1985 300SD seat replacement

[Razvee]

Hello!

My father in-law passed over the summer, I've kind of taken the responsibility of selling his cars for the family. He has a great looking 1997 E420 which I don't think will be too difficult to sell, but his favorite car and daily driver was a 1985 300SD turbodiesel.

It had sat for over a year before he died, and I need to replace the fluids for sure, but the biggest thing I think will prevent a sale is that the driver side seat is broken. I was hoping it was just loose or that a tech didn't bolt the seat rail back in after something... but nope, looks like the rail is snapped on one side and the other side looks like it's rusted/broke at the body/frame. Picture here: https://imgur.com/a/JU6x6Ln Side note, driving it 70 miles to my house was pretty spooky, pretty sure I'd have the mother of all whiplash if I had got into an accident.

So fixing that, is it as simple as finding a junkyard seat to steal the rail off of? Any other options or recommends? I'm not really expecting much money for this thing, mechanically it was well taken care of, motor has 300k on it but I'm sure it's good for another 100, but the interior isn't great and the exterior is worse... certainly not a looker... So I'm hoping I don't have to drop $500 on a new seat when I may only get $1500 for the whole car.... but I do like small projects, so as long as it pays for itself in value, I don't mind.

You guys rock! Thanks

[tyl604]

Cannot really tell from the pics what is broken. But on my '81SD, the side rail broke and it was quite any easy fix to have it spot welded back. That has been some ten years ago and have not had a problem since.

[Razvee]

Thanks, I hadn't really considered a repair weld, but that's probably the easiest. I've never done that, but I'm sure I know someone who could spend a few minutes on it.

The broken part I'm most concerned about is here circled: https://i.imgur.com/dJOxPcZ.jpeg Those two pieces line up well, the seat is rocking back in the picture.

[Razvee]

I think I'm kind of figuring it out, if you look at this ebay listing: https://www.ebay.com/itm/205826403900 and compare the circled parts here: https://imgur.com/a/JU6x6Ln I think that's what I'm looking for. If anyone knows off the top of their head what that's called or a link to find one, I'd be appreciative, otherwise I may just buy that seat as a donor. All the seat rail's I'm finding are just the silver parts that run on the track, not really the frame part.

Thanks again!