Bench Seat

Not much to say about the seat- it was in relatively good condition with only 2 tears, one in the left side in the cream section and one on the seat surface in the blue. All springs were present and sound underneath. It was however, very dirty and paint spattered.

I found the seat was hinge mounted on two strut brackets. These are not shown in the parts diagram which implies the seat should be hinged directly to the rear mudguard-frame. They do however appear in the factory workshop manual. These extensions act to move the rear hinge point  rearwards and also provide anchorage for the tyre pump. My pump is present but not working. Sadly the bolts holding the brackets to the mudguard frame and seat hinge were all highly corroded. Of the 6 bolts concerned only 2 could be undone, the others sheared off and had to be drilled out and retapped

I repaired both tears by inserting a patch of vinyl from behind and secured with fabric glue to give strength and return the splits to their correct position. For the seat tear this had to be worked under the vinyl and spread out across the foam beneath with forceps. Finally I washed the seat and treated the paint spots with paint stripper before filling the splits with heat fixing vinyl repair paste- matching the colour as best I could.

Side panel repaired from behind

Seat repaired from behind.

Seat underneath- all springs intact. 

Seat hinge bracket and inflator holding bracket

Sheared stud- had to be drilled out and retapped.

Hinge bracket and pump holder in position.

Hinge bracket clean and painted before reinstallation. I refitted using flanged Allen cap screws

Seat hinge refitted- remember there are 2 slip washers here- under flange and between the brackets.

Tyre inflator refitted

Seat cleaned and refitted

Repainted brackets refitted- left slightly use to adjust seat position and locking function.