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Triumph TR6 - Seat track removal

I have pulled out my seat tracks and slides. The bottom rails are a little rusty and I wanted to separate them but they are not cooperating. I sprayed them w/PB blaster and they both move freely but I cannot get them to separate. I have tapped them with a hammer toward the front release, and then reversed and even though they move fairly easily something seems to be keeping them from sliding all the way out. Am I really missing something here?
Bill Kinney

Hi Bill
I think you will find there is a "stop" to prevent the seats from sliding all the way "out" for obvious safety reasons. If I recall, there is a "tang" ...part of the outer rail has been pushed in to prevent the inner rail from sliding full out.
Maybe someone else has one "in hand" that can help.
Rick C
Rick Crawford

Bill,
I just went and had a look at mine, they are out of the car right now cause I just replaced them with miata
seats, very comfy! The two pieces are prevented from
separating by a punched in nipple on either end of the
bottom runners. It looks like you could grind them off
or pound them flat with a hammer and punch or drill them out. Which ever you choose when you reasemble you
will have to hammer the nipple back in or screw in a small bolt to keep the sliders from separating again.
Also when you take them apart for the first time do it
slowly so you can keep track of everything that rolls out and which order it came out. It probably won't be that bad but I've disasembled things before that I thought would be a breeze only to find ball bearings running everywhere and spending many hours trying to
get it all back together.
Good luck,
Chris
Christopher Trace

Chris- I know this is a can of worms and has been rehashed before. Can you explain the complete details of the seat exchange,if not here send me an e-mail
donkelly at earthlink dot net
Don
DON KELLY

Thanks Guys, the bottom rails aren't really that rusty, I think I will clean them up without removing them. (really not looking for extra work at this point!) It was one of those frustrating things where it just seemed like I was missing something. I have a 68B and they slide right off.
Bill Kinney

WARNING! The following may raise the blood pressure
of some people. If you don't like to hear about modifications stop reading now.!

Hi Don,
when I restored the car 3-4 years ago I striped the original seats down to the metal, installed new foam kits, new diaphrams and custom black leather seat covers.
They look great and are comfortable enough for a 2-3 hour drive. After that I start getting twichy and my
right leg starts to ache. One of our favorite things to do in my TR is go for long drives, stop somewhere
for the night and continue on in the morning.
So, to make these trips more enjoyable I've installed cruise control and purchased a pair of miata seats which are very comfortable. I haven't tried them on a long trip yet but don't forsee any discomfort.
I slid the miata seat back in its sliders as far as possible and nestled the whole seat back as far as possible against the parcel shelf,then with a soldering
gun melted the carpet and underlay inside the two front
mounting holes down to the metal floor pan. I drilled
those two holes and temporarily installed bolts.
Then slid the seat forward as far as possible and did the same to the rear mounting holes. The only problem I ran into was the rear outboard hole on both sides ends up coming through right above the frame where the trailing arms attach. I drilled and tapped threads there instead of using a lock nut as was used on the other three holes. But now that it is done I see that I could have gotten away with not drilling that 4th hole. The 3 easy holes are more than enough to hold the seat securely. Large washers were used underneath to spread out the load. The original holes were filled with silcone caulking and the old holes in the carpet cannot be seen fron inside the car.
I am now sitting approx. 3/4" higher than before.
Only another TR guy would notice the change from original.You can also install speakers in the headrests and because the new seats have a taller headrest ther isn't as much wind buffeting on the back of the neck.
For Sale; one set set of slightly used black leather
reconditioned seats for a 74 1/2 TR6.
Chris
Christopher Trace

Chris- Does it matter to what year Miata and is a particular year preferable,and I take it you used the track for the Mazda seat. Any chance the TR track will fit that seat?
Don
DON KELLY

Any year from 90 - 97 are all the same, mine was 93 I think. The newer ones might fit but I have no experience with them.
No the Triumph seat track doesn't fit. I supose with enough time and welding talent you might be able to
hobble some extensions so they would meet up but the main problem being that unlike the Triumph seat that has a tubular frame, the miata seat is a uni-body
frame with the foam glued right to the sheet metal.
Very tricky welding job. Also I forgot to mention
on the bottom of the miata seat tracks there are two
locating spikes that fit into the mazda body and serve to line up the mounting holes, these need to be hacksawed off for use in a Triumph.
Chris
Christopher Trace

Chris- What did you pay for the Miata seats
Don
DON KELLY

Don

There are a few sets avialble on E Bay ranging from 200-400..

bob
Bob Craske

I paid $250 for the two seats but with no slider tracks. I found those in the states for the price of shipping, but most people wanted $25 - 50 bucks for them. Don, just log onto a couple of miata club sites
and check their classifieds or post a wanted ad, you'll
get a very quick response.
Christopher Trace

This thread was discussed between 09/02/2005 and 11/02/2005

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