SV seat removal

[David aka Blue7]

Hi guys

I am trying to remove the Caterham standard leather seats to fit some new GT seats on order from Thundersport.  I thought it would be just a simple case of removing the 4 nuts on the underside of the car and lifting the seats out. 

However, the mounting bolt is turning with the nut so I thought it would just be a case of putting a spanner on the head of the bolt on the inside of the car but the seat runnerrs are in the way preventing access to head oof the bolt.  Am I supposed to remove the seat runners, if so how is that accomplished?

There are holes in the top front of the runners through which I can see the tops of the front bolts, which seem to have a sunken hex. head.  I could probably slot an allen key in the top to hold the bolt but then there is no similar hole in the runners to access the rear seat bolts.

Is there a simpler way of seat removal?

David

[SM25T]

I use socket head set screws so they can be held with a hex bit. Try jamming a flat screwdriver blade beside the bolt hex head. Or the same flat blade between the floor and runner. Or an open ended spanner vertically down on to the hex head in between the sides of the runner.

[SM25T]

I have just bought 8 off M8-16 stainless cap head socket set screws and stainless nyloc nuts from Modern Screws in Bexley, as I am just refitting my seats. Total £3.50.

[rich71]

My stype seats were easiest to remove by lifting off the base and undoing the 6 socket head screws which attach the frame to the runners, remove the seat, then you can easily access all nut & bolt heads which are still on the runners.

[David aka Blue7]

Thanks for the replies all, including Jonathan who pm'd me but my pm reply didn't seem to send?

I can get an allen key through the access hole at the front of the runners and sliding the seats as far forward as possible I can now see heads of the two rear bolts.  I can just about reach the inside bolt, I don't know how people with shorter arms could cope? 

Fitting the new seats should be a bundle of fun trying to line up the bolts with holes :( 

I seem to recall that when Top Gear built their 7 it was Clarkson who was given the task of fitting the seats ... I just don't believe he could do it ;)

[SM25T]

Well he did fit one facing backwards !

[SM25T]

Fit the rear bolts first. I use 16mm long set screws ... so there is no thread protruding beyond the washer and nyloc nut. You should be able to slide the seat far enough forwards and backwards to easily expose the heads. Sometimes the slide needs a bit of persuasion !

[JNC]

It's quite easy really ! You are right about the front bolts they are accessed through the holes in the runners, slide the seat as far forward as you can now access the rear hex bolts use long hex keys with the short end in the bolt then from under the car carefully put the nylock nut on the bolt turn very carefully the hex key will turn until it comes up against the tunnel or seat self locking until the nut is tight.

[Paul Richards]

You've got it easy. Seats were originally fixed by hex head bolts and you had to jam the head in the runner with a screwdriver. 

I now find the best thing to do is weld the bolts to the runners. Then it's an easy job to remove and replace the seats by just removing the nuts from underneath. 

[JNC]

When I changed my seats to GT's instead of nuts I made Ali square bar sledges , I drilled and tapped the bar and screwed the hex bolts in from the top and ground off any protruding bolt . The bar is the same depth as the nuts would have been . Reason I did this was road humps the Ali slides over the humps with a dull sound whereas the stainless steel nuts sound awful ! .