[T3] decreasing the effort it takes to move my seats (LONG!)

[TOASTEDT3@aol.com]

After waking up to 3" of standing water inside the Notch from the crazy So 
Cal rains these past 2 weeks we've actually been doing some stuff to the 
Notch.

We bought all new seals for it.  We started off with a trunk (hood) seal a 
"decklid" seal (heh heh, thanks for the tip Jason) and 2 of the Bill and 
Steve's $20 door seals.  Well, the trunk and decklid seals are great.  Keep 
in mind we removed original (almost 30  year old) seals so just about 
anything would be an improvement.

The door seals are crazy!  Sure they were $20 each, but we couldnt get them 
to fit.  They're like b*g seals and have no cutouts for any of the 
intricacies (sp?) of the T3 door and no little tab to fit into the lip on the 
door.  Needless to say we took em back and scored a set of German seals for 
only $100 (the 3" of water was do the fact we went through a week of rain 
with no door seals)

We also got a engine lid seal too.....woohoo!.  Spent just under $200 total 
for all the seals.  Oh and on a side note, Bill and Steves is technically no 
longer "Bill and Steve's".  Steve (the very nice Brother) bought out Bill 
(the very not nice brother) so it's really just "Steve's" now, but he's not 
changing the name and Bill's still going to work there occasionally on the 
weekends.  Apparently Bill's going to law school or something.  So now you're 
filled in on all the gossip.

Now that the car is air and hopefully water tight I need to pull up the 
carpet and take care of that.  I searched the archives and learned that I 
dont need to remove the seats to take out and reinstall new carpet, but at 
the same time I want the seats to be able to function a bit better.  

In reading the archives I've learned about the little metal tab that needs to 
be depressed to get the seats all the way out.  Hopefully just 2 of us can do 
this.  The driver's seat should come out pretty easily as it still slides 
back and forth.  The passenger's seat is a bit different.  Even with my 200 
lbs, I cant get it to move in either direction.  

The archives said that with the help of 2 other people, a rubber mallet and 
lots of WD40 another listee got their passenger seat out.  I'm guessing we'll 
have to do this too, but where do I spray the WD40 (penetrating oil?) and 
where do I whack?

Also, once I get the seats out, is there a way (without taking the covers 
off) to do any work on the mechanism that releases the seat and allows it to 
fold forward and the mechanism that allows it to tilt (roll) back?  The tilt 
forward mechanism works on both seats, but it's marginal at best.  Neither 
seat can be "rolled" back with the knobs that are present.

the PO of the car (not you Jason) was apparently a sun flower seed eater and 
there's years of those things and other crap down in there.  Maybe a nice 
cleaning and re-oil will help everything, but I doubt it.

I dont know what kind of condition the plastic runners are on the seat rails. 
 I'm guessing they're pretty beat up like most are.  Is this fact going to 
screw me once I get the seats out?  Will they not go back in without them?  
If I get the seats out and the plastic rails just disintegrate am I finished? 
 I can scour the so cal junk yards for decent replacements, but they're 
pretty scarce.  Jason, were there any in that 69 Scuareback you had?  Robert, 
you find any recently you'd part with?

Finally, anyone have any recommendations for carpet kit suppliers?  We're 
just going to go with blain black for now.  Also, since the car's a 71 we 
need the narrow headrest seat covers?  Anyone had a good experience with 
these?  I might be replacing the seat covers if I get a wild hair up my ass 
and decide to really tackly the seat problems.

thanks in advance, sorry for the novel

Matt
71 Square
71 Notch

P.S. Toby E.  I have a Bentley and I WILL BE READING IT, it's just not at 
work with me right now.

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