[SpiderHolly]

Hi,
Sorry to sound like such a novice, but attempting to remove the driver's seat from my 88 and cannot figure out how to get to the rear track bolts. If I move the seat rearwards, i can access the two allen head bolts at the front but the seat will not move forward enough to see or access any rear bolts..am i missing something?
Thanks

 

[vf31rhill]

The seat will move forward far enough to access the 2 rear allens which secure the backs of the runners. Just why your seat seems not able to push that far forward I cannot say. Most likely it is because the seat has stayed in the rearward portions of it's tracks so long that the front of the tracks and the releases are corroded or fouled with under seat debris. I had the same problem on my Veloce seats the first time I removed them, but shooting a little WD-40 along the tracks and running the seat back and fourth with qusto; I eventually forced the seats forward enough to access the 2 allens. If you have any bad rust or corrosion problems the next problem may be that the allens do not want to come out. I had to drill off one of the heads and remove the seat, then soak the headless bolt and it's mating anchor and remove the bolt with vice grips. Fortunately a local mill supply house had the correct metric allen bolts in stock, along with a correct metric tap. I ended up re-taping all the bolt holes and installing new bolts on the subsequent re-install.

Hope this is of some use to you. When all else fails, use force and lubrication. As I recall now, on the drivers seat I had to pry the seat forward with a short 2 by 4 inserted between the rear of the seat bottom and the aft bulkhead. Then it went right forward with gusto.

Robert
1988 Black Spider Veloce

 

[SpiderHolly]

Thanks Robert,
It was weird like the seat will move very easily up from the rear most position about 2 or so inches--no force needed so I thought I'd ask before I tried lube and force. It actually feels like it hits a stop of some kind so I suppose I need to try to see under the seat first. Here's to hoping my bolts will come out without what you had to go through...not much corrosion or rust on the car anywhere so maybe I will get lucky.

 

[BigEd]

Ditto what Robert said. Took mine out on a 91 Spider -- wasn't easy but you should be able to move the seat forward enough to reach the back allen head bolts. But even with the seat all the way forward you still don't have a lot of clearace to work with. Only enough room to get the allen on the bolt and make about 1/4 turn. Also the driver side seat seems to fit tighter to the center console than the passenger side so the seat cushion my be holding you up some. Might try grabbing the right portion of the lower cushion and pull in towards you as you try to move the seat forward.

Not sure about the seat config on an 88 Quad but a little lesson learned if you happen to be taking your seats out to replace the seat covers. Pay particular attention to the orientaton of the seat release bar. On my 91 the bar can easily be installed upside down and looks correct but will not release the seat track enough to move the seat. Don't ask me how I know

Good luck
Ed

 

[vf31rhill]

"But even with the seat all the way forward you still don't have a lot of clearace to work with. Only enough room to get to the allen bolt and make about 1/4 turn."

Big ED makes a good point. At best there is just enough room to see the allen heads on the rear application.

If you have a Harbor Freight Tools handy, or even Sears tool dept, you can buy metric allen sets in a socket application. Mine are 3/8 sockets and with them you can come down on the allen bolts with an extension and rachet. They are worth the buy as they are quite useful elsewhere on the car.

Robert
1988 Black Spider Veloce

 

[ghnl]

IIRC (and I often do not...) there might be a stop tab under one (or both) of the front screws. Removing the front bolts and the small L shaped piece under it should give you the extra inch or so of travel needed to access the rear screws.

 

[mmolto]

Don't ask me how I know

I hear you. I've been there.. done that!!!!

The first time I removed my seats I used a basic allen key. What a pain. The second time I got a mini ratchet set that had allen key settings..... so much easier. The best $10.00 I ever spent

 

[shadowburn]

Look for the little stop tab. My 87 has them, your seats may be different due to the automatic restraints on the 88, but the tab is probably still there. Most likely on the rails closest to the center. This may sound funny, but I find that actually sitting in the seat and moving them as far forward as they can go, is usually easier then trying to push them forward while not sitting in them. You can get that extra little oomph to pull the seat forward when you're sitting on them.

 

[MSiege]

Seat problem

My '91 Spider had a jammed passenger seat. I couldn't get to the bolts to take it out. After a lot of investigating, pushing, prying etc. I realized that the mechanism wanted to work but wouldn't fully engage. Turns out the control bar across the front had been bent just enough to hit the seat cushion on one side before releasing that side.

Slow, even pressure on the tubular bar itself bent it down enough to then have the clearance to release the slides. Success!

Probably a good reminder that with low seats like these you really can't leave anything under there or on the floor in front, that may jam, bend or damage things.

Hope this helps...

 

[poison2003]

dont want to steal the thread but i am having trouble removing the front bolts on my 91. it seems like i need 8mm allen key with the rounded head so i can undo it on an angle or can i use something else?