Drivers seat frame repair?

[Howard722]

The weak spot of cracking over the seat belt anchorage by the seat lever is a an awkward repair- HAS ANYONE TRIED TO REPLACE THE FAILED AREA WITH A LONGISH REPAIR SECTION CUT WITH CARE FROM AN IN-BOARD TUBE FROM A DONOR PASSENGER SEAT?- the shape seems right, any success yes/no`s on this???, better ideas???-cheers,H

[john 215]

Hi Howard,
Welcome to THE BEST TR7/8 Forum in the world EVER. I have had one break there before, to be honest not the best steel to ever grace a seat frame. I welded and then shaped some steel as strenghten plates and welded these on as a temp repair but replaced when i found a good seat.Did'nt want that baby letting go when i really needed it [xx(]
Try these guys-
http://www.robsport.co.uk/buyparts.aspx
http://www.ss-preparations.co.uk/
Or failing that they do come up on Fleabay from time to time-
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PAIR-TRIUMPH-TR7- ... dZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/L-K-ORIGINAL-Triu ... dZViewItem
Hope this helps,
Cheers John.

LIVE LIFE A QUARTER OF A MILE AT A TIME!
1979 3.5 FHC(STATUS PENDING!!)

1982 2.0 DHC NOW A 4.6 WILL BE ON THE ROAD VERY SOON!
Read My Blog http://www.waringstowntr7s.co.uk/blogs/ ... hp/John215

[TR7_FHC]

Just thought you might be interested, It is possiable to fit a passenger seat as the drivers, the lever for the backrest ajustment is a bit tight on the transmission tunnel, but no other problems.

(mine cracked in exactly the same place and i had a spare passenger seat in the garage)

[Workshop Help]

If I may make my suggestion, one can use a split piece of steel tubing fitted over and welded in place as a reinforcement. Our drivers seat broke, as they all seem to do, and this repair has held up very well for the past several years. The seat cover did not have to be completely removed, just unsecured and pulled back to give the welder access to the break.

Mildred Hargis

[1980dhc]

I didn't know that other people had problems with their seat breaking in that spot. I thought it was just me that had that problem. Man now that i think about it to say "I am the only one having this problem with a 7" is a little naive

[Launie]

Yup, mine's broken same spot! Of course.

Launie
'76 TR7 FHC (not running)
'86 Renault Alliance (daily driver)
'77 Chev Silverado (grunt work)

[danny]

Hi,
I had the same problem and fixed it the same way as Mildred did by using a piece of tubing to give it strength, it's an easy fix if you have access to a mig welder.



Danny
1980 TR7 fhc Brooklands green
1967 Spitfire Mk3 Signal red
View my Blog http://www.waringstowntr7s.co.uk/blogs/index.php/danny

[busheytrader]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by TR7_FHC</i>

Just thought you might be interested, It is possiable to fit a passenger seat as the drivers, the lever for the backrest ajustment is a bit tight on the transmission tunnel, but no other problems.

(mine cracked in exactly the same place and i had a spare passenger seat in the garage)
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Yep me too.

[Hasbeen]

If you would rather NOT have a broken seat frame, GET YOUR KEYS OUT
OF YOUR POCKET, BEFORE YOU GET INTO THE CAR.

Leaning back against the top of your seat, so you can lift your butt,
to help get your hand into your pocket, to get your keys, is the
main cause of broken seat frames.

Even though I have known this for some years, I still occasionally
get in, without having my keys in my hand.



The other one is, NEVER KNEEL ON A 7s SEAT. This is sure to cause
premature failure of the diaphragm, that is the basis of the support
of the seat. You just have to sit while you clean that windscreen.

I think our seats are a great ballance between comfort, support &
weight, in a seat. I don't want one which weighs a ton. They are not
however, a very good exercise bench, for doing abdominal stretches,
or kneeling exercises.

Hasbeen

[UKPhilTR7]

<b><font color="blue">Must admit that with the cost of seats on ebay, I would go for the option of buying another one rather than trying to fix the broken one.</font id="blue"></b>

[Shauniedawn]

Now we know who ate all the pies [:p]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12691409@N08/

[windy one]

Where exactly is the common spot for the frame breakage? Both the 7 Im getting ready for the road and my parts car have broken driver side seats! They jus seem to 'flp' back and forth (the seat-backs)

Anyone have a pic? I only ask because I have yet to tear-down the said broken seats to see if I can fix 'em, and would like to see what Im getting into. Thanx (guess I shoulda added...Im getting this 7 running and drivable for the least amount of $ I need to spend. If I can fix it rather than put out the $ for another frame, Id like to)

Johnny

[Workshop Help]

As noted over a year ago, the hardest part of the repair is the removal of the seat from the car. After that it's a simple matter of peeling back the cover and either firing up the electric welder or forking over about $20.00USD to the welding shop for a three minute session. Do, however, take him a cut to fit reinforcing piece of tubular steel to be welded into place.

Mildred Hargis

[Howard722]

<font color="green"><font face="Comic Sans MS">The seat frame usually fails on the drivers seat due to `gets most` use and rust.
Rust can weaken the tube where it is `necked` to clear the seat belt anchorage mech. and heavy in/out effort pressing against the seat back eventually cracks the tube here and creates a hinge effect even though bolted to the seat runner!-seat then v dangerous in a shunt and an MOT failure here.
Repair is awkward as need seat out and to do a proper job best stripped of seat material. Ensure welding to high spec. and re-inforce as well, tube pretty thin-you don`t want the repair to fail when you need it most!!!
Attached is pic. of a typ. failure and this has previously been repaired and failed again-hmmm!![:0]
Best is to find a sound seat frame-the passenger seat from a RHD car is usually great for the drivers seat for a left hand drive, and vice versa[^]-oh so easy to write that-go search?
Hope this explanation helps

</font id="Comic Sans MS"></font id="green">[img][IMG]http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii304/trfrazz/DSC01527.jpg[/img][/img]

<font color="teal"><font face="Comic Sans MS">BTW-from a UK/RHD car I have a super cond. pass. seat frame and a rather poorly drivers one as above for sale. The rust you see is only surface after wire brushing last year to get a closer look at things-so this seat frame is for spares/skillfull repair!
Also have spare pair of seat runners?</font id="Comic Sans MS"></font id="teal">
Enjoy& regards

[windy one]

Thanks for the replies and especially the pic! I have the set I intending on using already pulled from the donor car, and the original set coming out soon to install my new carpeting. If any of the frames are rusted that badly, Ill just find good replacements.

I have two friends availible that can perform the welding for me for nothing, so Im gonna partially disasseble all four and try to make two good seats for my driver.

Appreciate the responces and the pic. Gives me insite of where to look. Thanx J-

Johnny