Early seat Runners...

[ChrisC]

Chaps...

1964 Fixed head. I want to strip down the seat runners, get the 50 year old grease out and re-plate them but I cant for the life of me see how they come apart.

Any clues please? Or is it not actually possible? They are off the seats and move pretty easily but they look a bit scruffy.

Many thanks

[Dave K]

Chris,

Yes they do come apart but not easily. There is a dimple at each end you need to flatten that with a centre punch or similar and they should come apart.

Dave

[1954Etype]

As Dave says. You can replace the dimple with a rivet if required.

[ChrisC]

Aha.... something I can fix with a hammer excellent...

many thanks

[kingzetts]

Chris,
Your runners will each contain a pair of metal rollers, each roller will (or should have) two O-rings of rubber or plastic around them in little grooves. You may well find these have decayed and fallen apart. They need replacing and I was able to track down some very cheap rubber o rings of an appropriate diameter and cross-section to replace them - literally pennies. Without these rings the runners will be very sloppy.

[ChrisC]

Ah thanks for the tip. Havnt taken them apart yet but i am sure you right... can i ask (in advance) where you obtained the O rings from?

[Heuer]

I tried to dismantle mine for cleaning but I have to say it was not an easy task. You will not only have to press out the end dimples but also the ones that keep the rollers in place otherwise you can't separate the two halves. This is not easy unless you have an anvil and a very large hammer/punch. Drilling is an option but finding rivets that are wide and shallow enough to replace them could be a challenge. On my runners the rollers were nylon and the usual's sell replacements, necessary because the originals develop flats. You will also notice the runners bow in the middle and this is the reason they usually refuse to budge. Before resorting to dismantling see if you can get both parts of the runner flat and true then use Gunk to clear out the old grease/carpet fluff followed by lots of WD40 whilst sliding them back and forth.

You will find that once you reattach to the car the weight of you and the seat will cause them to bow again so consider welding or placing a filler piece in the middle, between the runner and the floor. Otherwise the design means they are only held up fore/aft and they bend easily and jam.

After taking one to bits I gave up and bought a new set off SNG.

[ChrisC]

Ah... thanks for that Dave... my runners are actually pretty good the only reason I wanted to take them apart was to replate them... although no-one ever sees them... so perhaps after your experience I will merely give them a damn good clean, a coat of paint and reinstall.

[kingzetts]

David's experience is probably more relevant than mine as his car is later and closer to yours, mine being a 3.8 had the fixed-back bucket seats which have different slides. However I have to say I had no problem with disassembly/reassembly - drill out one dimple and the halves slid apart happily, and a simple river/washer combo worked for reassembly.

Once you know whether you have nylon rollers or metal + o-rings, if you need o-rings let me know and I'll try to figure out where I got them from.

I don't see the need for plating - a coat of POR15 silver or Rustoleum silver works fine for me. They're pretty invisible on the car.

David is right in one respect for sure - these runners are pretty flimsy, and not as well engineered as those in later cars or even comtemporary Porsches, for example. Any significant rust and you need to replace or at least strengthen them.