broke a seat stud

[Farrar]

Hey, gang.

When I was reinstalling my driver's seat, I evidently broke the left rear stud. I took the seat out again and looked at it, but was unable to remove the stud. I was able to get the seat back in the car and fasten the three remaining nuts, but I am worried about the broken stud just sitting there -- it prevents the seat from sliding forward and backward as it was intended.

Any advice on getting the old stud out and/or installing a new one?

Thanks in advance...

Farrar

[sean]

Hey, gang.

When I was reinstalling my driver's seat, I evidently broke the left rear stud. I took the seat out again and looked at it, but was unable to remove the stud. I was able to get the seat back in the car and fasten the three remaining nuts, but I am worried about the broken stud just sitting there -- it prevents the seat from sliding forward and backward as it was intended.

Any advice on getting the old stud out and/or installing a new one?

Thanks in advance...

Farrar
I guess it depends on how it is broken in there. I'm guessing the weld pulled away from the slide rail and you now have a stud that is held to the body by the nut/washer on the under side? If this is the case get a buddy and one of ya hold the stud from the top with some vice grips while the other gets below and removes the nut. Once you have the stud in hand, have someone weld it back to the rail. I guess a picture would here too.

[content22207]

The hold down studs appear to be pressed into the seat rails, not welded (there's no visible weld bead). I suppose they could be brazed. Whatever manufacturing technique was used, the damn things do have a bad habit of popping loose.

Grab the loose stud with a pair of vise grips and turn the nut off.

Then weld a proper 8x1.25 bolt to the seat rail in its place. The metal is thick enough to tolerate it.

Bill Robertson
#5939

[David T]

What needs to be done is to remove what is left of the broken stud, drill a hole and weld a bolt of the correct size onto the rail. A relatively minor job for someone with the right equipment and knows how to use it. Without that stud the seat will rock and feel wobbly.
David Teitelbaum

[sean]

the damn things do have a bad habit of popping loose.

First case I've ever heard of. Not saying it doesn't happen but I've removed many of these seats and never had one pop loose. I suppose I'm just seat lucky :)

[DMCMW Dave]

First case I've ever heard of. Not saying it doesn't happen but I've removed many of these seats and never had one pop loose. I suppose I'm just seat lucky :)

I can't say that I've ever seen it happen either. We do see quite a few that are so rusty they won't slide but they have all held together.

Given the low cost (relative to labor) we just replace them when a quick greasing wont fix it.

Be very careful with the tube that connects them together - those are long gone.

[content22207]

Welded one for Tyler Butler at Justin Mettee's last gathering.... (Of course I've got one in each of my own cars).

Bill Robertson
#5939

[Farrar]

I can't weld and don't know anyone near to me who can.

While reading y'all's posts, I thought of a solution -- or at least a temporary one: I may just stick a bolt in there and use a nyloc nut to hold it on, then install the same size nyloc on the other three studs to raise the seat the same amount on all four corners. Since I am short, having the seat a fraction of an inch taller shouldn't hurt, and if memory serves there should be plenty of threads left underneath the car for the usual nuts even with the extra nut on the inside. Whatchall think?

Farrar

[sean]

Not sure if you'll have the clearance with the seat belt anchor in the way. Might make for a real tough time getting the seat in and out.

[content22207]

Use jam nuts instead -- they're almost the same height as the two washers the factory had to stick on each stud to make the seats slide correctly.

Then buy yourself a little 110v MIG welder. I use my at least once per week.

Bill Robertson
#5939

[Farrar]

Use jam nuts instead -- they're almost the same height as the two washers the factory had to stick on each stud to make the seats slide correctly.

I thought I would use nylocks since I don't want the nuts to loosen while I am putting the seat back into position.

Farrar

[content22207]

Are you planning to only tighten them finger tight?

They're not going to loosen during seat installation. Your challenge is going to be keeping the bolts from rotating as you tighten the nuts underneath the car.

Buy a welder.

Bill Robertson
#5939

[Farrar]

Your challenge is going to be keeping the bolts from rotating as you tighten the nuts underneath the car.

...which is why I wanted nylocs.


Buy a welder.

Even assuming I had the money, which I don't -- buy a welder and ...then what? I live in an apartment -- and although it's not specifically mentioned in the terms of my lease, I am pretty certain that no welding is allowed indoors on account of the carpeting everywhere. Also, there is no outside power outlet I can use. So sure, I could buy a welder... and then haul it over to someone else's house to use it. That sounds a lot more expensive than a few nuts.

In the future, I may have my own air compressor and welder and sandbox and who knows what else. But for now, I don't even have a jack (someone took it when I left it outside overnight by accident -- beats me what they'll do without the pole to raise and lower it, though), I am saving my pennies for other things, and considering the amount of stuff I had to haul from my previous apartment to this one, I want to own as few large, bulky, heavy, rarely-used items as I can get away with.

Farrar

[TTait]

I can't weld and don't know anyone near to me who can.

While reading y'all's posts, I thought of a solution -- or at least a temporary one: I may just stick a bolt in there and use a nyloc nut to hold it on, then install the same size nyloc on the other three studs to raise the seat the same amount on all four corners. Since I am short, having the seat a fraction of an inch taller shouldn't hurt, and if memory serves there should be plenty of threads left underneath the car for the usual nuts even with the extra nut on the inside. Whatchall think?

Farrar

I've done that before as a short term fix, but i realized quicky it was a bad idea and then I had a bolt welded in as Bill suggested.

As designed the entire lower rail sits on the floor and evenly distributes the weight across it. When its up on bolts, even thin ones like was suggested, it concentrates most or all of the weight from the seat to four small points. There is a potential here for cracking the fiberglass. When I did it this way I also put in some carpenters shims under the rails and then drove it slowly to a friends shop (see below) where we fixed it with a welded in bolt. No damage I could see. Perhaps I'm over thinking it, but if you have a crack in the floor pan where the seat bolts in, what might happen if you got in an accident?

As for not knowing anyone local who can weld, find a local shop with some good guys working there, family owned. Get to know them, let them get to know you and the car. I've bonded with some local guys who own a radiator shop - I can pull in now and put the car up on their hoist whenever I need to, no questions asked. At the same time I help them out with computer repairs, etc. They also note that having the car in their shop gives customers more confidence that they can take on complicated jobs like working on 80's supercars (ahem).


Owning a Delorean is kind of like having a superpower where you can have a nice opening conversation with anyone - use it and make some new friends.

[content22207]

Does Brian (other side of the lake) have a welder?

Bill Robertson
#5939

[Farrar]

I dunno.

I guess I will just leave it attached with three studs. It doesn't seem to be doing any harm.

Farrar

[TTait]

If the stud is out, drop a bolt in, even if you have to go down one size. Put a lock washer under the head, and then wedge a standard screwdriver between the bolt head and the mounting frame and have someone keep it in place while you attach the nut from below.

Better than running with 3 and it will only take you 5 minutes.