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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Refitting Midget seats - ARGHHH!

Hi all 7 Happy New Year.
midget mk III
Guess title says it all. I have done all the rewiring , welding , dashboard repairs & refitted all the trim and carpets etc & she looks great.....except I can't see for the life of me how to get the seats back in. I know its a reverse of getting them out but in hindsight that was a snap- unbolt & lift clear...but can't do that as the seat mountings / runners have a life of their own.
Does anybody have a good wheeze on getting them back in - I had to re use swear words as I ran out of originals.
Any & all help GRATEFULLY received!
cheers
colin
colin frowen

Best I can tell you, is it's a knack, and once you've done it once you'll know next time.

I usually bolt one runner in first (nearest g/box tunnel), and then tilt the seat to slide on the 2nd runner.
Lawrence Slater

It helps to have something to pop the runners over. Get some longer bolts (1/4" UNF, 1.5" long) and screw them from underneath into the rear seat mounting positions so they stick up through the carpet. Drop the seat runners over them and then carefully take them out one at a time and replace with the correct bolt from above. Once the back ones are located it shouldn't be so hard to locate the front ones.
Mike Howlett

Below looks worse than it is, it’ll make sense as you go along, point j) is most important

handy to have as many of these as possible:-
7/16” socket or spanner (11 mm if you really must)
7/16” deep socket
ratchet
6” bar
Copperease

drop the roof to make the job easier, (one seat at a time):-

a) have the seat tilted fully forward

b) grease the bottom runner with the locking arm and mechanism and put it into the fixed top seat runner and lock it off so that the bottom runner protrudes to the rear of the seat so that you can get at the rear to drop the bolts through later

c) grease the other side loose bottom runner well so that the grease helps to hold it on when you hook it on to the fixed top runner and having it protruding the same amount as other side

d) lower the seat into the car - be careful as the runners stick out and could scratch the interior or paint

e) if the loose runner falls off start again

f) get the two front fixed runners bolts through the front two locating holes

g) at front, from under car, place washers and nuts on with Copperease but don’t tighten up – inboard washer may be smaller as it fits inside reinforcing rail under car

h) place bolts and washers at rear, again with Copperease, and tighten down but not fully so you have a bit of give in the rails if you need it

i) fully tighten front nuts and rear bolts and cover all four with Copperease under the car

j) remove excess grease before wife/g/f gets into car
Nigel Atkins

This thread was discussed on 01/01/2012

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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