Titanium Bolts for the Seats - Screws of Shame part 3
TL;DR : Sub-optimal job from the factory
With the car up on the lift at House of Speed the other day, it was apparent that the seats rails nuts and washers had seen better days. They were rusty more than scratched from contact with the road, but I couldn't leave them like that.
While stainless steel replacement would look like the obvious choice, titanium is even a better option.
CAUTION : Do not replace critical load bearing steel hardware with stainless steel or titanium and always stick the the prescribed alloy grade. I reckon it's OK for the seats. Worst case they would become loose on the floor pan (or break) and you would still be attached to the car anyway...
All we need are 4 (of each) M8x20mm bolts, M8 nylstop nuts and M8x30mm plain washers per seat.
Before placing my order, I had gotten the passenger seat out of the car for inspection, as I wanted to make sure I wouldn't need grinding down the titanium bolts flush with the nuts after fitting.
Assuming they were attached "by the book" (the assembly manual that is), and not willing to lose my mind with a ball allen socket on the rear bolts, I got the seat off its rails. It's actually very easy and never shown or explained that way. There are "just" 3 M6x16mm allen screws securing the seat frame to each rail, the allen socket is a 4mm one. The screws on the back are hidden behind leather of the lower part of the back rest, but accessible. Make sure you protect the leather surface from your tools though. The mini "bit"-ratchet did a quick job of that.
With the seat out, I got the 6mm allen wrench in the M8 bolts and a 13mm ratcheting spanner on the nuts below the car. The bolts wouldn't budge but the nuts came out easily.
The first seat rail in hand, I discovered that slim M8 nuts (undocumented) were added between the bottom of the rails and the floor pan to lock the bolts to the rails, making the job of fitting the seats to the car much easier.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions : those nuts were the only contact with the car and they literally stamped hexagon holes in the floor (not all of them, but still...)
So I got wide M8 washers on the inside too, and put the seat back for now. As the M6 bolts were oxydized too, I would add a set of stainless steel replacement to the order.
For a total of 62€ I got 10 bolts, 10 nylstop nuts and about 20 washers in titanium, plus 20 M16x16mm stainless steel bolts for the seat frames.
Upon reception, it took me about 1 hour to do each side, with a healthy pause in between.
It went like so :
- remove the seat bottom
- remove the 6 screws that attach the seat frame to the rails (through rivnuts, actually)
- remove the seat
- remove the 13mm nylstop nuts from below, with their large washers
(hold the bolts from the top if necessary) - one rail at a time, remove and replace the M8 allen bolt, I retained the slim nuts underneath
- clean the hell of that cruddy floor pan
- clean and re-grease the rails
- put the rail with the adjustment lever first, with M8x30 washers on top of the floor pan too
- put the free-moving rail next, making sur the rivnuts are spaced and oriented like on the other rail (with the longest space between them toward the front of the car)
- >if you have "locked" M8 bolts, do no even install the nuts and washers below the car yet
>if the rails are bolted directly to the floor with no locking nuts, make sure the spacing and alignment are correct before tightening, but you should have nice round 8 mm holes in the floor, that shouldn't be an issue - grease threads of the M6 bolts to prevent galling or corrosion
- get the seat back in the car, fully pushing down the M6 screws under the leather and engaging them to the rails with a ball-head hew wrench
- engage all the 6mm screws before tightening all for good
- if the rails were not tightened to the car yet, now is the time to fit the 30mm washers and nylstop nuts from below the car
- get the bottom of the seat back, and job done
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