With the rear seat done it was time to turn to the front seat with high hopes and expectations of replicating the successful work on the rear seat. Yeah, that is a bit of forsehadowing…
The front seat had to come out. Unlike the back seat, the seat bottom and seat back are all part of one assembly and come out as a unit. Or do they?
I had removed the front seat once before and did not look forward to doing it again. It is a 6-way power adjustable seat, weighs well over 100 lbs, and barely fits through the door. The last time it was out was before the car was painted; I’m now rather paranoid about scratches.
Since the seat backs have to come off anyway I decided to try removing them in place. Well, what do you know! Take off the side cover, remove one bolt, and you can wiggle the seat back off of its retainers. With both seat backs off it just takes undoing two bolts to remove the arm rest. Eyeballing the situation it looks like just the seat base will be quite a bit easier.
As mentioned, the front seat is heavy. Even with pieces removed. When I try to apply brute force I just do not have the brute I did in my younger days. No problem – drag the engine hoist out of its place of honor and hook it to one end of the front seat.
Since no lifting was required on that end She Who Must Be Obeyed agreed to guide the engine hoist and keep that end of the seat from hitting anything. I was able to lift the other end of the seat and guide it out, moving it about six inches at a time. After a few minutes the seat was safely on the garage floor with no damage, no drama, and no injuries.
Now with unwarranted confidence let’s dive into the actual work!