Removing seats (Chim)

[TDTH1975]

Having enjoyed the routine "wake up one morning to find behind the drivers seat under an inch of water" about 3 months ago, I naturally dried the floor out etc. This said - there is still the musty smell of damp carpet in the car and the only way I can think of getting rid of that is to take the seats out and get a carpet cleaner to do its stuff on the drivers and passengers side. Any suggestions to an easier process or how easy it is to remove the seats.

[trefor]

TDTH1975 said:

Having enjoyed the routine "wake up one morning to find behind the drivers seat under an inch of water" about 3 months ago, I naturally dried the floor out etc. This said - there is still the musty smell of damp carpet in the car and the only way I can think of getting rid of that is to take the seats out and get a carpet cleaner to do its stuff on the drivers and passengers side. Any suggestions to an easier process or how easy it is to remove the seats.

Simple - 4 bolts under the floor. 5 minute job.

[jam1et]

Yep, 4 bolts straight through the floor with washers to spread the load, same on Griff. Kinda made me feel a bit vulnerable the next time I drove the Griff. Soon put it to the back of my mind though!

[RichardR]

jam1et said:

Yep, 4 bolts straight through the floor with washers to spread the load, same on Griff. Kinda made me feel a bit vulnerable the next time I drove the Griff. Soon put it to the back of my mind though!

But if you're in an accident, it's the seatbelt that keeps you in place and that's all bolted through to the chassis.

And even if you were hit from behind and the seat came free of the mountings somehow (don't forget that GRP's very strong), it would surely be stopped by coming into contact with the bodywork behind?

[trefor]

You can get steel strengthening bars for the underseat area from Tower View Race Services.

[zumbruk]

trefor said:

You can get steel strengthening bars for the underseat area from Tower View Race Services.

And very good they are, too. I could always feel the seat moving on bumpy roads before I had them fitted.

[angusfaldo]

I think two of the washers have been ground down on one side to fit - the bolts are near chassis beams. Worth bearing in mind when you come to put them back on.

BTW Halfords do a extra strong carpet cleaner that has anti-mould stuff in it. Worth using to get rid of the lingering stink of old jock straps that seems to come hand in hand with water ingress in a TVR!

[jam1et]

RichardR said:

(don't forget that GRP's very strong

Is it? (serious question) My surf board certainly isnt and any TVR's I've seen in a smash always look terrible on the outside - totally mangled. The chassis is strong but I dont know about GRP... I would have thought GRP impact resisance is quite low. Although having said that, I suppose thats different to its strength for holding objects bolted through it (dunno scientific term for this!).

>> Edited by jam1et on Friday 21st May 16:29

[shpub]

trefor said:

You can get steel strengthening bars for the underseat area from Tower View Race Services.

Yep Pete Humphries and myself got them to make them after MSA recommended that additional support was added to stop the seat from moving. Someone got killed when his seat came loose in a crash while racing.

Interestingly enough, the seats on the Cerbera are bolted through the chassis...

[Graham]

jam1et said:

Is it? (serious question) My surf board certainly isnt and any TVR's I've seen in a smash always look terrible on the outside - totally mangled. The chassis is strong but I dont know about GRP... I would have thought GRP impact resisance is quite low. Although having said that, I suppose thats different to its strength for holding objects bolted through it (dunno scientific term for this!). >> Edited by jam1et on Friday 21st May 16:29

Yep it is... GRP absorbs a lot of impact then shatters.

steel does the same thing then crumples.


the results of a grp crash tend to look worse as you will see lots of shattered grp. in a metal bodied car it would just be a crumpled up ball.


I've seen plenty of race car accidents where the grp bodied car is back together much easier than a steel one ..

[RichardR]

jam1et said:

RichardR said: (don't forget that GRP's very strong Is it? (serious question) My surf board certainly isnt and any TVR's I've seen in a smash always look terrible on the outside - totally mangled. The chassis is strong but I dont know about GRP... I would have thought GRP impact resisance is quite low. Although having said that, I suppose thats different to its strength for holding objects bolted through it (dunno scientific term for this!)

Someone ran into the back of my S recently at about 20 - 30 mph and it made a right mess of the GRP, but I was still able to open the boot and retrieve my laptop (which I'm typing this on, so it still works!).

Also, I didn't suffer any whiplash which IMHO demonstrates both the effective nature of the head restraint and the energy absorbing qualities of fibreglass.