Seat rebuilding
 

I decided to rebuild my seat as there were a couple of lumps in it and I had no doubt it had seen better days....

For this you may need a donor seat depending on how bad the current one is (driver/passenger seat foams are interchangeable, but the covers aren't, most other parts are also interchangeable)

The seat is only held in by 2 bolts and 2 nuts. Pull apart the electrical connection underneath the seat. Slide the seat back and undo the two nuts at the front of the seat frame, but leave one of them on by a tiny bit.

Slide the seat forward again and pull off the plastic cover that covers one of the bolts at the rear of the seat (2 'press stud' type fasteners).

Remove both of the bolts at the back and slide the seat back again just far enough so that the remaining nut is just showing. Push down on the seat base and finally remove this nut with your fingers. Still pushing down on the seat base (to hold it over the front studs), slide the seat as far forward as it will go. This makes it as small as possible to get through the door.

Finally lift out the seat.

It is best to perform the rebuild on a piece of carpet or something to stop the seat getting damaged or the black frame getting scratched.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...DSC03426-1.jpg

Fully recline the seat and turn it upside down.

First remove the steel bar that goes from side to side at the front edge of the seat base. It bends easily and is just slotted in at either side:

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...3/DSC03430.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...3/DSC03428.jpg

There is another one of the steel bars towards the rear of the seat. This also needs to be removed (The bent bit behind the height adjuster):

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...3/DSC03432.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...3/DSC03433.jpg

Unscrew the lumbar support adjuster until it can be pulled out. Also remove its backing plate:

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...3/DSC03434.jpg

You now have the following parts removed:

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...3/DSC03436.jpg

Now remove the 2 clamps holding the excess material. Use a flat screwdriver to push them off:

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...3/DSC03440.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...3/DSC03442.jpg

Now you need to remove the hog rings down each side of the material (or leather if you're a GLT owner!! :P). IIRC there's 3 on each side. The best way to remove them (i found) was to just use some medium sized snipe nosed pliers, and for the stubborn ones, a flat screwdriver to help to prize it apart.

(not all are in this pic)
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...3/DSC03441.jpg

You can now turn the seat back the right way round and the seat base will be like this (still held by 2 more hog rings in the middle of the seat):

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...3/DSC03445.jpg

Now remove the 2 hog rings in the middle of the seat base and the material can then be removed and put in a safe place where it wont get stood on or caught by anything sharp:

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...3/DSC03446.jpg

The seat foam can also now be lifted off, and the seat heater put to one side carefully (still fastened to seat though).

The seat recliner wheel now has to be removed. The 'inside circle' can just be prized out with a screwdriver to reveal the fastening for the reclinder wheel itself. On my model (it may vary on others I think) it was held on by a clip that had to be knocked round by a slight amount with a flat blade screwdriver and a hammer. The wheel will then just pull off (if it hasnt already fallen off)

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...3/DSC03457.jpg

The side panels can then be removed. They just unclip at the bottom edge and can the be pushed up to remove them:

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...3/DSC03453.jpg

Once they are off you will see the material is hooked onto the metal part behind. Unhook it so it doesn't get torn later.

Turn the seat upside down again and you will see several hog rings along the bottom edge of the backrest cover. Remove all of these. The backrest seat heater pad will fall out when the material has come loose and now the whole heater assembly can be put to one side carefully.

Roll the backrest cover carefully upwards and you will find (similar to seat base) that there are 2 hog rings in the middle again:

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...3/DSC03459.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...3/DSC03461.jpg

Remove these and then slide up the fabric even further, If you look from the back you will see the little clips that hod the headrest.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...3/DSC03462.jpg

Just press them in and pull the headrest upwards. Also unclip the spring seen in the left of this pic and the other 2 springs that are further down. The lumbar support may also be held to the foam with one hog ring which will need removing.

You should now be able to pull the fabric upwards and off. The Foam should come off.

You will be left with this now:

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...DSC03463-1.jpg

You can now rebuild the seat in the reverse order or stripping (famous words!) bearing the following points in mind:

1. If you are rebuilding an early style seat with the "ladder" style headrest and are replacing the frame, you will need an early style donor seat. The later headrests are half an inch wider and the clips are slightly different shapes. It is possible to alter the early headrest with a mallet(!) (as I did), but it makes life a hell of a lot easier if you don't have to do this.

2. The later style lumbar support is of a revised design that doesn't drop to bits, so if you are rebuilding an early seat using a later donor seat, swap over the lumbar support mechanism.

3. The seat foams WILL be cracked, even on the best of donor seats. The best thing to mend and reinforce this with (IMO) was clear silicone down any cracks, and carpet tape over the top of the cracks:

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...3/DSC03603.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...3/DSC03605.jpg

4. To try and prevent the foam from cracking again, devise something to reduce the pressure on the foam. I used a bit of hose pipe cut down the middle and cable tied to the seat frame (see pic in "5."

5. If the wire seat "spring" is sagging at the front, and you are using a donor seat, remove the one from the donor seat and fasten it back to front in conjunction with the original. The springs are bloody strong though and you may need an assistant to hold the seat while you pull on the springs with a looped bit of steel rod with both hands.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...3/DSC03604.jpg

6. When rebuilding, take great care to not rip the joins in the fabric as the seat covers are a very tight fit over the foams. A helper is often needed to pull down on the seat cover while clips and hog rings are re-attached.

I take no responsibility for any damage to seats caused!!

Hope that useful for someone at some point. Ive tried to make it as easy to understand as possible, but there's a lot of things what are hard to explain. If you're unsure about anything, feel free to PM me and I will be happy to help.

Steve