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MG MGB Technical - Seat Mountings

I hate the mounting rails on my seats.
The seats and the rails are new but I cannot get a smoooth but stable/solid setting. My floor is of course 30yrs old.
Is there an alternative?
Regards
Dave
D M Tetlow

If you still have welded nuts intact then the only thing I can think of is to put a steel sheet stiffener layer under the carpet, drilling holes in it for the seat bolts to pass through.

If your welded nuts are long gone, then a large fender washer may gain you some stability.

Also, make sure you have through holes in your carpet for the round steel spacers. If they are on top of the carpet it will be very hard to get a solid connection.

BH Davis
BH Davis

Hi BH
Thanks. I have fitted the rails on top of the carpet, but thought this would not make too much difference.
Do your seats slide easily??
I need a 100lb slide hammer to move mine!!
Dave
D M Tetlow

Dave,

What you need to do is remove the seats, and using the wooden strips and metal inserts bolted back in, cut through the carpet and underlay/soundproofing around the using the wooden strips as guides, remove bolts and strips and remove the strips of carpet and underlay then grease the runners and bolt the seats back in.

I did this on a friends roadster recently who always complained that there was not enough legroom and that his seats did not seem to be bolted down securely.

We also ran a tap through the captive nuts to clean them up and used new bolts to re-install the seats.

The above has made the seats much more stable and he has found another 3" of rearward adjustment and the seats now slide easily on the runners.

Kevin

Kevin Jackson

One other thing to check is that the runners are straight and flat. I have seen a few MGB seats that the seat frame was slightlu bowed where the seat runners bolt on. This causes the seat runners to bow as well and the result is that the seat will not slide. Take your seats out, turn them over and lay a straightedge on the runners to see if you have this problem. Believe it or not you do need the spacers and packing strips under your seat and the spacers need to be sitting on the steel floor, not carpet. Another thing I have seen is some PO has lost the spacers and just bolted the seats back on top of the carpet, The carpet makes the bottom runners bow up in the middle and all but locks the seats in place
gerry masterman

Dave - Since Gerry didn't advertize his product in his posting here, I'll put the word out that he makes ans sells metal strips to take the place of the (usually) split, warped or rotted wooden packing strips. Cheers - Dave
David DuBois

I just bumped the other thread on this.
FRM
FR Millmore

I had big problems with fitting my seats.
Everything was new, seats,rails,wooden strips,but they were loose and failed the MOT.
I have tighten them up but as my floor pan resembles the moon and two of the captive nuts have been stripped I am still struggling!
Gerry do you sell these strips to the UK?
Regards
Dave
D M Tetlow

Dave,

Sorry, haven't looked at this post for a few days.

My rails and wood spacers are on top of my carpet. I only have holes in the carpet for the round spacers. The seats easily slide back and forth with a little leg/butt pressure. Of course this wasn't the case when I got the car. I had to take the seats out and work the slide mechanisms back and forth with a little oil a whole lot before they began to work decently again. At that time I also reactivated the seat back tilt mechanism.....also with a lot of patience, wire brushing, oil and eventual movement. All of this was frozen when I got the car. Only the forward tilt release lever worked on either seat.

I'd suggest putting the seats upside down on the workbench and see if your rails slide easily there. If so, then you just have to make sure they don't bend during bolt down.

BH
BH Davis

Thanks for the mention, Dave. I don't generally believe that it is proper for me to use the BBS to promote GEM Ent so I seldom mention it. But I do appreciate it when someone else does;o)

DM, yes I will ship to the UK for whatever addition postage it requires. You can contact me through my site, www.gem-enterprises.net
gerry masterman

"make sure they don't bend during bolt down"

Or bum/ass down!
Paul Hunt 2

Dave. You mention that two of the captive nuts have been stripped. If it is the rear two, no major problem as they can be easily replaced with either a captive or a non-captive nut. If one of both of them are the front nuts, you cannot get to them with the floors in the car--they are hidden by the chassis reinforcement. In that case, you have a bigger problem, but one which can be easily solved with a little creative manufacturing.

Les
Les Bengtson

This thread was discussed between 05/07/2007 and 11/07/2007

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