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1964 Riviera rear seat removal


mikespeed35

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Well some years ago I was taking the back seat out of my former 64 and ripped the vinyl on the arm rest from back to front.  It happened again with my former 65 only this time the restoration shop was removing the back seat to do some electrical troubleshooting when the same thing happened.  They had the arm rest recovered on their dime on this occasion.  It was black so it was an easy match.  My 64 had white interior which had some patina to it so the recovered arm rest did not match as well.

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Thank you RivNut for your help. I was under the misconception that each rear cushion came out independently. Came out easily once I realized they came out together. I also used your suggestion on how to move the seats back. Thanks to everyone who responded.

 

CORDiallyMike

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  • 2 years later...

Shove hard on the metal frame along the bottom edge vs. pushing on the leading edge of the seat.  The engagement spike is has almost 0.5in [13mm] of engagement so you have to get it to move more than just a bit to get it out of it's pocket.  You can get one side at a time out of engagement so work on one side and then the other.

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19 hours ago, RivNut said:

The wire on the bottom of the front of the back seat goes under a hook.  You have to push that wire back then up to release it.  Perhaps Jim Cannon will post his way of using a couple of boards as wedges and pry bars.  

 

I did not take any pictures when I figured this out about 6 months ago.  That would have helped.  So I have to describe it in words.

 

I placed one piece of wood, 1"x4" and about 12 inches long, vertically in front of one of the rear seats, touching the bottom frame of the back set. 

 

Then I placed another longer piece of 1x4, about 18 inches long, (length not critical) flat on the carpet with the end pressing up against the vertical piece of wood. Press down on this board with your knee to get it anchored on the carpet.

 

Now gently pull the vertical board back toward you, toward the front of the car and this will push the bottom of the seat frame toward the back of the car and up at the same time. This will release the catch on one side. Repeat on the other side.

 

The attached photo gives you a sense of what the seat frame bottom is hooked into on the driver's side.

IMG_4314.jpeg

Edited by Jim Cannon (see edit history)
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Thanks Jim.  I will try this method and report back.  From another thread, I recall seeing that, on a '65 anyway, there were dimples provided in the floor pan to locate drilling the 4 mounting holes.  I bought some stout oval doubler plates to distribute the load too.  I'm glad my '64 doesn't have the "crispness" featured in your photo!  Yikes!

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There are two dimples in the floor pan where it rises up to go over the rear axle. The other dimples are in the wheel wells.  Westco makes some plates that are threaded with the correct TPI for seat belt anchors. Westco can also provide the correct grade shoulder bolts for belt installation. The plates can be welded in place on the back side of the hole.  I think a search of this forum would provide you with the illustration of where to find the dimples.

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Greetings,Mike.  I recently had this problem also. Drivers side would release but not the passenger side. I contemplated removing the front pass. seat to get in there & push with my feet but on a hunch I got out a short wide prybar. You're kind of working blind, but remember the front of the seat has to go down & back, so stick the pryer up under there and search around for some purchase to push it rearward while pushing down at the same time. It would definitely help to know the configuration of the catch mechanisms. Maybe you can find a tutorial on Youtube, as most cars of the era use a similar method. Also remember the rear seats & center armrest are all bolted to a frame & come out as one assembly. The catch mechanisms are at the center of each seat. My problem turned out to be the combined thickness of sound deadening on the body & foil covered jute insulation behind the seat backs which prevented the seat bottom from going back far enough. I just had to compress it enough to release.You may have the same problem, as this is normally an easy operation. Before you reinstall the seat smear little grease on the catch wires.  Good luck!

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This is a seat belt reinforcement plate.  Tack weld it to the underside of the body.  Once you get that bolt in there, it's not going anywhere.  It's a thick piece of hardened steel.

 

Mounting Plate CA53 previously #102 ( #10154 )

These are the fine thread shoulder bolts with the washer head.

 

Shoulder Bolt

 

If you're installing seat belts for safety, don't skimp on the hardware.  If you're just installing them for aesthetics, just go to your local hardware store.

 

 

Edited by RivNut (see edit history)
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You'll probably want to drill a 1/8" hole in the plate, for a #8 self-tapping screw through the floor to keep the plate from spinning as you tighten the anchor bolt.  I think that's why Ed was suggesting the tack weld...

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Ok, so not nylock.  I will source all metal ones, athough even with the nylon end locking ring you'd have to tear out A LOT of metal threads for the whole shebang to come loose! 

There are several risk assessments here: how often will I have rear seat occupants?  Virtually never.  With the car never having 3 point seatbelts, will those occupants suffer more than if the car featured them?  Probably.  Does the car have designed crush zones or airbags?  No.

And yet, I think putting rear seatbelts in, anchoring them with purpose built doubler plates, and using seatbelt specific bolts and nuts, it's going to be just fine.

 

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11 hours ago, Deanoko said:

Ok, so not nylock.  I will source all metal ones, athough even with the nylon end locking ring you'd have to tear out A LOT of metal threads for the whole shebang to come loose! 

There are several risk assessments here: how often will I have rear seat occupants?  Virtually never.  With the car never having 3 point seatbelts, will those occupants suffer more than if the car featured them?  Probably.  Does the car have designed crush zones or airbags?  No.

And yet, I think putting rear seatbelts in, anchoring them with purpose built doubler plates, and using seatbelt specific bolts and nuts, it's going to be just fine.

 

  The nylon is a locking feature, nothing to do with strength. You will be fine with either option but in my opinion you would be better off with simple split lock washers as there will be no tendency for the bolt to spin the nut, or vise versa, when tightening.

Tom

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  • 1 year later...

Going back to the rear seat removal. I could not quite follow Jim’s approach using wood and I also tried pushing the bottom part of the rear seat towards the back and then up and nothing! It doesn’t budge. I went to YouTube but didn’t have any luck either. 

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I've FINALLY gotten comfortable with the process and maybe that's just because the seat has been in and out several times and isn't so "stuck in its ways".  

A shove on the bottom of the front face, midway across the footwell, to the rear, with a slight upward action, should pop each side out from under the overhang on the floor pan.  You are just moving the heavy wire rod seat bottom frame out from under a rearward facing upsidedown L bracket.  The seat will pop up a bit when that happens. 

Edited by Deanoko (see edit history)
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1 hour ago, gungeey said:

sit on the back floor with your legs hanging out the door and give the rear seat bottom a hip check

Bingo that worked! It was a bit awkward at first but once I did a version of that 70’s dance move but a lot harder, and it popped up 😀thank you!

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  • 1 month later...
19 minutes ago, PaulMuzz said:

A related question is how does the rear back (where speaker is) of the seat come out? It feels loose on the bottom to come out towards the front but the top part seems secured. 

Covered in the Buick Body Service Manual. For some reason I cannot get the first picture to load right side up.

 

Bill

 

 

IMG_0344.JPG

IMG_0345.JPG

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