Seat back retaining bungee cord

[Vincent Gillespie]

Hello, The only thing remaining of this on our car was a rusty broken spring attached to a very ratty back board, a very rusty back plate with the stump of the rod and a tiny bit of bungee cord inside the spring. I'm trying to get my back board back together but before I staple the vinyl down I thought it best to check how this all goes together. I have searched the forum and think the construction is as follows;
The threaded retaining rod comes through the back board with the 'V shaped hook end of the bungee attached to this by the washer, 2 nuts and the vinyl wrapped over this and stapled down? I am unsure as the nuts & washers are quite small and to me it's not very secure.

There are a few differences in the replacement part NLA52275101 and what I found in the bits remaining on our car; the back plate to the rod is smaller than the original, the spring attached to the back board has a little eye in it and the retaining hook on the carpeted wheel arch is the same as found on the seat back.

I put a thin sheet of metal, the same size as the original, behind the replacement part, to spread any load a bit more and had to settle for slightly smaller heads using washers on the retaining pins.

Thanks in advance for any help & advice.

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[Dennis ODonnell]

You didn't mention the year of your car. This is how it was mounted on my '57 if I remember correctly.

The bungee goes through the spring and is folded and crimped with the round clip in the first pic to keep it from pulling out of the spring. The square plate with the stud points towards the engine compartment, mounted like the other studs. It's on the driver's side in a US market car. The spring itself goes in front of the upholstery, you hook the bent end "V" all the way behind the board and rotate it until it's around the square plate's stud. No nut, washers etc, but you could use them to hold the stud in place.

A nickle plated steel clip screws onto the floor about a foot and a half forward to hold the other spring end of the bungee when the seatback's down. The hook on the top corner of the seat back was originally cast.

[Vincent Gillespie]

Hello and thanks, just perfect for me to get this back together & it's a '55 pre A. The replacement kit has a washer and 2 nuts on the threaded stud and it makes perfect sense for them to secure this to the board. I thought the eylet/round bit had broken off the end of the spring as it fits back really well with a tiny tang fitting perfectly into a corresponding section on the narrower end but now I see exactly how it all works.
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[Brad Ripley]

If it helps, here is the instruction sheet we used to send out

[Vincent Gillespie]

Hello Brad, Thanks a million, that's perfect, it's confirmed what I had worked out with what I had found of the remains of the original and Dennis' input.
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[Dennis ODonnell]

If you haven't mounted the board already, check the vertical registration by aligning the four holes for the luggage strap brackets. It's possible for the board to be as much as 3/4" too low, exposing the area below the rear window. Trial fit it before you install the speed nuts and trim the studs to length.

Rather than drilling new firewall holes for the studs you may have to move the studs &/or the bracket holes further down on the board. Alternately, if there's enough extra you can loosen the upholstery across the top edge and reglue it higher. Ideally the covering should meet the lower edge of the window gasket but I've seen them lower.

[Vincent Gillespie]

Hello and thanks, I'm a few months off installing this & I hope I have avoided it been misaligned. Before I drilled any holes I held the board to the firewall and marked all the holes, I also checked that they lined up on the jigsaw of bits that is the original. I was also pleasantly surprised that when I was stapling it back together all the folds and corner 'shapes' etc., in the vinyl, fell exactly into place and the bungee cord hook sat right into it's original spot. So we will see & live in hope it doesn't need redoing!
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