The plastic piece on the driver's side of my 99 FRC has broken. This would be the piece near the door sill. I know I saw a repair thread a long time ago but my search efforts have not had results. Can someone link me or tell me how to fix this?

 

The bolster piece costs about $10. It will be necessary to remove the seat. Look for seat removal in tech thread for tips on best way to do this. It will take maybe an hour the first time you do this. These pieces break rather easily especially if you pivot sideways and slide across the bolster to get out. Us "fluffY' C5 owners do that a lot 'cuz the leverage needed to contract stomach muscles and just stand up ain't there any more (and may never have been).


Charlie

 

Will do. Thanks. Yes, I am aware of the "fluffy" thingy.

 

Found it. One more question. For cruisemon: The little plastic post is what is broken. Is there any way to reinforce this poorly engineered piece?

 

Same thing happened with mine. Tried solvent bond and JB Weld to reinforce and it didn't hold. Replaced the piece and no problem for a year now.

Charlie

 

Guess what? A friend of mine changed out his vette seats about a year ago and installed race seats. He had the little piece I need left over. He just brought it over. The little post that apparently keeps breaking is hollow. I put a concrete nail in the hole of the new piece and used some JB Weld to secure it. It seems to be much more durable than the original design. Now, all I need to do is remove the seat and replace the piece. Some times, you just have a good day.

 

Check out the Vette Essentials web site and they have instructions on how to remove this piece.

 

I guess I'm a little confused. If you are talking about the plastic bezel on the outside corner of the seat that surrounds the seat controls, then I don't think you would have to remove the seat on yours, to replace it. I didn't on a '98. I replaced the bezel and the seat back lever. There are two screws holding it, one in front and one behind the lever. The lever is held on by a "c" clip. Push he side of the seat in then use a small screwdriver to push the "c" clip partially down but not off the back of the lever. When you get the lever off, push the "c" clip back down, on the lever, and when you put the lever back on, the "c" clip will lock it in place.

The replacement bezel was redesigned and has an additional plastic stud on the side which is supposed to fit in a hole in the later redesigned seat frame. This was done to "add some strength" to the bezel. I don't have the hole so I dremeled the stud off.

if this piece is not what you are speaking of, then.....never mind.

Cheers

 

Thanks for the input. I will take a look at it tomorrow.

 

Ok, a little up date here. I tried to do this repair job without removing the seat. Well, I finall got really pissed and took the seat out. It was much easier. Also, for those of you who are familiar with the little plastic post that keeps breaking on the side piece of the seat, I took a cement nail and inserted it in the hollow post with a little JB Weld. I think this will reinforce the post so that it will not break as easily. (If I lose 50 lbs, that will also help) Anyway, it is done and now I can relax until the next fix or mod, which will probably happen this weekend if I can think of something. Thanks for all your help.