The Incredible Shrinking SaxMan

[SaxMan]

I had Baby Blue out today, and while sitting in the driver's seat merrily traversing Route 94 coming out of Lisbon, I felt a "poink", and suddenly I was about three inches shorter. When you're only 5' 6", you really can't afford to shrink very much!

It appears the foam rubber bladder underneath the driver's seat gave way on the inboard side, so I did the rest of the ride a bit cockeyed. I'm guessing there's no way to re-rig this without pulling the seat. What I'm hoping to find is a something to hold the seat foam temporarily until I can pull the seat. I'm thinking along the lines of a dictionary, but I'm completely open to suggestions.

Obviously, I did something wrong in installing it. I'm barely 150 pounds on a good day, so there's no way this should have given way under that weight. If I was 300+ pounds, different story.

 

[Jim_Gruber]

Borrow the pillow off of your wife's couch. The really ugly one you hate...

 

[nomad]

I hope its not poor quality rubber part's!!! For years I used section's cut out of an inner tube to give me just the suspention I wanted. Of course that means removing the seat again.

Kurt.

 

[SaxMan]

I found an old Chilton's Book for 1977 - 1982 Models. It was going to be thrown away by a library that my mom worked at years ago, so I snagged it. It actually fits perfectly, but it is a bit hard to sit on. However, coming from someone used to rock hard bicycle seats, it's not so bad. I'll have to search for some pillows.

I do have some of the big sealed plastic bags that VB now ships their stuff in instead of the styrofoam peanuts (thank god!). I may try those to see if that makes things a bit softer.

 

[SaxMan]

I hope its not poor quality rubber part's!!! For years I used section's cut out of an inner tube to give me just the suspention I wanted. Of course that means removing the seat again.

Kurt.

Well, reaching underneath it seems like the rubber tore on one of the hook ups, and on the other the metal sheared. I like the inner tube idea -- how do you secure it to the seat frame?

 

[SaxMan]

The air bags actually ended up working best. I was just looking for an expedient solution where I don't have to pull the seat, at least until winter time. But, I wonder if I'm onto something here? An inflatable bladder that you put between the floor and the seat foam. It would allow you to control how firm you like your seat bottom. If such a product existed, would you buy it?

 

[JPSmit]

Come on man the seat is four bolts - four! twenty minutes tops. a new bladder does not (I believe) require the seat to come any further apart

 

[SaxMan]

But, meanwhile, I still want to drive the car until I get the bladder, so I have to figure something out in the interim.

It is four bolts, but, in my car, you need to secure them both above and below the floor pan, which takes a bit of contortionism to be able to do that. My other option is to convince a friend to help me out, but none of my friends live close enough to drop by. I'll have to look at how the upholstery is clipped on to see if there is anything else that needs to be done.

 

[JPSmit]

But, meanwhile, I still want to drive the car until I get the bladder, so I have to figure something out in the interim.

It is four bolts, but, in my car, you need to secure them both above and below the floor pan, which takes a bit of contortionism to be able to do that. My other option is to convince a friend to help me out, but none of my friends live close enough to drop by. I'll have to look at how the upholstery is clipped on to see if there is anything else that needs to be done.

Ok, the drive till you get the bladder part makes sense.

In terms of the four bolts, the front two are attached to the rails at the top so, it is undoing the nuts on the bottom. On the back, there should be captive nuts on the bottom so you undo from the top. That said, mine has not got the captive nuts and I can reach.

 

[58Custom]

You can shove some upholstery foam under the seat to support your behind quite nicely. 3" foam is perfect. 4" is fine if you have an electric carving knife handy so you can trim it down. Works great for all sorts of worn-out seat woes.