'70 Seat Track Disassembly?

[Tom L.]

Has anyone ever successfully taken one of these things apart apart?

There's a rivet and two pinch welds holding the "feet" to the bottom track. I thought that the rivets served as a stop for the roller bearings. I drilled them out and learned that they do not. They appear to play no role at all in the action of the track.

I'm starting to think that the dimples are pressed into the tracks, top and bottom, after assembly. If so, the dimples are the bearing stops and these tracks are, therefore, made to never come apart again.

The first picture shows one of many dimples on the top track. The hole to the left is were the track mounts to the seat. The hole in the lower track is where the rear rivet was located. The second picture isn't great, but shows a horizontally oriented cylindrical bearing that is hitting the dimple.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Alan S.]

Re: '70 Seat Track Disassembly?

Hi Tom,
I wasn't able to get the tracks apart on my 71's seats.
I ended up cleaning the whole mechanism, then used some fine steel wool on the slide to 'brighten' it up, and re-plated the base and feet by dipping them in a Parkerizing solution. The parts of the base and feet that can be seen once the seat is installed turn out the best fortunately!
Here's the best picture I have of the results.
Regards,
Alan

[Terry M.]

Re: '70 Seat Track Disassembly?

Sure looks like a date code in that first picture.

[Chuck S.]

Re: '70 Seat Track Disassembly?

...I ended up cleaning the whole mechanism, then used some fine steel wool on the slide to 'brighten' it up, and re-plated the base and feet by dipping them in a Parkerizing solution...

Nice job, Alan.

The upper portion is supposed to be natural steel. I assume you carefully "brightened" the upper part AFTER the Parkerizing?...or did the Parkerizing just not "take" on the upper part of the track?

Tom, I've never considered the seat tracks to be made for disassembly. As Alan says, I think you are pretty much stuck with soaking the tracks in solvent to dissolve the old grease, and using a tooth brush and wood picks to clean them thoroughly. Believeing that the ball elements are fairly well sheltered, I even bead-blasted my tracks after adding a little masking. If you bead blast them, you'll want to avoid moving the tracks or refinishing them until after thoroughly flushing out the grit with lacquer thinner. In a humid climate, the steel in these will oxidize quickly, so you'll want to expedite your restoration activity.

There is at least one thread on seat track refinishing in the archives. One interesting difference between your 70 tracks and mine is the presence of the roller bearing at the rear of the track. A roller bearing in that application makes sense, but my poor memory doesn't recollect the roller bearing on mine...maybe I just missed it.

[Tom L.]

Re: '70 Seat Track Disassembly?

Sure looks like a date code in that first picture.

April 28, 1970. Makes sense. The production date for the car is June 16th. Pretty much every dated part on the car was made in April/May of '70.

[Tom L.]

Re: '70 Seat Track Disassembly?

[quote=Alan Struck (15579);437813]
I ended up cleaning the whole mechanism, then used some fine steel wool on the slide to 'brighten' it up, and re-plated the base and feet by dipping them in a Parkerizing solution.

Alan,

The Parkerizing looks great. Which product did you use?

Tom

[Terry M.]

Re: '70 Seat Track Disassembly?

Another place for date codes. They are everywhere.

[Alan S.]

Re: '70 Seat Track Disassembly?

Hi Tom,
I'm using the zinc (light gray) and manganese (dark gray) solutions I bought from Palmetto Enterprises years ago. They really have lot's of sparkles, especially the dark gray.
Regards,
Alan