Hi, My seat rails are absolute garbage. I can't get the pins to go down to get the seat to adjust for the life of me. They're damn old and need to be replaced.

Is there any solution to this? I have used oil and such and it just doesn't do anything. I've had to hit them in with a hammer before to get it to adjust.

Is there any after market rails for the seats that are of quality? Or does anyone have a link for the OEM rails?

Thanks!

 

The screws that attach the rails are soft metal, internal hex, apparently with thread locker and every thread I've seen where someone was trying to remove them they had trouble or didn't succeed.

My driver's seat was looking worn and I pulled the seats with the idea of swapping side to side, which means swapping the rails, but it looked like I might be getting into a mess. I found two very nice seats on ebay, probably paid too much, but problem solved.

Now, I should go ahead and try the swap since if it ends up a disaster, not a big deal.

So, what I am suggesting, until somebody finds out how those screws are removed, a used seat is the cheapest solution.

 

I actually installed these rails off my old evo 8 seats, it took me all day to change the rails. Trick is to use a heat gun, dremel, flat head and wrench

dremel a line scross the top making it a flat head, heat it up so thread locking melts or weakens, use the huge flat head, apply lots of pressure and get leverage from a wrench on the shaft of the screw driver

 

As I wrote above, I have a spare pair of Evo 8 seats. Several people have said that it shouldn't be too hard to swap the seats side to side, in other words, making the passenger seat into the driver's seat. But there are never any pictures showing the process or finished product. So, I wonder what happened? Well, I am going to do it or at least find out why it can't be done.

I'll take some pictures along the way and if this project turns into a disaster I will at least reclaim some space in the garage.

 

I've got a set of driver side rails for sale but they are the SSL ones shouldn't make any diff tho.

 

This morning I spread a clean tarp on the shop floor and unpacked the original Evo 8 seats, the seats that came with the car. I was surprised at how nice they looked. If it wasn't for boaster wear on the outboard driver's seat back where I drag my butt in and out, they look like new.

Anyway, looking at the fasteners that fasten the rails to the seat pan I see there are two pan head bolts on one side and three on the other. Why the difference? The area where the extra fastener resides is where the seat belt attaches to the seat pan. That side is reenforced to take the tug of the belt in case of an accident. Are there threads on the other side for the extra fastener? Nope, meaning the seat pans themselves are left and right.

So, what to do, swap seat pans?

 

Well, i personally swapped my seats accidentally installing 9 seats (my 9 had 8 seats for some reason) and i put the seats in opposite, taking off the rails entirely is a mother. But you can very easily swap the seats once youve gotten the rails off. The knob to adjust the seat backing will be INWARD (this is how i knew) but i still found it easy to get to.

 

I spend the afternoon examining and experimenting. Without actually doing it I figured out pretty much the procedure for a side to side seat swap.

1. On both seats remove the inner slider - the one with the seat belt buckle. The buckle, held by one large bolt probably has to come off first.

2. With the inner slider off, remove the four bolts holding the seat back and remove.

3. With the backs off, remove seat upholstery and pad and transfer to the other seat.

4. Swap the backs and reassemble the sliders.

5. It looks like the seat back adjusting rods can be slid over with a little judicious tinkering with the lock washers that hold them in position.

The thing is I decided that what must be holding the slider fasteners was thread locker since the manual says tighten them to 16 foot pounds. I put a torch on one of these fasteners, got it good and hot, I had a bucket of water ready to dose the seat if it caught fire, and no joy. Those fasteners are just very tight. I see blue thread locker on the larger fasteners that attach the seat back. They are also internal hex so probably the same problem there, the hex strips before the fastener comes loose. I see this on a lot of newer car parts, they are made of very soft steel. I suppose this is so the part can stretch and not crack in case of a collusion.

 

hmm i really cannot find OEM rails.. mine just don't side nicely at all. it takes a bashing of the level and a lot of force to get them to move. Anyone?

 

Anyone? Not necessarily OEM but something that will fit the stock evo 9 recaros... thanks!

 

I will have some OEM Evo 9 rails I can sell/ship you this week, or early next week, if interested. Just the rails, no slider, Etc.

 

They'll be ready to be sent out on Thursday if you want them.. I can't PM yet, but let me know.