Mk1A (late) seat rebuild

[theo_s]

I'm finally dealing with my seats, one of which developed a bad tear in the seat vinyl. Got new covers, foam and other stuff from Rick. Disassembling the seats leads to questions...
1. Are the side plates for the recliner mechanism supposed to be covered in fuzzy carpet? Or vinyl? Or paint? My driver's seat only had one side cover; the other side just had the fuzzy piece glued straight to the bearing plate.
2. Is cardboard the right internal foam reinforcing material? These seats were covered in Alpine vinyl, and I have no way to tell if these were the original seats to the car, so I don't know what other personal mods may have been made to the seats in a prior rebuild.
3. Is the bottom side rail supposed to be all bent over like mine is or should that be vertical? The crinkling suggests that it was probably vertical at some point.

Thanks!

 

[michael-king]

1. No ...no ...no! No carpet on the side mechanism plate. Black crackle/ wrinkle finish.

2. The back had the period board to keep the shape.. better to use modern thin plastic.

3. Nope.... should not be bent

 

[Theorangetiger]

It has been referenced here before but here'a an excellent tutorial from TEAE. https://www.teae.org/how-to-restore-your-seats/

I just went through my MKI seats and the article helped greatly. The article deals with the early MKI seat cushions and the later style backs. It's not an exact match for your seats but still explains a lot and many elements are the same.

 

[65beam]

The TE/AE site has Tech tips dating back to the 70's from various sources and a listing of service bulletins sent to dealers by Rootes .

 

[theo_s]

Thanks for the pointers everyone! The PO's seat rebuilder evidently used the fuzzy carpet to hide the fact they only had one side plate. So this is going to be more 'build' than 're-build' of the seats.

 

[Austin Healer]

Thanks for the pointers everyone! The PO's seat rebuilder evidently used the fuzzy carpet to hide the fact they only had one side plate. So this is going to be more 'build' than 're-build' of the seats.
View attachment 17045View attachment 17046

Pretty sure I have some of the side plates around here... could save you the trouble of fabricating them!

 

[theo_s]

No worries. That part is going to take maybe a couple of hours.

 

[Theorangetiger]

Having just gone through my seats, I wanted to add an obsessive compulsive detail. When you drill out the pop rivets, they end up rattling around in the tubes, most of which have no way out. I don't think you'd hear them rattling around when everything is back together but I didn't want to chance it so before I put everything back together, I squeezed some silicone sealer through the rivet holes and shook the frames around until the loose parts stuck to the gob of silicone and stopped rattling. The silence was wonderful.