Front Seat Disassembly
Richard J Lebens
rick-l at rocketmail.com
Tue Dec 19 18:14:50 EST 2006
Here is something I saved from Phil Payne. Anyone know what happend to him and curbside motors?
----- Original Message ----
From: "isham-research.freeserve.co.uk at pop.pol.net.uk" <isham-research.freeserve.co.uk at pop.pol.net.uk>
To: pajono at ctconnect.com; quattro at audifans.com
Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2000 2:53:38 AM
Subject: Rebuilding seats
> Anyone ever take apart an Audi front seat? I need to replace the
> bottom cushion in my drivers seat (90 90q), and I'm wondering if this
> is something I can tackle myself. It's a cloth non power (but
> heated) seat if that helps.
It's in the archives - search for 'hawg'. I dumped out the archived
post and rewrote the whole thing for the December/January club
newsletter:
The Hawg Ring Lunge
Many ur-quattros that we see have collapsed side bolsters in
the driver's seat (look for foam crumbs underneath) and/or
failed seat heaters. It seems appropriate to discuss
repairing these at this time of year - it's a job you can do
inside the house, a firm right bolster is worth 10 mph in a
left-hand bend, and a nice warm bum is lovely on a cold
morning.
The seats are very easy to remove - a 5mm Allen screw and a
10mm nut secure the front of the slider and two screws secure
plastic bits at the rear of the runners. Line the rear
footwell with newspaper so you don't get grease on the
carpet. Don't forget to unplug the heater cable and, on a
WR, the driver's side seatbelt warning switch. Finds under
the front carpet invariably include a boiled sweet (factory
fitted?) and a couple of pounds in small coins. More unusual
finds have included an unopened pack of gum, toilet
requisites and live ammunition.
Once back in the warm and dry, check the plastic side panels
in good light. Each side is secured by three little dowels
pushed into expanding clips. When these dowels are removed,
the panels just pull off. Make a careful note of the wire
locations in the heater plug, and undo it to release the
wires. Remove the rake adjustment knob - it's held on by
three tongues and you can reach inside the back of it with a
hook and pull them off one by one. Don't worry - a new knob
is only £3. Once it's off, remove the adjustment mechanism.
The back is held to the base by two clevis pin type fittings
with push-in clips - just pull them off and stretch the arms
out over the pins. The seat should now be in two pieces.
To remove the lower cover, you will have to remove the two
bushes onto which the catch engages when the seat is locked
in its normal position. If these bushes (part 171 881 299C)
are worn, replacing them can cure a lot of seat rattle for
very little money - about £1 a seat. Code 01Z is dark brown,
code 01C is satin black. If the seat base is loose in the
runners, new guide pieces are about the same price.
If the seatback squeaks loudly when wiggled from side to
side, the usual cause is a fatigue crack in one or both top
corners of the seatback frame and this will have to be
welded. Get the welder to insert a supporting fillet -
Recaro's design is not the best. Didn't you know the stock
seats are Recaro? Check out the stickers on the seatback
frame. The rear seat cover comes off fairly easily - the
headrest has to be removed to get its plastic fixings out of
the seatback. While the seatback is dismantled, check the
cable that operates the catch - it frays at the nylon runner
halfway down the back. If you need a new cable, take care to
get the correct one - there are six different part numbers
based on your VIN number, and even then they're not always
correct. It's a good idea to go to the dealer armed with the
length of the old cable in millimetres - valid numbers are
342, 363, 370, 580, 689 and 765. Running repairs can be made
with bicycle brake cable fixed with double screw blocks cut
out of domestic 15 amp terminal blocks.
If you're repairing the heater, check the backrest and base
for continuity. The elements are wired in series, and a
break in either will stop both from working. Some people
have successfully repaired breaks by soldering, but it's
tricky as the elements are a silver alloy and ordinary solder
doesn't work very well.
Remove the seat cover you're interested in. This will
usually be the base. You'll need good side cutters to cut
the hog rings that secure the cover to the steel wires passed
through the cushions. More of this later. Count the rings
you cut and clear out all the fragments.
The replacement element (443 963 555S, £98 + VAT) goes inside
the seat cover. Don't be tempted just to lay it on the seat
cushion underneath the cover - it will then be underneath the
foam in the seat cover and will hardly warm your bum at all.
Lay the cover out, surface facing down and lay the
replacement element on top to get the orientation. Note that
the wires should come towards you - not towards the seat
cover surface. Otherwise you'll feel the lump when sitting
on the seat. You can see that you'll have to cut two slits
with a very sharp knife in the cloth backing of the seat
cover to thread each arm of the element through - it comes
out the other end and the tab is folded over.
You actually cut through the cloth backing and the thin foam
layer - the element slides in right behind the old element,
which stays in place. Don't even think about removing it. A
ruler is ideal for pushing the new element through. Cut the
slits with the knife held over at 45 degrees - otherwise
you'll get a small ridge in the seat when reassembled. Use a
knife with disposable blades - it will be blunt before you're
done.
When you replace the seat element (as opposed to the backrest
element) you still need the sensor in the old element. Trim
off the (now unused) supply wires to the old seat base
element, but be careful to leave the sensor wires intact.
You need two tools for stretching the seat cover back on
using the proper hog rings. Don't be tempted to use cable
ties - they're not designed to take intermittent loads and
often give way after a year or two.
a) The Hook. This is made from a wire coathanger. Take a
straightened piece and form the smallest hook you can in one
end. Make a handle at the other. Don't throw this away
after doing the job - it's ideal for replacing the spring
clips on the air filter box and retrieving the hydraulic pump
belt when you've dropped it down the front of the car.
b) The Pliers. We use Mark-Line 12108 - Snap-On YA808 is an
alternative.
You also need a pack of hog rings - Audi's cheapest spare
part. N 015 261 1 is around £10 for a pack of 100 - you need
26 for a complete seat. If you have any problems getting the
pliers or the rings, try a specialist upholstery factor.
Put the cushion on the frame, and start stretching the cover
over it. A new base cushion from Audi is about £70. Remember
where you cut off the old hog rings? As a check, you should
put back the same number you cut out earlier. The
replacement procedure is to load a ring into the pliers and
hook the top of the 'C' shape into the seat cover wire. Then
get the hook and pick up the wire embedded in the cushion.
Then LUNGE - pull the cushion wire up, at the same time as
pushing down with the pliers, and hook the cushion wire into
the bottom of the hog ring 'C'. Then, with a smirk, just
squeeze the pliers shut. Takes seconds with practice, and
produces a really tight seat.
It's called "The Hawg Ring Lunge".
There we go - it's in the archives again.
--
Phil Payne
UK Audi quattro Owners Club
http://www.isham-research.freeserve.co.uk/quattro
Phone +44 7785 302803 Fax: +44 7785 309674
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