The car has been recovered a few times by the looks of it and these aqua velour seats were probably OK at the time but not what I really want now. The original divers seat had collapsed and my good friend Will (from Park Garage), took all the bits (literally) of me and re-welded it all back up into a single seat frame. At the time I took the old coverings off to get to the frame in order to be repaired I had no vision to take photos as I wasn’t expecting to do this blog. I am now taking pictures as I go along and updating the pages with the progress.
So here is the frame from the drivers seat that was repaired and given a quick preventative spray for rust. Now was time to give it a decent coating of zinc self etching primer after being cleaned in order to protect as much as possible.
The passenger side seat was taken out via undoing the four nuts under the car. The seat will then just lift out!
The seat is little heavier than I expected so be careful with the weight. The underside of the passenger seat had a tag attached to it and the frame looks to be in good condition. when removing the side trim be careful not to loose the plastic spacer.
Bottom of the seat with the fittings in place for the linkage.
I have taken the tracks of the bottom of the driver seat obviously in order for it to be repaired. I cleaned the tracks up with POR15 Marine Clean and degreased it as much as possible. The track was virtually seized solid so I removed the springs in order to leave the lock disengaged from the movement.
After cleaning both of the tracks were treated with the anti rust zinc self etch primer again.
Spring fittings and bolts removed and cleaned, note the odd bolt used.
Once the Primer had time to dry overnight I then applied two coats of the satin black. The first was a very light dusting to dry quickly and the second was a little thicker to get the colour required.
The second coat gave the required colour
Once the coats of paint had dried I applied grease to all the internal parts of the rails. there are two roller bearings that take the weight. I gave plenty of copper grease to the inside, the bearings and the nylon guides for the sides. The final task was a simple case or re-attaching the springs back in place to allow the rails to be locked in place.
And finally a picture just because I like it! Unusual to say the least,
Incredible web site! Congratulations and thank you for such complete and well documented infos. I have just purchased a 66 coupé GT in very good original condition. My concern is related to get extra leg room for the driver (I am 193 cm high).
I would like to have your expert advice on how you would manage that problem?
Thanks for your answer and congratulation again for the beautiful web site.
PS: please, be tolerant for my written english, I am a french speaking Swiss from Geneva
Thanks for the kind comments and for contacting me. Your written English is fine by the way.
OK, seats. You are just fraction taller than me as I am a tall guy too.
In my car with the seats as standard I can get in my car and my head just clears the head liner.
My legs are a little folded but it’s ok, not the most comfortable I must admit.
There is a few things you can do to make life easier.
The seat bases can be removed and cut down a little to give you head room.
The bases will have to be re welded back in.
If you need more leg room you can move the seat bases back a little and re weld.
You would need to fill the original floor pan seat holes and re-drill new ones to tighten the seats in place.
There is another option for leg room is you can buy seat track extensions will allow the seat to move further back.
The very nature of the seat bases are they are at an angle. So the further back the seat goes, the lower they will go.
That means more head room and more leg room.
Of course you can do a mistress of all three. It’s not a easy or nice job, but it’s a job you should do earlier in the restoration rather than later.
I personally have not seen the track extensions but they are around so I have been told.
I hope that helps. All the best with your restoration and post some pics.👍😃
Anybody else with other ideas to help?