Having Seats Recovered - How To Disassemble?
10-31-2007, 08:13 PM
#1
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
Having Seats Recovered - How To Disassemble?
Hey Folks,
I have a neighbour that does upholstery. I asked him if he could recover my front seats in new leather and he said he could.
Just started taking the seats apart and hit a snag already. I thought that getting the backs off looked pretty straightforward but after removing the 4 bolts that hold the back on, I have encountered the small bushings on the bottom that the top of the seat rotates around.
Does anyone have any experience taking these seats apart or even a few pics of disassembly so I can get an idea of what I am getting myself into here?
Cheers
Bernie
I have a neighbour that does upholstery. I asked him if he could recover my front seats in new leather and he said he could.
Just started taking the seats apart and hit a snag already. I thought that getting the backs off looked pretty straightforward but after removing the 4 bolts that hold the back on, I have encountered the small bushings on the bottom that the top of the seat rotates around.
Does anyone have any experience taking these seats apart or even a few pics of disassembly so I can get an idea of what I am getting myself into here?
Cheers
Bernie
10-31-2007, 08:17 PM
#2
Race Director
I've seen some seats that have 6 bolts....2 on the front and 4 on the rear.....didn't even remove the upper seat...just took the whole thing out of the car......
10-31-2007, 10:02 PM
#3
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
Hey Iceman,
The seats are already out of the car. I am referring to the disassemby of the seat itself.
OK, I figured out how to get the back off and how to remove the electrics. I should have mentioned that these are the 8-way power seats with heaters.
Start this process by cutting all the cable ties and freeing up the electric feed cables. Two of these cables must be fed back through the bottom portion of the seat to allow the seatback to come away from the bottom.
1) Take off the two plastic caps from the lower portion of the back. This reveals the primary bolts that hold the back to the bottom.
2) Remove the little circlips that hold the pull cables on for the tilt-forward release. Mark where the little pullies go on before pulling them off as well. They will need to be placed back there when the seat is put back together.
3) Remove the 4 bolts that hold the seatback on to the hinge assembly. This will be a 15mm socket.
4) Now the part I couldn't figure. The seatback still won't come off because there is a little rod that goes in on either side of the seat back at the bottom of the hinge assembly. You will see a little sockethead cap screw on either side. This little guy (2mm) goes through a little rubber ring which presses out against the socket when it is tightened down. Now I made the mistake of loosening the screw and then pushing the rod in. This worked out ok on one side but on the other side, I pushed it right into the seat and now I can't get it out! Not a problem since the seats are getting recovered anyway and I will retrieve it when all the leather comes off. Best to probably remove the capscrew, use a longer screw to thread in and give yourself a handle to pull the rod out. Don't lose the little rubber ring jobbie!
5) The leather will be stuck to the hinge assemblies on both sides. I thought it may have been attached somehow but it was just stuck from age. Just pull it away from the hinge assembly and the seat back is now free to come off.
Now the electrics:
You have to remove ALL wiring from the bottom of the seat. There is no easy way that I have found to get the control assembly off. There are no connectors on the switches, they are wired directly to the cables they use.
1) Remove the cover to the switches (4 x Phillips Head)
2) Remove the two PH screws that hold the switch panel on
3) Now you need to go to the bottom and free up all the electrics.
4) Cut ALL the cable ties
5) Disconnect the plug that goes into the large relay
6) Remove the relay by removing the 1 x PH screw
7) Depress the little petal that holds the primary power plug to this same plate and slide the connector sideways to remove it. I removed the plate entirely but I don't think I really had to.
8) Remove the three small connectors from their mounting plate. You just need to push little tabs together on the bottom and they pop out.
9) Remove the wires that feed the three motors on the front.
That should be all the wiring removed but I may have missed one.
Now what could have turned out to be difficult, actually turned out to be quite simple. All power feeds from one large plug to the switches. Since each switch is fed through its own hole, it is impossible to remove all the wiring in one single way. Here is what I did: If you pop the top off of the large connector that feeds all the switches, you will notice that each switch section is fed its own red / brown wire set. Simply mark where these wires go and then pull them all out of the connector...........voila! All the cabling is now separate and ready to pull through the connector panel.
