Re: Trashed driver's seat mount; now what?

["Fred Munro" <munrof@isys.ca>]

Chris;

    The secure fastening of the seat is a safety issue, which is probably
why the loctite was on the bolts in the first place.
    You can get several types of nuts which will lock into blind holes, but
you have to assure yourself that they will provide enough holding power in a
collision to keep the seat in place. Seat failure, particularly in rear end
collisions, can cause major injuries.
    I don't know how this area is constructed, but it sounds from your
description that there is a double floor or a body channel under the seat
bolt. An alternative would be to drill down from above with a bit the size
of the bolt through the bottom floor and counter drill from below through
the lower piece of sheet metal with a 1/2" or 3/4" bit. This will allow you
to get to the upper floor with a nut and socket and will take a standard
Caplug when you are done. Liberally cover the area with undercoating when
finished.
    The caveat here is to check there is nothing under the area you are
drilling (fuel lines, brake lines, etc.) and that you will not weaken the
structure with the hole. You may also be able to get out the old bolt and
nut which would otherwise rattle around in there and drive you crazy :o)

HTH

Fred Munro
'91 200q  280k km

----- Original Message -----
From: Chris Newbold <cnewbold@earthlink.net>
To: <quattro@audifans.com>
Sent: Wednesday, August 18, 1999 11:31 PM
Subject: Trashed driver's seat mount; now what?


> So I was trying to remove the driver's seat from my 1993 90
> to bolt in a 5-point harness. The front of the seat is held
> to the floor with two 6mm hex socket bolts which go down
> through the floor and engage nuts which are welded to the
> other side.
>
> The first of these bolts broke free fairly easily; the second,
> however, turned into a real mess. First, the hex socket almost
> stripped out (as these things seem wont to do). I finally got
> a sold fit and applied torque, and more torque and even more
> torque, but nothing budged. Then the welded nut broke loose.
>
> So, I had this bolt which just spun in the hole, and no way
> of reaching the nut. Realizing that I'd already reached the
> point of no return, I cut the bolt head off. The nut and what
> remained of the bolt fell into the cavity beneath the floor.
>
> How do I fix this? I have no idea how to secure that one side
> of the seat, short of cutting a hole in the floor pan from
> below so that I can put another nut on. I don't like that idea
> at all...
>
> This seems like another triumph of Team Doorhandle(TM). (It
> seems as if quite a lot of LockTite had been applied to these
> bolts, so that may explain why the weld failed...)
>
> Help!
>
> -Chris
> 1993 90CS 5sp 79k miles
>
>