Another thing to go wrong the Zed I managed to snap the plastic lever on the driver side seat, that leans it forward to access the rear seats. I'm currently installing the leatherette seat cover on the passenger seat. And the passenger seat has the lever on both the left and right hand side. I was thinking of stealing the right hand side one, and using that on the drivers seat. I can glue the lever back onto the driver seat, however 1) it looks like some1 else snapped it off b4, and glued it on. 2) I don't trust glue on something that needs so much force and is used frequently. So does any1 know how to get this thing off? It snapped off at the knobby bit, the plastic shaft is still attached to the metal lever. Other options are to buy a new seat, or a new lever thingy. I'm considering a new seat, because, as pointed out by Max(seat cover guy). Some of the foam on the sides of the seat have been replaced with a stiff material. I haven't pulled apart the drivers side seat to investigate it yet though.
I don't know how to get the lever off, but if you need one I have a spare one here. It is currently in a buggered drivers seat sitting in my garage (being the big boy I am I snapped the 0.5" rear supporting rod in the base of the seat and had been driving around with the rear part of the seat base resting on the floor - p.s. GREAT for head room, bad for comfort! So I bought and installed an electric seat (BAD for headroom, but good for support & comfort). So if you find out how to get it out, you are welcome to take mine for free.
Thanks for the offer Col. How much of the seat have u got left? because I wouldn't mind replacing the entire backrest. My seatbase works fine, and you're saying your's is buggered. So I should be able to just swap the backrest over. and not worry about trying to remove the knob.
If you do find out how to remove it post it up, the handle has snapped off on my passenger seat as well and id really like to fix it.
No problems mate. The seat is whole just as it was taken out of the car. If you want to grab it, it's yours. The tweed on the backrest part is wearing a little, but that shouldn't matter given that you are recovering anyway! I don't know why I was keeping it, was thinking about making a chair in my study out of it, but given it is structurally unsound that idea is out. On a side note, does anyone know if the frame on an electric seat is higher than a manual one. I haven't driven my car much since putting in the electric seat 6 weeks ago and my head seems to be a bit closer to roof than I remember.
Cool. what did you want for the seat? and to be clear, it's a driver side seat, but no electrics? as in auspec or similar? mine is an electric j-spec. Does any1 know if the a-spec base is fully interchangeable with a j-spec backrest
i did mine a while back and im sure i didnt remove these levers to install the new covers, the instructions show just to slit the covers in around them. .
Yeah it's a manual Ausspec seat which might be a problem. In my head I'd assumed you had leather manual seats and hadn't for a second considered that yours might be electric. It's of no real use to me and is just taking up room in my small garage so if I can help out a fellow zedder (ie no charge for the seat) and clear my garage then everybody wins!
Thanks Col, I'll grab the old seat unless some1 tells me they're definitely incompatible. I'm kinda bored, and wouldn't mind going for a drive now If you could PM me your address and a phone number, and whether or not you're free today. Also, I can't tell you if the electric seat is higher than a manual one, but the electric seat definately has height controls! I know the first time i sat in a Zed, I couldn't see the top of the speedo, unless I leaned the seat back to a ridiculous angle. Eventually i figured out the height controls, and manged to find an angle i liked.
The only compatability issue that you will have is that instead of adjusting the backrest angle with the electric seat switch, you will have to do it manually via the knob on the side of the non-electric seat. And you will have the connnector and wiring that plugs into the electric backrest left dangling unused, so you will have to tape that up and hide it somewhere. I'm pretty sure that the backrest should clip right onto the seat base. I cant see why the mounting points would be different. But even if they are, so what? You dont really lose out, BigCol wants to get rid of his old seat fo free, so you arent really losing anything. If it doesnt work out you can always try to swap the levers over, or go and look for an electric backrest. Personally I'd look for an electronic backrest in order to retain all the electronic functions. Try some Zed wreckers or those who deal with Z parts - try uas, fleet and adelaide Z cars, and also post in the wanted section
doh I didn't think of that. Looks like I'll have to figure out how to get the knob off. and I'll steal the foam out of Cols old seat as well. So it's not a total loss. It just means that I'll have to pull part 2 backrests, instead of just 1 while i'm re-trimming
