seat track resto. How to...

[NG8264723]

So my seat tracks were rusty.  What to do?  I could not put them on top of new carpet.  I was looking at how they were made and was a little pissed! They have the dang dimples.  So what I did was drill out three dimples.  I left the middle one on one side.  That allowed me to take them apart.  I then used an anvil and a flat punch and flattened the ridge that was left.  After the flattening I used a grinder and made sure the ridge was removed.  Then back to the drill press.  Using a 5/16 drill I redrilled all the holes.   I then bead blasted and epoxy primed the tracks.  The holes can then have 1/4 by 1/2 long bolts placed to stop the bearings.  Unfortunately you cannot  add the middle bolt.  But you really don't need them anyway.  The two end bolts will hold the bearings from leaving. This will save you about $350!

 

[NG8264723]

russian photo hosting site

Here you can see the tracks taken apart after they were bead blasted and primed. If you look closely you can see where I drilled out the dimpled area. I then flattened it down on my anvil with a flat punch. I cleaned the bearings and polished the rollers.

 

[NG8264723]

 

[NG8264723]

 

[NG8264723]

I also had to drill out one dimple in the middle of the track. When you reassemble the track you need to add 1/4 bolts to the holes on either end where the dimples were drilled out. That was it won't slide apart. Tighten these finger tight b/c they will be removed when you put the tracks on the seats. Once installed the heads of the seat bolts will keep the tracks together. I will grab some pics of them assembled next weekend

 

[Pastel Blue]

Nice work. I am dealing with my seats at this time also. When addressing the tracks, I found one of them was missing a roller bearing assembly on one end. I have a replacement coming from Motor City mustang. I spent and hour yesterday playing with a bottom seat thinking I could do the recovering.... frustrated, I dropped it and walked away, took them in this morning to the upholstery shop. Some things are best left to the experts...

 

[Don C]

Nice work. I am dealing with my seats at this time also. When addressing the tracks, I found one of them was missing a roller bearing assembly on one end. I have a replacement coming from Motor City mustang. I spent and hour yesterday playing with a bottom seat thinking I could do the recovering.... frustrated, I dropped it and walked away, took them in this morning to the upholstery shop. Some things are best left to the experts...

I agree, they look good.

I've never been smart enough to take my upholstery in, I guess I must like to struggle, cuss, and bleed.

 

[Mister 4x4]

I intended to refurbish mine as well, and just ordered some repops from OMS the closer it got to my goal of making it to the Base Car Show.  I think I still have both sets of original sliders (from mine and a friend's car as well), but they're really rough and would take a lot of work to restore.

The repops work like a champ!

Nice work in restoring your own, though. ::thumb::

 

[NG8264723]

I did lose one ball bearing. I need to find another!