Removing seats, or the DPO Blues

This is my first post.

My wife and I bought a '74 B in September and I have been gradually working on a few things over the winter. When we got it we knew that the floors were rusty, and resigned ourselves to the fact that at some point I'd have to do something about them. I had the car in for some mechanical stuff to KM Restorations in Orangeville, and he suggested that cleaning off the rust and painting them meant they'd be ok for a couple more seasons.

I bought some interior panels and some carpets and have been gradually doing the doors etc. I stripped out the existing carpets and old vinyl sill mats. The driver side floor is much worse than the passenger's side. The sills on the inside are surface rusty but have not rusted through. They definitely need to be stabilized and painted, even if just to keep things from progressing. However, a DPO (or his garage) welded the rear seat bolts to the rails. So I can undo the front bolts, slide the seat forward to reveal the back bolts but they will not budge. I can't even get a wrench on them due to the welds. I really need to get the seats out to clean underneath them and treat the floors as well as the side of the inner sill. I haven't checked the passenger seat yet.

Is there a way to get the seats out, leaving the rails bolted to the floor, and perhaps clean and paint around them? Or having gotten the seats out, then how do I remove the bolts? Grind them off? Any help is welcome!

Reide, welcome to the forum
With any luck the bottom nut underneath is not welded too. Have you tried to remove the nut on the bottom?
If not, I would grind the head off the bolt, not wanting to destroy the bottom fitting and then dealing with removing whats left of the bolt after the seat rail is removed.
Rob

Good luck with that bolt. I would look under the car also.

Just be sure to use good jack stands, and NOT rely on the tire jack holding the car up safely. That would be VERY dangerous.

You have come to a very good place for info and fun to boot!

The good news is that you still have enough "floor" to anchor the seats!

Like others said - check underneath - but they may be captive nuts. One way to do it is dremel the head off the bolts - seat will lift off. Once the seat is out you can get some vice grips on the remainder of the bolt and get it out and clean up the seat rail.

Overall - that's not too bad of a bodge. my po removed the wiring harness - apparently with a butter knife.

Thanks to all who replied. There are captive nuts under the car. So I will try to grind the heads off the bolts and hope that all goes well from there on....

Yeah, sometimes your new Best Friend Forever turns out to be Mr. Dremel.