Re: Seat Repairs

[archive@porknet.fdns.net]

Hey,

> The driver's seat in my 87 16V has been broken since I bought it. The wheel
> that is supposed to change the angle of the seatback just spins without
> actually moving the seatback. Since the seat was actually pretty well
> adjusted for me, I was satisfied to leave it at that.

This is an easy fix. Just get another wheel off a junkyard seat and swap
it on. For future reference, you have to lean forward when adjusting the
seat with this knob (something the p.o. probably didn't do)

> Then yesterday I was cleaning out the car and went to flip the seat forward
> to get to the rear seats.I heard a tiny "sproing" and any resistance that
> the lever on the side of the seat used to offer was gone. That and the latch
> no longer releases the seatback to allow it to fold forward. This is plain
> annoying.

Either a spring (or more likely) the cable has broken in this mechanism.
Pretty easy fix.

> Since I now feel compelled to fix the one complaint, I might as well fix the
> whole thing while I'm at it. Can anyone clue me in to the disassembly of the
> seat to find the mechanism(s), what I might be looking at having to fix, and
> what parts I'll want to complete this job?

> Alternately, anyone wanna sell a seat (grey cloth/black leatherette) that
> works? I'm feeling awfully lazy ;)

If you go with this make sure your other seat goes to a good home. There
is only a limited population of Scirocco seats in existance, we must
preserve them as best we can :)

> TIA,
> 
> Christian
> stuff...
> 

I'm working on a Scirocco page of my own (which hopefully will be up
soon) and the section I've begun writing so far is the seats section.
You're in luck; heres the text in its entirety. No pictures yet, but its
all pretty easy. Just jump in, there aren't many surprises. Take your
time.

--
Excerpt from my unfinished web page:

The Seats

     One of the first things I noticed when I sat in a Scirocco for the
     first time was how comfortable the seats were. No, they weren't
     heavily padded, supple leather with fold-down armrests. But they
     supported me well, I felt safe seated in them, and didn't slide
     around when taking fast corners. Many people complain about the
     Scirocco seats citing poor lower back support, worn upholstry or
     crumbling foam, and awkwardness. Well, they aren't perfect, but
     there are some things you can do to make them better.
     
     First, lets explore how to remove and open up your seats.
    1. Before proceeding, remove your plastic inner seat rail cover if
       you have one. It is held on with one screw and is located near the
       back of the parking brake handle.
    2. Slide the seat all the way forward and use your fingers to undo
       the acorn nut and threaded peg on the front of the middle rail so
       you can remove them both.
    3. Slide the seat back and out of the rails. Now, lift the side lever
       to fold the seatback forward, and carefully remove the seat from
       the car.
    4. Now, find a good working place. It should be free of other debris,
       dry, and well lighted so you can see what you're doing. Set down
       some cardboard to keep from scratching the table you're working
       on, then lift the seat up and on to the table.
    5. Fold the seat forward once again and this time face the back of
       the seat. You're looking for some small bent metal tangs holding
       the upholstry on the seatback. Use some angled pliers and gently
       pry them up, as close to to the base as possible. Slowly remove
       the upholstry from the tangs after you're done bending them all.
       Now you can lift the center upholstry and padding up from the
       front of the seat and get to the innards.
       
  Replacing the Mesh
  
     Inside the seatback of your Scirocco seat, there is a wire mesh
     that conforms to the shape of your back to support your weight. A
     common problem is when the two thick metal wires to which all the
     wires that make up the mesh attach snap and cause the seatback to
     "sag" or not support the back, especially the lower to middle back.
     
     The wire mesh is held to the pipe frame of the seat with six
     springs and two clips. After the springs are removed the mesh
     simply lifts out of the clips. Before you can begin removing the
     springs you must take off about 10 - 15 hog rings which attach the
     extra vinyl flaps from the bolsters to the two thick metal wires,
     and the wires running through the bolster fabric to the two thick
     metal wires. Just use two pairs of angled pliers to spread the hog
     rings and then press the open ends through the holes in the
     material. Its a slow, painful process.
     
     The top springs and the bottom springs are simple to fairly easy to
     remove. The middle springs can require a block-and-tackle approach
     or a pair of curved-nose pliers. Have a helper pull on the mesh
     while you use the pliers to expand the spring and lift it off the
     mesh. This may take several attempts, don't rush. Then, push the
     mesh towards the headrest to free it from the clips at the top of
     the seatback, and lift it out. I recommend replacing the hog rings
     that don't bear any load (the ones that merely hold the vinyl flaps
     to the thick metal wires) with small safety pins. This makes later
     disassembly of the seat a lot faster. Installation is the reverse
     of removal.
     
  Back support that doesn't "suck"
  
     I'm tall, almost too tall to be driving a Scirocco. All that height
     combined with the crappy back support of the Scirocco seats results
     in one thing: very crappy back support.
     