Upon removing my switches, I found what was causing my P-seat to not operate properly. Two of the wires feeding to the switch were completely crushed, their outer shields ground off and charred wires exposed. These wires must have been shorting out and preventing functions of the seat to work. Nice to find this stuff.
Anyway, I think the most difficult part now lays ahead - that is separating the lower seat cushion from the slider / motor assembly. Gotta go look more at that to see what can be done.
Hope this thread helps someone in the future. You can save a bunch of money by handing an upholstery guy a completely disassembled seat cause its a lot of work for him if he doesn't know what he is doing and he may even damage the seat if he does it wrong.
Cheers
Bernie
The seats are already out of the car. I am referring to the disassemby of the seat itself.
OK, I figured out how to get the back off and how to remove the electrics. I should have mentioned that these are the 8-way power seats with heaters.
Start this process by cutting all the cable ties and freeing up the electric feed cables. Two of these cables must be fed back through the bottom portion of the seat to allow the seatback to come away from the bottom.
1) Take off the two plastic caps from the lower portion of the back. This reveals the primary bolts that hold the back to the bottom.
2) Remove the little circlips that hold the pull cables on for the tilt-forward release. Mark where the little pullies go on before pulling them off as well. They will need to be placed back there when the seat is put back together.
3) Remove the 4 bolts that hold the seatback on to the hinge assembly. This will be a 15mm socket.
4) Now the part I couldn't figure. The seatback still won't come off because there is a little rod that goes in on either side of the seat back at the bottom of the hinge assembly. You will see a little sockethead cap screw on either side. This little guy (2mm) goes through a little rubber ring which presses out against the socket when it is tightened down. Now I made the mistake of loosening the screw and then pushing the rod in. This worked out ok on one side but on the other side, I pushed it right into the seat and now I can't get it out! Not a problem since the seats are getting recovered anyway and I will retrieve it when all the leather comes off. Best to probably remove the capscrew, use a longer screw to thread in and give yourself a handle to pull the rod out. Don't lose the little rubber ring jobbie!
5) The leather will be stuck to the hinge assemblies on both sides. I thought it may have been attached somehow but it was just stuck from age. Just pull it away from the hinge assembly and the seat back is now free to come off.
Now the electrics:
You have to remove ALL wiring from the bottom of the seat. There is no easy way that I have found to get the control assembly off. There are no connectors on the switches, they are wired directly to the cables they use.
1) Remove the cover to the switches (4 x Phillips Head)
2) Remove the two PH screws that hold the switch panel on
3) Now you need to go to the bottom and free up all the electrics.
4) Cut ALL the cable ties
5) Disconnect the plug that goes into the large relay
6) Remove the relay by removing the 1 x PH screw
7) Depress the little petal that holds the primary power plug to this same plate and slide the connector sideways to remove it. I removed the plate entirely but I don't think I really had to.
8) Remove the three small connectors from their mounting plate. You just need to push little tabs together on the bottom and they pop out.
9) Remove the wires that feed the three motors on the front.
That should be all the wiring removed but I may have missed one.
Now what could have turned out to be difficult, actually turned out to be quite simple. All power feeds from one large plug to the switches. Since each switch is fed through its own hole, it is impossible to remove all the wiring in one single way. Here is what I did: If you pop the top off of the large connector that feeds all the switches, you will notice that each switch section is fed its own red / brown wire set. Simply mark where these wires go and then pull them all out of the connector...........voila! All the cabling is now separate and ready to pull through the connector panel.
Upon removing my switches, I found what was causing my P-seat to not operate properly. Two of the wires feeding to the switch were completely crushed, their outer shields ground off and charred wires exposed. These wires must have been shorting out and preventing functions of the seat to work. Nice to find this stuff.
Anyway, I think the most difficult part now lays ahead - that is separating the lower seat cushion from the slider / motor assembly. Gotta go look more at that to see what can be done.
Hope this thread helps someone in the future. You can save a bunch of money by handing an upholstery guy a completely disassembled seat cause its a lot of work for him if he doesn't know what he is doing and he may even damage the seat if he does it wrong.
Cheers
Bernie