TR Driver's seat cushion question.

No PPI without a deposit.....stupid eh ?

 

If I was looking at a car, any car and wanted to inspect it prior to purchasing it I would expect to pay for that service if I was unable to evaluate the car myself. If I buy a used house I have to pay to have it inspected if I choose to do so, so why would this be different? If I was selling my boxer I wouldnt lay out the dough for a PPI on the off chance some yoyo wanted my car, that could get very expensive if this was done for every tire kicker out there. I see nothing wrong with asking for some sort of compensation if the buyer insists on having a professional inspection performed.

 

My seat is doing the same thing. How can it be fixed?

 

I'd say it's a fairly common thing to have happen -- the door sill is so wide that when doing almost anything in the interior (treating the leather, cleaning the inside of the windows, installing pedal covers, etc.) you wind up sitting on top of that outer bolster. I noticed mine was a little more deformed outward after having the seat belt recall performed, but not enough to worry about fixing/improving it yet so no experience with making a repair.

 

Sitting on the outward boster is the problem. Over time the bolster will move away. My went so far as to actually break and fall down all the way. I removed the seat and bolster. There is a metal rectangular piece that holds the bolster on. It weakens and then breaks.......I believe it is out of aluminum.........this has been a while ago. I shaped a steel rectangular piece and rivetted it in place. Brought the seat back to about 80%.......worked well.

 

well, here is the pic james was talking about:
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

and a link to the thread:
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=148695

 

Both cushions detach from the seat frame with 6 or 7 small self tapping screws. The entire bolster is made of folded aluminium sheeting, with high density foam under a leather covering. The aluminium deforms with presure and weight over time and the parts that screw to the seat frame become distorted.

It's quite simple to pull out the seat, toss it on it's side on a soft matt, then locate the screws holding each bolster.

Then you will see what has been deformed and gently tap the aluminium back into the proper shape with a ball peen hammer. Speed nuts are used to secure the bolster to the frame and the self tappers screw into these. Many may be broken and require replacement. Available from all good auto parts stores. Make sure you get the right size as they do vary a lot from Jap to USA to Euro cars.

Most Testa's suffer from this problem. Especially if previous owners was a bit on the chubby side!!

 

Another fun fact in 86 TR seats is the rubber straps strech out over time and it is easy to replace those strips with thin sheet metal. The pan will flex forward and back, it just won't let you fall into a hole behind a cross bar. Just pop rivit the metal (thin sheet like aluminium used on valleys when roofing a house) to the support bars. Works better than nylon straps or nylon cloth material. YMMV

Jeff Pintler
89 348tb, 86 TR

 

After coming across this thread I got inspired to "tighten up" my side bolsters (both the bottom and side) on my 87 TR. Process was quite simple:

1. Removed seat form vehicle
2. Folded the back of seat forward, which gave me access to the one self tapping screw that holds the back panel in place.
3. Once screw was removed I slid the panel up and out of the way, completely removed it and set aside.
4. Pulled the 2 pins that hold the head rest in place and pulled the head rest completely off and also set it aside.
5. Now the allen head screws that hold the bolster in place were exposed. One was about to fall out and the other was quite loose. Tightened them up and moved on to the bottom seat bolster.
6. Same situation was found there also so just "persuaded" the metal mounting brackets back to their original locations and tightened everything up.
7. Reversed the above steps to re-assembled the seat........

And low and behold the seat is all nice tight and ready to support my oversized ass once again for another year.

Lesson learned? Yeah, once a year take the seat(s) out and re-tighten these attachment points before they get fatigued from being loose and break............

Kerry

 

James,

If you are looking at a car from Schmidt, DO NOT BUY IT!!! He sells nothing but junk, or should I say, beautiful cars from a distance and when you get up close, you see all the problems. There has been several threads here about that dealer and his Testarossas. Absolutely do not give him any money unless it is refundable upon a complete PPI. BUYER BEWARE, I would hate for you to jump into a nightmare like many others have, specially with a Testarossa.