Shifter selection question

[Doug McDonnell]

Unless your interior is not stock you only need to remove the rubber mat on the front of the tunnel area.

[Robert Reed]

Doug,
Nothing I do is that simple; the rear tunnel carpet overlaps the back of the shifter on this set. So, looks like the seats, tunnel seat rails, at least. May even include the front rubber mat if I can’t get the front rubber tunnel mat out from under it...
I have struggled with these seat rails since I’ve owned this car; I don’t know what that’s all about. I have to sit in the back seat and push very hard to get them to move. Difficult to hold the release lever from the back seat too...
Bob
I think my wife will be home tomorrow, should make things easier.

[Ron LaDow]

I have struggled with these seat rails since I’ve owned this car; I don’t know what that’s all about. I have to sit in the back seat and push very hard to get them to move.

Given that most of the cars are driven by one person, the seat rails tend to develop a 'fix' which is a result of the clearance in the mounting bolt holes allowing the lower tracks to 'take a set' and what used to be lube becoming a pretty effective adhesive.
Once every 10 or 15 years, it's worth it to pull the seats, wipe the 'adhesive' off and apply some up-to-date lube (I like Red Line Assembly Lube). You can also adjust the rails by loosening the allen screws and letting the seat define the width on re-fitting. It means taking it out once more after you tighten the fore and aft screws to tighten the rest, and it will never make a bit of difference, since YOU will adjust the seat once and never move it.
But it might make you feel better.

[Martin Benade]

The outer black risers under the seat rails probably have more adjustment than the small allen screws in the rails, you might try loosening those too, and then do a little tapping to get it to move.

[Robert Reed]

Hey Ron;
I actually would like to be able to slide the drivers seat fore and aft easier; my wife is 5’ 2”, and I’m 6’ 3” tall. She would like to be able to drive the car on occasion, as well as our son who is somewhere in between.
Martin, I have utilized the outer rail bolts to align the seats, really the only way one can do so. When I had the seats out, I tried to look for what might be hanging things up. I couldn’t find anything obvious, so used some white silicon grease so as not to mess up the new carpet. I may remove that this round and go with something slicker; hopefully that will help.
On a happier note; I was successful in getting the engine running earlier this week. It’s been probably 22 years since it last ran. I did have to pull the fuel pump and clean it, as the little inlet valve was stuck. Put that back on and it started with a little squirt of fuel in the throats. Whoo Hoo!
But not total success as yet, as the accelerator pumps weren’t squirting as needed. So, took the 40idf’s off and squirted carb cleaner through those, now a couple pumps on the pedal and it fires right up.
Pretty darn good in fact; the engine was rebuilt in 1978 with OEM S-90 pistons and cylinders, and is probably one of very few cars out there still running them.
Thanks go out to all you fine folks out there that are so helpful; it really is appreciated!
Bob

[Doug McDonnell]

Robert With the seats out check to make sure the rails are at the same height and also parallel to each other. Somewhere in the archives is measurement for seat rail center to seat rail center also. Or just measure the rails on the bottom of your seats-and make sure they are parallel also. Lots of things could be a little off from previous work. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=26772 and distance center to center on T6 is 430mm per Brad Ripley and Tim Herman: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=33471

[Robert Reed]

Doug;

Thank you for the measurements; I will certainly check the seat bottom rails for width while I have them out. Could be that they are not parallel.
I have checked the rail heights when the seats were out; as well as pulling a string across all 4 rails. They sure did look like they would work, but having the actual dimensions for the c to c will be a good check.
First thing to work on is finding reverse; I really need that...
I’ll let you know what happens.
Again, thank you.
Bob

[Robert Reed]

Doug!
I have reverse! I really couldn’t get any pictures unfortunately, the shifter base wouldn’t come out far enough to flip it over without undoing the heater stuff. I just recently got that all connected and this is the first time I will have a completely working heater.
The seats were a bear as I expected them to be, in fact I had to resort to a scissor jack to push the drivers seat forward. I think I must have misread the label on the grease tube. I had to have been glue! I’m going with something else this time, it has to work better somehow .
I actually pulled the shifter out of the plastic cup when I got down that far; there was a very little bit of the old cup in the peace pipe, but I don’t think that that was the problem. When I got it all apart, I could actually push down on the lever as to actuate reverse. That looked good! I really cleaned the peace pipe well and greased it as well as the inside of the plastic cup. It went together much easier having done so. I think the bottom line to the story is giving the shifter handle a really good thwack after it was seated. I think that that was the real reason all along. I think the grease helped in that effort as I never saw any suggestions to doing so in my searching.
Anyway, thank y’all so much, I truly am grateful.
Bob

[Doug McDonnell]

We love happy endings. And await the next chapter in the resurrection of your 356. And Geoff mentioned the wack on the knob. I have never had to resort to that.