Getting the seats out?

Did you take out the front bolts first? Sometimes if the rails are binding it helps if one end is already loose.

 

Yes do the front bolts first so you can Push the seats forward to get access to the rear allen bolts.

 

Lub via spray the locking mechanism to free it off sufficiently so that it allows the seat to move fully forward.Then the rears are easy to Allen key out .

 

Make sure to take out the floor mats. Lube the rails. You may need to move the seats back and forth a few times to obtain full travel. Seats rails are seldom exercised and may stick short of full travel.

 

I say that almost every time I try to do something on the Ferrari.

 

I've got a similar problem with the passenger seat on my '89 328 GTS.

The seat is stuck solid all the way at the back, so the rear bolts are not accessible to remove the seat for restoration work to the seat (at least being at the back means tall passenger's still have plenty of legroom )

The seat mechanism design was changed between the '85 cars and the '89 cars (the later cars have a more enclosed mechanism).

I've tried lubing the mechanism using some extended oil nozzles - No joy.

I've tried the: "push the release bar downwards instead of pulling upwards" method - No joy.

I've tried the: "Bounce up and down on the seat whilst pulling up on the handle" method - No joy.

In my case, it's starting to look like I need to have the underside of the car removed, and have the rear seat bolts drilled out from below (That would be a last resort though)

 

I am the second owner of my '83 which I bought in 2013. That means the seat stayed in one position for 30 years, adjusted to the first owner's preference and, by 2013, it moved very little from that one position.

I had success by keeping all four bolts in, soaking the rails and bearings with penetrating oil, sitting in the seat and using my body mass to slam the seat forward and backward. The range of motion slowly increased and eventually I could push it far enough to access the four bolts.

Upon removal of the seat, I inspected the rails. What I saw was, beyond the fuzz and hair impairing the bearings, that the rails themselves had deformed over time and were then pinching the bearings much more than designed. Slamming the seat back and forth with my body weight basically hammered the rails back open enough to allow the seat to move through its range.

 

I have precisely the same problem with my driver's seat - it is seized in place. Fortunately it's right where I would want it to be, but it is too far back to permit storage of the targa top. Trying to fix it is on my winter project list. If you get yours sorted, please start a thread on what you did, or update this thread. I know there are others who have had, or have, this same problem too.

 

The bolts should be low clearance, with a head that is shorter than normal hex bolts. If they have been replaced with normal bolts, they may bind the seat slider.