Esprit S1 Seat Rails & Webbing

[pmth95]

My seats were re-upholstered in 1984 from their original tartan to a grey velvet. While I have the passenger seat out I am trying to figure out

1) How to get to the front bolts that hold the rails? My rails barely move a couple of inches, not enough to slide past the front bolt (rear one is removed on the picture)

2) What does the original webbing of the seat look like? Anyone have a picture of the back of the seat? Here is what mine looks like

Cheers, Patrick

 

[drdoom]

My rails are laying handily on the garage floor, will have a look after coffee.

[drdoom]

Patrick, there should be 5 inches of travel on the seat rails between stops, if my items are any indication. Perhaps you may be able to free up some further travel on yours, so gaining access to the bolts?

[LOTUSMAN33]

As Steve says, give them a spray with WD40 and use a nylon mallet to give them some gentle persuasion.

The webbing is correct just perished, any upholstery person could replace or DIY it 🙂

[pmth95]

I will look into replacing the webbing myself, @LOTUSMAN33 thank you for confirming it is original. 
 

As for the seat rail, it randomly locks with 2 to 3 inches of travel. If i slide it back and forth I can get the rail all the way back where the top and bottom rail align. But that still doesn’t undercover that front bolt. With a thin wrench i might be able to reach it and slowly turn it. 
 

[LOTUSMAN33]

It should knock back enough to expose both bolts, keep tapping it back and forth 🤞🏼

[LOTUSMAN33]

It only takes a little stone or similar debris to cause all kinds of jamming issues 🙂

[pmth95]

3 of my rails randomly jam, one works perfectly. On the 3 that jam, the bearing carriers are no longer in the proper position and just jam whenever they hit the multiple dimples in the rails. Doesn’t seem fixable. Might go with fixed passenger seat and find a working rail (the one without the locking handle) to fix the driver’s seat. 
 

 

[drdoom]

Here is one tidy solution.

https://www.fk-shop.de/index.php?cur=4&lang=1&

Cheers