dladow Posted August 12, 2004 Share Posted August 12, 2004 It's funny (or not) how sometimes the jobs you think will be so hard turn out to be easy, and the jobs you expect to be a cakewalk turn out to be nearly impossible. So Tuesday I got my new Corbeau GTS seats and brackets for the 240Z. Brackets made for the Z - no problem, right? Nope. It is impossible to access the rear seat bolts to get the nut threaded from the bottom. Not enough room for my fat fingers. I tried reversing the bolt and supporting it underneath so it became a stud, but couldn't get it supported well enough or at the right height. Got frustrated. Slept on it. Talked to a friend of mine who used to work at Boeing putting together airplanes, and he was telling me about access problems he used to have assembling planes. He suggested gluing the nut/washer combo to the bottom of the car bracket, lined up with the hole, of course, which would hold it long enough to thread the bolt by hand to get it started into the nut. I can then access it with a wrench. I'll give that a try. If that doesn't work, I may just weld the darn bolts in place sticking up throught the car bracket so it will be a permanent stud. Anybody else have this problem? Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted August 12, 2004 Share Posted August 12, 2004 Drill a hole in the seat mount just large enough to get a proper sized nut thorugh it. Weld the nut to a large fender washer. Put the fender washer/nut combo nut down into the hole. Weld the fender washer to the seat mount. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim240z Posted August 12, 2004 Share Posted August 12, 2004 Get a ratchet and socket, stuff a bit of paper or something in the socket to fill some of the void and allow the nut so sit near the top of the socket. Then put a dab of silicone on the washer to make it stick to the nut and hold the ratchet (with socket and nut attached) under the hole and thread the bolt through. If you need some extention on the handle of the ratchet so that you dont have to reach under the seat too far, tape a long wrench or simlar to the handle of the ratchet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark Posted August 12, 2004 Share Posted August 12, 2004 I had a similar problem when I put my sparco's in the car. I could not get any kind of wrench, allen wrench or my fingers to the rear bolts. I finally ended up taking the bottom seat cushion off of the seat and then replacing it after the seats were in the car. Really an easy job because of how the seats were made. Look hard at how the seats are put together if you decide to try this. It would suck to ruin a seat before you even sat in it. mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dladow Posted August 12, 2004 Author Share Posted August 12, 2004 Thanks for the suggestions. One of them ought to work. I will not be denied! Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2126 Posted August 16, 2004 Share Posted August 16, 2004 I think anyone who has accomplished this task can relate to how limited the space is to secure the attach bolts...............shoot, after installing my Sparco seats (bottom mount type) I was able to bend my arm into positions I didn't think were possible! Ahhh, if only the stock seat mounting flanges curved outward instead of inward. But as things sometimes turn out, a preceived 2 hour job turns into.......well, let's just say long enough to challenge the extreme limits of my patients!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dladow Posted August 16, 2004 Author Share Posted August 16, 2004 Well, the seats are in. Phew, what a task. Welded in the bolts upside down as studs in the back, but it didn't help much. Still no room to get your fingers in to get the nut on. Finally succeeded after much swearing. Then discovered that the track is misaligned and the fore-aft seat adjuster won't catch. Much more swearing. Seat now has to come out to fix the track. There has to be a better way to do this. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2126 Posted August 16, 2004 Share Posted August 16, 2004 Dave, by the way....how tall are you? I'm 5' 10" and when I tried the seats with the slide adjusters, I found I was sitting too high (maybe an inch from the headliner). Just a thought to ponder. I actually eliminated the slides and mounted mine in a fixed position on the existing seat mount structures.....of course I'm the only one who drives my toy anyway, so why have adjustment! A method I used for getting the nuts started was to tape them to my finger (use your imagination here), so I wouldn't drop the darn think when contourting and trying to get my hand in and under the seat. Also, remove any portion of the threads that will not be necessary for properly securing of the seats. I guess one could place holes in the floor plan, directly below the rear attach bolt locations and access would then be there for easy use of a ratchet and socket. Of course, you might want to acquire the removable plugs before making the holes. Just a thought. Would definitely eliminate most of the swearing!!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dladow Posted August 16, 2004 Author Share Posted August 16, 2004 2126 - thanks for the suggestions. I also found the seats to be much higher than stock. It's no problem for me, I'm only 5'6", but my friend who is helping me is 6'3" and he is not able to get in and out without whacking his head several times. (More swearing). I like the idea of the fixed mount for the passenger seat. It could use lowering. I kind of hate to give up adjustablility on the driver's side. I might sell these and go for different seats - ones that are not quite to high, if such exists. In the meantime, I hadn't thought of drilling holes in the floor pan for access, then plugging them. That has possibilities. Thanks, Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2126 Posted August 16, 2004 Share Posted August 16, 2004 Dave, Here's something I discovered in my seat research. There seems to be two types of aftermarket seats out there, with regards to how one is suspended in the seat. Most of the expensive race seats have a full shell and you are suspended by a pad sitting on the shell. The other type is similar to the stock Z seats.....suspended via an actual suspension of sort (i.e., flexable strapping and or spring setup). What I learned was that you can obtain a lower seating height with the suspension type seats as opposed to the full shell type seats, which by the way usually have mounting from the sides of the shell that require additional brackets. I choose the Sparco entry level seat, very similar to the Corbeau GTS, just because the Corbeau's were a little too wide for my butt. What I've seen others do, to obtain a lower ride height with a shell type seat, is to actually modify the stock seat mounting crossmembers. If your a good fabricator and have the tools, no biggy to modify. Just some additional input for your effort. It's just one of those Z things we have to deal with, I suppose! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roostmonkey Posted August 17, 2004 Share Posted August 17, 2004 How about drilling some holes right under the bolts thru the floorpan.Make them large enough to pass the socket thru but sized to accept a std snap-in plug similar to the stock plugs.I know it sux putting holes in your ride but sometimes you gotta do.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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