Removal of rear seat

[WGB]

Hi Olli,

As requested here is my memory of removing the rear seat -

1) At the leading edge of seat squab almost at floor level should be two little recessed levers - one on either side. They are spring loaded and when pressed they release the front of the seat squab.
2) Lift the leading edge vertically and the rear will disengage itself - remove from car out one of the doors.
3) This will reveal 3 metal tags hanging down from the lower edge of the seat back with self tapping screws affixing the seat back . Remove the three screws.
4) The seat back is then pushed vertically upwards to disengage three  metal tongues which stick up vertically from the rear parcel shelf/firewall. This can be a tight fit especially if you have rear headrests fitted.
5) Remove the seat back from the car taking care not to scratch anything with the three straps that hang down from the bottom of the seat back

Best of luck - tell me if the fittings for the seatbelts are there - I'm sure they will be.

Best of luck.

Bill

[olliparr]

Cheers Bill,
Its all exactly as predicted - didn't expect it to be so simple somehow...

[samuli]

Hello Guys,

I bought yesterday a 1976 280 SE, 104000kms, in beautiful shape! It doesn't have rear seatbelts, which I would like to install. I am glad to see this topic, where you say that it's a "plug and play" operation.

http://forum.w116.org/mechanicals/seatbelts/

How did it go your installation? Would it be possible to have some tips or images of how you did it, please?

And does anyone know what's that handle on the left hand side of the driver's seat? I can pull it up, but I cannot see what it does.

[nathan]

heh samuli
only pic i have on my computer,,,,
anyhow, a 76 should bolt in i imagine..,.bills post tells you how to reove seats...you can see two tabs at the top of seat which u must lift seats over to get the back rest off after you have removed the lower section.  post if yo uihave any more questions

[nathan]

here is a better one

[samuli]

Thanks a lot Nathan. Looks very easy if those boltholes are there. Keeping my fingers crossed!

[samuli]

I finally got the car yesterday and removed the back seat. Yes!! The boltholes are there. It's a 1976 280SE. Now I have to find a pair of seatbelts...

[samuli]

It was fairly easy job to install the originally not existing set of rear seat belts. In 1976 in France these came not as standard and the guy I bought the car from (the original owner who has driven 104500km) hadn't selected them as option. But I did the job 32 years later thanks to your help.

So I started by checking behind the seats and the boltholes existed. I browsed a bit to find original set, but found only one in UK for 130 pounds without delivery. Then I went to local "deconstruction autos-motos" and demounted a set from a 1987 W201, which seemed to be more or less similar, cost 60 CHF.

The rear pilar trim panels needed to be cut for belt openings. I wanted to keep the looks as original as possible, so I ordered the original metal rings from UK for 4 pounds each. They said that Mercedes provided only one type of panels. As cut or as non-cut and with or without these rings.

Needless to say that the work was super easy. Absolutely no problems fitting the W201 belts, even the lap belt with same screws and everythimg. I am sure the pre-facelift W124 ones will fit as well. I also looked at one junk W140 and it's belts wouldn't probably fit the W116. W140 has a reel lap belt.

I wanted to attach some images but don't know how to do it.

[oscar]

Hi samuli, those metal rings you speak of, are they the black thin metal oval inserts in the C-pillar trim where the belting comes thru or are they the top heavier d-schackle kind of thing that is bolted to the C-pillar that holds the belting up high over the shoulder?

For posting photos you can got to www.imageshack.us or www.photobucket.com upload photos and copy the code across to the forum.  Read the instructions on either site.  Or you can use w116.org's gallery. Instructions are in the link below.

Link

[John Hubertz]

Hmmmmm

Any other belts cross over into our cars?  My driver's belt is fuzzy from wear - and I thought I might have to tap an aussie source for a lightly used Left seatbelt (front)

[samuli]

Hello, I mean the black sheet metal inserts which are bent around the cut surface. Here is the image of the new pieces ordered from UK:



Here I am sawing the holes following the existing grooves.



Belt and panel installed. You can see the chrome "d-schackle" thing, which is from W201. I guess the original is black. And I repeat: everything was just plug-in without any modification or searching the right screw.



Ready to go.



At our local car club elevator. See the Stilauto alloy rims from 1976. The original owner has bought them from the Mercedes dealer at the time. The untouched sheet metal rims were still in the trunk.



Front



Back



Yes, it would be great to replace the fronts by smoothly operating ones too...

[oscar]

samuli, fantastic job, congratulations.   

Great looking car.  Love the upholstery and those wheels - I haven't seen bundts look like that before with the spokes extending to the edge of the rim.

Thanks for the info on those black metal inserts.  I need to get some as some of mine have either fallen out and are bent or have lost the black colour.  I just assumed they weren't available but glad to see you could still get them. 

John,
If you get stuck for a LH driver's belt, PM or email me with a photo of what the male part of the metal clicking thing on the belt looks like (a better description escapes me for now) but some have different types of clackers and differently shaped male ends but with a photo I'll compare to what I have and send you one over. 

[samuli]

Thanks. I got the inserts here:

http://www.mercedes-benzofpoole.co.uk/

-> after sales -> classic parts -> parts enquiry

They answered and sent the items very quickly.

[Hotbasco]

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