougher than I thought. I did not remove a thing. I flipped the seat over (so the seat was facing the ground) and shoved them down the springs on the left side and in front.

Thanks all for the help.

One last question - the arm rest is a bit wonky on this car - how do I remove it? it seems there are two bolts holding it on. If I und those only, will it come off? Or do I have to remove that retaining clip inside as well?

__________________
86 300 SDL - Vesuvius

96 SL 500

Assumption is the mother of all screw ups.

Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. - Dylan Thomas

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing - Edmund Burke