Drivers seat back rest

[enigmas]

That's great Colin. The main thing is not to panic. If you decide to disassemble the complete mechanism it becomes more obvious.

The internal locking pads are slightly different either side. (Fine adjustment on the Lever Side & Coarse adjustment on the door side)
The 'long' locking pin on the handle side screws into the fine adjustment pad and this can be rotated with a small Phillips screw driver. There are 2 channels for the locking pin to fit into and these are 180 degrees apart. So if your experiencing difficulty it's merely a matter of rotating the fine adjusting pad till you locate one hole.

[enigmas]

P5B Coupe & P5 MK3 Coupe Seat components

[enigmas]

Fitting the Backrest (torsion bar)

Note: There is no need to tension the torsion bar. As outlined earlier, simply position the backrest at a right angle to the seat base (I did this on a table as illustrated)
Once this right angle has been gained, simply line up the closest holes on the torsion bar flange fitting (3 screws) with the holes in the seat frame and fit the 3 screws in place.

Result: When the seat back rest is upright there is no tension on the bar. Lean back and the bar will resist the movement of the backrest by self torqueing or twisting. This is all that is required to make it work effectively.

***If you want to turn it into an ejector seat (and slam you head into the steering wheel hub) preload the bar, but this will also add undue stress to the seat frame.

These pictures should suffice:

[enigmas]

I finally finished assembling the seat today. Truly, all I had left was the stainless side covers and the small covers at the rear of the seats (these just cover part of the reclining mechanism) This small job probably took 3-4 hours as I realized that once the side plates were in place there was some interference with the rear covers when the seat was reclined. I suppose I can't really complain, as the seats had certainly seen some artful tweaking over the cars life prior to my ownership. Although I've spent lots of time and effort on all sorts of modifications/repairs regarding the body, engine, transmission and brakes...things like the functioning of the seats were always a fairly low priority, if not low interest. But, it is pleasing to have the slides and the backrest all working smoothly and with very little effort, especially as it's the driver's seat where most wear takes place. So that's one more job I can tick off.

[Steve P5b]

Thank you for posting you skilled work here, it's very interesting following your progress. I have a similar job to carry out as my backrest falls backwards when the lever is raised, and your information will come in handy.
Thanks, Steve

[enigmas]

Jun 1, 2014 11:24:52 GMT Steve P5b said:

Thank you for posting you skilled work here, it's very interesting following your progress. I have a similar job to carry out as my backrest falls backwards when the lever is raised, and your information will come in handy.
Thanks, Steve

Isn't that the purpose of the forum I'm glad the information is of use to you Steve.

[Deleted]

As long as your wife doesn't find out!!

[Steve P5b]

Jun 1, 2014 17:48:30 GMT @peternetherlands said:

As long as your wife doesn't find out!!

Like it

[true2north]

OK, chaps, I am about to lose my sanity over this. Unfortunately, the pictures on this thread are no longer available. On rebuild, the whole compression tube is rotating with the lever - is this correct? The problem lies in the opposite side of the tube to the lever where the long locking pin effectively locks the pad mechanism to the compression tube, rotating the whole locking pad inside the seat back slot - which can't happen without distorting the slot. Is the compression tube not supposed to rotate, which would solve that problem but give me another one in that I am unable to free the handle from the compression tube. Any guidance would be welcome, or I shall be burning the whole thing!

[velvet]

This is quite a common problem especially if the car has been locked away for several years and the recline mecchanism not used. The compression tube should not rotate when the lever is lifted to recline the seat.  You will have to remove the assembly and but the tube in a vice very tight and using a blow torch apply heat at the big thread connection where it joins to the handle and then seperate them, clean all the old hardened grease in both tube and handle and regrease and oil the two before rejoining, ( i use petroleom jelly ). Its a good idea to roughen with an angle grinder the hexagon bolts faces before reassembling them (and also a bit of roughning on the semi-circular slots they make contact with.)  Replace the assembly in the seat frame without connecting the torsion bar to make all the neccessary adjustments,  make especially sure that the backrest doesnt recline when locked with a hard 'lean-back'. When you're satisfied with the mecchanism then you can connect the torsion bar by closing both seat and squab forcing them together as much as possible. ( THIS IS BEST DONE WITH THE SEAT COMPLETLY STRIPPED OF ITS COVERS AND FOAM.)

[true2north]

Brilliant, velvet - exactly as I thought. The seats are totally stripped, so the job should be a liitle easier. I'll let you know and thanks for the reply.

Mike

[Brendan69]

Ive just read this whole thread with interest.


The issue I have is that I cannot recline my seats at present so thank god they are currently set in a suitable upright position.

I think the " wheeler dealers car " had a seat issue too if I remember correctly.

[Phil Nottingham]

Made a STICKY!

[harvey]

Dec 28, 2018 10:21:56 GMT Brendan69 said:

I think the " wheeler dealers car " had a seat issue too if I remember correctly.

It can't have, none of the Wheeler Dealer cars have seats, they all have chairs......