Early 911/912 seat removal

[SCadaddle]

Working on the restoration of my 69 912. Trying to remove the passengers side seat. The usual slide it all the way forward and remove the bolts in the rear of the seat track then slide it all the way back and remove the fronts is not working because I can't move the seat far enough forward to remove the rear bolts. I've removed the bolts from the outer rail assembly where they fasten to the chassis, but the rear bolts on the tunnel side of the seat rail are inaccessible. The seat slides forward to a hard stop; I've looked at another seat and there is a dowel pin in the upper rail that mounts to the seat bottom that is giving me the hard stop. Can't access the bolts to the rail connected to the seat bottom either. Somebody give me a hand! Thanks!

[Puma]

I had no issues removing my seats, no dowel pins. Is the track perfectly clean so the seat slides all the way?

[SCadaddle]

Seat slides fine, just limited to forward travel. The bolts in the front of the track are not limiting the forward motion. I've used a blower and I've used a telescoping magnet tool to fish in the track looking for possibly something that is hanging things up. Stumped at this point. Puma, take a look at your seat sliders from below. The lower track will have a hole in it. When you slide the lower track back and forth look inside that hole and you will see a vertical dowel pin on the upper track that limits the travel.

I've searched 19 pages of "seat removal" to no avail. Its the little things sometimes that drive you nuts!

[matthewb0051]

Mine occasionally hang up as well. I get in the back and push with my legs, while someone holds the latch open. I'm pretty sure there is not a dowel.

[Puma]

Some previous owner must have removed mine already. Why, I don't have any idea. Somewhere in my brain I think I've seen what you're talking about before, I'm thinking maybe a dowel pin sticking straight up in the center of the track?

[SCadaddle]

This is the best I could find using a google search to find a pelican forum post that I didn't find with the search function of the forum. If you will look at the photos of the bottoms of these seats, you will see a hole in the lower seat rail not quite at the midpoint of the length of the rail between the 4 mounting holes being 2 at each end. If you were to slide the lower rails fore and aft with a flashlight looking through the hole you will see what looks like a metal dowel pin that acts as a stop that is mounted vertically to the upper seat rail. The lower seat rail has raised "tabs" that this stop hits limiting the travel. All of this was observed on a spare seat in the parts stash barn that I was using as a "go-by" to see what was going on. I should have used a tool to try and see if the dowel pin was somehow spring loaded, but I didn't. And seeing how the spare seat is 100 miles distant to me right now and difficult to get back out of the stash, hopefully someone has one nearby that can take a look. I had the seats out 20 something years ago so that is what is aggravating right now!


911T 1969 original seat rails?

[OCG911T]

I am having the same problem with my passenger seat as well. What did you end up doing? (I realize this thread is 4 years old)

It only slides back and forth about 4 inches but not enough to uncover either set of allen bolts! Nothing that I can see is jammed in the tracks or limiting travel. Comes to a hard stop fore and aft.

Thanks!

[Hi_Fi_Guy]

Some early seats DO have the the metal safety pin in them.

This thread documents my seat rebuild including seat rails.
https://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/1065818-project-pepita-i-attempt-refurbishing-early-comfort-seats.html

Here is the exact post in the thread where I show where the metal pin is on the tracks and how to remove it.
https://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/1065818-project-pepita-i-attempt-refurbishing-early-comfort-seats.html#post10926490

The above will NOT help you remove your seats but will help you fix the issue for the future so it never happens again.

[OCG911T]

Thank you for your post, that write up you did for reupholstering the seats is incredible.

Looking at the seat pan, it looks like my only chance is to try to unscrew the pan from the seat rail... Luckily the seats need to be reupholstered anyway so I have pulled the bottom seat cover to expose the allen bolts. Besides that, I can’t see any other way to remove it.... without serious work and destroying the seat.

Thanks again!

[OCG911T]

My idea did not work, I forgot to take into account the several allen bolts that screw into the pan from the bottom.

Any more ideas?

I really can’t see any other option besides an angle grinder and just hack the pan and seat bottom sliders away until I can access the bolts that secure the lower rail....

I’m sure plenty of techs and people ran into these issues back when these cars were relatively common?

[SCadaddle]

Originally Posted by OCG911T

I am having the same problem with my passenger seat as well. What did you end up doing? (I realize this thread is 4 years old)

It only slides back and forth about 4 inches but not enough to uncover either set of allen bolts! Nothing that I can see is jammed in the tracks or limiting travel. Comes to a hard stop fore and aft.

Thanks!

The seat is still stuck in the car 100 miles away, just like it was 4 years ago. Actually, I was surprised to see my 4 year old thread pop back up!

[blue72s]

Spray WD40 in-between the lower and upper rails as much as you can. Leave for a few minutes then push hard back and forth.
Repeat as necessary until the bolts become accessible.

[OCG911T]

Thanks guys, going to try the wd-40!

[SCadaddle]

Originally Posted by OCG911T

Thanks guys, going to try the wd-40!

Good luck and let us know how the WD-40 worked for you. I absolutely bombed my seat rails with Kano Kroil and that did no good at the time. Must be the "safety pin" as noted above.

[OCG911T]

WD-40 did not work, I guess I am on to cutting it out with a cutting disc. What a shame but I cannot see any other way to remove it.

[Quickstep192]

Did you remove the front bolts first? The proper bolts have low profile heads and if bolts with regular heads were used, they will prevent the seat from moving far enough forward to access the rear bolts.

[viejopatron]

Here's Seat Removal per the Workshop Manual.