Seat back trims question

[IanIreland]

Quick question. Doing some repairs on seats and wondering should the bottom of the seat back go under the metal rod over it? 
 

[Son of Marty]

Over. I think but it's been a while for stock seats.

Edited April 10, 2021 by Son of Marty

[Schon '02]

It goes under the rod.

[Conserv]

Like this.

These are 1972 seats (left is October 1972; right is June 1972).

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

 

[Son of Marty]

Well I'm old and have CRS?.

[Conserv]

48 minutes ago, Son of Marty said:

Well I'm old and have CRS?.

Me, too: I had to find a photo!

 

Best regards,

 

Steve

 

[Son of Marty]

Yeah, it seems odd that bar and the seat rail are the only bare metal visible in the interior I think. 

[Conserv]

10 minutes ago, Son of Marty said:

Yeah, it seems odd that bar and the seat rail are the only bare metal visible in the interior I think. 

Ran out of budget?

 

[Mike Self]

BMW didn't make the seats--just gave specs to the seat maker.  And I may be wrong on this, but I suspect the fully reclining seats and the 3 position seatback (used only on 1600s for the US market) use the same seat frames for the base and back.  The 3 position seats don't have that torsion bar, so rather than making two different seats or upholstery sets, the seat manufacturer (most likely under direction from BMW) made only one set of frames/upholstery that could be fitted either with the reclining mechanism or the 3 position adjuster.  

 

Can anyone verify that?  yet another 2002 minutia rabbit hole...

 

mike

[Conserv]

18 minutes ago, Mike Self said:

BMW didn't make the seats--just gave specs to the seat maker.  And I may be wrong on this, but I suspect the fully reclining seats and the 3 position seatback (used only on 1600s for the US market) use the same seat frames for the base and back.  The 3 position seats don't have that torsion bar, so rather than making two different seats or upholstery sets, the seat manufacturer (most likely under direction from BMW) made only one set of frames/upholstery that could be fitted either with the reclining mechanism or the 3 position adjuster.  

 

Can anyone verify that?  yet another 2002 minutia rabbit hole...

 

mike

I cannot verify that, Mike, but I strongly suspect you’re correct. The manufacturer for 1600-2 and 2002 seats, at least from the 1966 through 1974 versions, was P.A. Rentrop, AG.

 

Best regards,

 

Steve

 

[IanIreland]

Another question: I am going to sand down and paint the metal brackets at the side of the seats. Had planned on doing them while in the seats, if I remove them are they difficult to put back together? Does the assembly come apart?

 

 

[Mike Self]

Ian, presume you have black-painted reclining mechanisms vs the chrome ones.  The factory black paint was terrible--turned soft and gooey, and the seat belt rubs against it, wearing it off in short order.  

 

And yes, there's a trick to reassembling the recliner mechanisms and it's not intuitive.  I learned the hard way, and ended up doing a column on the subject.  PM me if you'd like a copy.

 

mike