     After disassembling my driver seat about fourty times I realized
     that the cause of the crappy lower back support was, well, crappy
     lower mesh springs. They were the softest of the three pairs of
     springs. So on my next visit to the junkyard, I picked up the upper
     mesh springs from a dead Scirocco seat. I got home and tried to use
     them to replace the lower mesh springs. No go. They were too short,
     and I didn't want to break the mesh again. So instead, I took a
     flathead screwdriver, and with carefully calculated force, planted
     its tip in the middle of the spring and gave it a good whack with a
     hammer. The spring spread apart at between those two coils, and got
     longer. With a little fine tuning I was able to put both springs in
     the place of the weak lower mesh springs. The result? Vastly
     improved back support. It's still not perfect, but at least now I
     can drive for more than an hour or two and not get a sore back.
     
  Replacing Seatback Release Cables
  
     I tried to fold my drivers seat forward one day and discovered that
     although I could lift the lever, the seat would not fold forward.
     With a little research I discovered that there were two cables
     inside each seat that released the seatback latches and they had a
     reputation for breaking. In my case only one was broken, it was the
     one that went diagonally across the seat. I picked up a cable from
     a junkyard seat, and here's what I did to replace it.
     
     I first opened up the seat as described above, then I removed the
     old cable, which was neatly severed in two at a spot where the
     cable rubs against a bracket. I routed the new cable through the
     seat, which was pretty self explanatory, except that had to lift up
     the foam on the outer bolster to get the cable connected to the
     lever on the inside of the seat. Then, I lubricated every spot
     where the cable touches metal with white grease so I will never
     have to replace it again (hopefully). I also went ahead and
     lubricated other moving parts of the seat, which, much to my
     delight ceased to squeak after I reinstalled the seat. I've been
     told that if you order this cable from the dealer it is about $25
     and is longer than necessary so you must find a way to shorten it
     to the proper length.
     
  Replacing Seatback Foam
  
     Like so many others, I have a tear in the vinyl of my driver side
     outer seatback bolster. What caused this tear was the deterioration
     of the foam that gives the bolster its bolsting ability (is that a
     word?) and protects the vinyl from rubbing against metal and
     tearing.
     
     This foam, available at a junkyard near you, is not the easiest
     thing to replace, but if you give yourself some time and a few
     shots of 100 proof ATF, you should have no trouble at all. You will
     need to start by removing the hog rings that connect the vinyl to
     the mesh. I recommend that you remove the mesh too, it will make
     your life easier. When you have that all out, peel the vinyl back
     up towards the headrest as far as you can. Take a moment to look at
     those ugly war wounds from your deteriorated foam. Then slap a
     layer of duct tape on the back side of the tears for good measure.
     The hardest part of replacing the foam is probably removing the
     headrest. I recommend a pair of curved-nose pliers for the job
     since you can pinch all four of the locking tabs that hold the
     headrest "docking points" in place. You have to compress the
     expanding tabs on these plastic pieces until they pop through the
     frame. They will only come part way through. Then, you'll have to
     carefully tug on them and twist them around until they come free.
     Be careful not to tear the vinyl. Now, put your new foam on and
     reassemble. I used foam from a passenger seat since it had probably
     only been sat in 10 times in the life of the car. No problems
     making it fit.
     
  Removing the Seat Bottom
  
     After replacing the seatback foam, I noticed a tear developing in
     my driver side outer seat bottom bolster. The foam had begun to
     fall apart and sprinkle itself on my newly vacuumed carpet. I
     nabbed an inner bolster from a passenger seat, both the foam and
     the vinyl, in hopes that it would fit. Well, it did, and here's how
     I did it:
    1. First, I spread the two hog rings holding the center cushion
       upholstry to the front of the seat.
    2. The rear of the center cushion is attached to a piece of tack
       board which is wedged inside the metal of the frame. Carefully
       pulling on it should release it.
    3. Now, remove the center cushion and start on the hog rings all the
       way around the bolster you are going to replace.
    4. Remove the foam and install the new foam
    5. Pull the replacement vinyl over the new foam and begin attaching
       it to the attachment points with the hog rings. There may be a
       tang like on the seatback that you will have to punch a hole for
       and then bend the tang back in.
    6. If you've done everything right, the seat should be like new.


 Toby Reed <toby@eskimo.com>

--

I want to publicly thank Ian Overholt (i think it was him, at least) who
got me started on taking my seats apart. If he doesn't mind I'm going to
post up his emails which were a big help before I did all this stuff to my
seats. I have a huge directory of files (kind of like Jan's VW site) that
I've been saving on Scirocco topics and I plan to put those online too. I
just have to get the free time to get it all together. :)

May I recommend that while you have your seat apart you preform "Toby's
lower back support mod". It helped a LOT, but maybe it was just in my
car. :)

Good luck,

-Toby

--
'87 16v

--
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