Seats

[simon131]

Got in my Abarth for the first time today after a few months of it being sat in my garage out of the yukkie English Winter weather. Drove it out of my garage no problem, but there was a sudden loud bang and I ended up staring at the roof lining After this the seat back wouldn't stay upright, so I've had to strip the mechanism to see if I could fix it.

Well, I reckoned that either the gear wheel or ratchet teeth were stripped - unfortunately after inspection, it's both.

The seats currently installed in my Abarth are from my Racing, so are identical to the black, velour seats in any Sport.

So now I have a few options. The seat needs to be fixed, so does anyone have a spare mechanism from a front passenger seat from a UK Sport? Or perhaps someone has a good second-hand spare seat they are willing to sell?

I also now have the opportunity to swap the seat for a nice Rally style one. Does anyone know where I might be able to buy one of these for reasonable money? Guy Moerenhout in Belgium sells replica 131 Abarth Rally seats, but they are very expensive and I'm only looking to spend about ?150 sterling. Any one have any ideas??

In the meantime I can't drive the car, so the sooner I can fix it the better Thanks everyone.

[131dave]

well from what i see the car is just beutifull.....so treat it to a pair of the rep abarth seats, you know you want to............

[curt]

I know the problem - mine broke so i just sat in it and welded it up for the short term -Its great cause nobody can get in behind you 

[rp711]

i have some orange sports seats, mechanics from memory, i think is ok.
will have to contact my bruv.......i'll get back to you later.

[kev131]

Ebay to the rescue...maybe - The drivers side looks a bit more worn but the mechanism might be OK.

http://cgi.ebay.it/FIAT-131-RACING_W0QQitemZ260208128682QQihZ016QQcategoryZ126566QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[jasonh131]

hi simon 
 im sure mark had some ,i know i disspossed of some down there,idont know if john church stowed them away.
 but i know coubreau the seat people do a replica
 jay

[simon131]

Thanks Jay,

The Abarth is due to go to Mark's soon for the dreaded MoT, so I'll take a look when I'm there.

Cheers

Simon

[Walezy]

Hello,
In case you need original abarth seats then i have a mould for them and can make it for you. I will be going to UK in about 3 weeks so i could take it with me(probably going from Dover to Dumfries so if you live in nearby  or on the way then delivery will be no problem. The problem is that i may not be able to make a fine upholstery for those seats on time but if you need just raw fibreglass shell then no problem. It has the abarth badge in the back and some part number. It is a perfect copy of original group 4 seat.

[sid131]

My god i remember that problem mine did the same in the 80s & the new part was ?114 from main fiat dealer in 86? the car only cost ?700 did get a second hand set of teeth but had to buy a car for breaking, cost ?100 if only i had it now was soild  only o/s damage & still driving. about 5 years ago i skipped the interior & all that was left in mums garage didnt know of ebay then lol

[simon131]

Wow, Walezy!! Those are totally cool! Just like the original Abarth ones!

I would only be interested if they were complete - I wouldn't want the bare fibreglass as I have a delicate behind!

Let me know how long complete seats would take and how much they cost each, shipped to the UK? Also, could I just buy the drivers seat if I couldn't afford both???

[mirafioriman]

Get that wallet open Simon, no Abarth should be without it's proper seats! I agree they look totally cool. They would finish the inside of your car off a treat.

[Walezy]

Problem about those seats is that i need to give it to a company to make the upholstery which takes some time as it is a custom work and and rises the price also. I can make a seat shell for 140euro, it will have the M8 brackets with steel insert installed for safety. The upholstery is a really nice one and can be partially taken off the seat to clean it in washing mashine(see photo).  Unfortunately this makes an additional cost to the whole seat so one finished with such upholstery as on pictures costs 295euro. I know it is a bit expensive but it is really hard to make them and also takes a lot of time to do it properly.
Shipping of 2 such seats to UK(also to rest of europe) is 60euro by economy mail and 70euro by express mail. Shipping of one seat will be only slightly cheaper as the post charges are not linear to the weight of the package.