nottyleradams

I need to replace a drive cable for the top on a '72 Delta 88 Convertible. Is there a trick to removing the back seat or folding it down? There wasn't an obvious lever or anything like that.

I have a fisher body manual on the way but I thought I'd ask here.

Thanks,

Tyler

Allan R

Tyler, Welcome aboard.

The procedure to remove rear seats is pretty much the same with all these cars. What are you having trouble with? Fisher Body manual doesn't give great instructions (if any at all) about seat removal.

Remove the seat bottom first. Do that by pushing the seat bottom (I mean right at the bottom on one side at a time) back as far as it will go. While maintaining backwards pressure lift it up and let it slide forward. Repeat this on the other side. When it's out you'll see 2 welded hooks on the floor pan that held it in place.

Remove the seat back by undoing the bolts that hold it in, then bump it up off the parcel shelf ridge. Done.

Reinstall is just as easy.

nottyleradams

That worked like a charm. This is my first land yacht and I couldn't find the procedure described anywhere.

Thanks,

Tyler

P.S. So that's where the seat belts in the back were?

MDchanic

EVERYONE stuffed the rear seatbelts behind the seat back-in-the-day.
Most people pushed the front belts back and through onto the floor under the seat, too.

- Eric

nottyleradams

I thought I remembered seat belts in the back seat when I was a kid but didn't really question it when I acquired the car earlier this year.

Safety concerns aside, the seat belts are unsightly in the back seat or maybe I'm just used to not seeing them now.

Tyler

Allan R

I think it's just you got used to not seeing them. If you got stopped by the police with passengers in the back seat, they could likely cite the driver for not providing a 'safety restraint' for them. They stand out more if the are black against white seats. My 72 has black interior so they're hardly noticeable.

MDchanic

Not in the US. Well, maybe Taxachussetts or Commifornia, but definitely not anywhere else.

- Eric

Allan R

Didn't realize that. Up here we have seatbelt legislation. Only peeps exempt from buckling up are those who's cars were built without belts. So in the US there are no seat belt laws?

MDchanic

Depending on the state, generally the front seat passengers, and anyone under the age of 17 or 18 have to be belted, adult back seat passengers are excluded.
In New Hampshire, seatbelts are "recommended" for adults, required for those under 18.

There are no laws that say you need to have seat belts in the back seat, or in any position that is not occupied by a person who is required to be wearing them at that moment (just as it is not illegal to drive without working headlights in the daytime, or working windshield wipers on a dry day).
Seatbelts were required to have been installed when the car was made and first sold, but those requirements applied only to the manufacturers.

- Eric

Allan R

Ok. If you come up here remember to buckle up. We have mandatory seat belt use that varies in interpretation between provinces. The driver can be ticketed in AB for each passenger under 18 not wearing a seat belt (including back seat). Passengers over 18 not wearing a seat belt get their own ticket, unless the driver has removed them or made them inaccessible or non functional. Of course you have to get caught first.

My 72 has the combo lap/shoulder (2 part harness). I don't use the shoulder component because it's so restrictive but use the lap one all the time. I've been stopped several times by the police because they didn't see a shoulder restraint, but they backed off when they saw the lap belt. Many of the 'new generation' police officers seem to be easily confused by old car safety belt systems.

nottyleradams

I'm glad the seat belts are there and I'll leave them available but against the white interior, the seat belts look like they were haphazardly thrown in.

As others have stated, seat belt enforcement varies widely in the U.S. by State.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seat_be..._United_States

While we're on the subject, when I was in college, one of my idiot friends was hanging out of the window of a modern car while I was driving. I got a ticket for letting him ride where not allowed and he got tickets for riding where not allowed and no seat belt.

Tyler

Allan R

The law does put the majority of responsibility on the driver, who is the person in charge of and responsible for the safe operation of a motor vehicle and passengers. Sometimes ya just want to beat some of those college buddies with a big stick....

MDchanic

Ah, college. I remember being pulled over, drunk out of my mind, for having 14 friends in my '72 Skylark convertible.
No problem for me. Why? I KNEW I was drunk out of my mind, so when my one sober buddy offered to drive, I threw him the keys.
I think it took 2 hours for the cops to prove to themselves that he wasn't drunk. Damn they were disappointed.
He got a ticket for "unsafe operation" or some such, and the rest of us walked to the diner and met him when he was "released."

Lesson? "Never volunteer."

- Eric

Allan R

LOL Eric. You graduated college with a Ph.D in Skylark management? Oh, the Ph.D refers to your friends being "Piled Higher and Deeper" than there were available seats. Wow! 14 in that Skylark must have really played he'll on the suspension.

MDchanic

Suspension? It barely had a frame left.

People were sitting on the rear ledge, and even on the back fenders.

Things like that are what makes college worthwhile (can't actually recall anything I really learned there...).

- Eric