How to Replace a Broken Side Seat Bezel

If
your Corvette seat shows a gap between the seat leather and the side seat
bezel, the bezel might be broken, or start to brake at the front screw,
attaching the bezel to the seat. In my case it looked like
this:

After
a while it bothers me, and i ordered a set of new side seat bezels at Ken
Fichtners Chevrolet.
Here is how i did the job:
REMOVAL
Procedure:
– Move the seat all the way to the front, to gain best
access to the seat back recliner handle.
– Remove the handle : With a
suitable blunt ended tool inserted between the cushion and the handle push
the handle retaining spring clip down into the handle. Then remove the
handle from the seat back recliner mechanism. To make this more easy,
slightly bent the bezel with the handle to gain better access to the clip.
Another way is to pull the clip from the shaft using a hook tool (see
picture)

– Remove the phillips head screw that was covered by the handle – Save
screw at a save place.
– Remove the front screw that holds the bezel to
the seat. To make this more easy, move the seat all the way to the back to
get better access to the screw. Save the screw at a save place.

–
Disconnect the switch harness from the seat side switch panel.

–
Remove the bezel with the switch panel.
– Prey out the switch panel
from the bezel. Be carefull not to brake the clips.
INSTALLATION
Procedure:
– Install the switch panel to the new bezel.
–
Connect the switch harnes to the switch panel.
– Install the bezel with
the switch panel to the seat, using the previous saved screws.
–
Position the handle retaining spring clip into the \”lock\”
position.

–
Snap the handle onto the reclining mechanism shaft.
This is the
result after doing the change:

I
know this is an easy DIY, but i hope it helped some of you to make the job
more easy and more fast.