Drivers Seat Is Leaning Inward

There are 3 possibilities:
1.) The seat back frame is cracked. You get to remove the headrest & upholstery to get to the frame to have it welded.
Headrest removal
There is a flat spring that pops into a notch in the headrest mount bar. There is one crook in the top part of that flat spring and one crook in the bottom part of the spring. If you stick the hacksaw blade in the front side of the headrest, it will keep the crook from popping into the notch on the headrest mount bar. Then you can slide the headrest all the way out




2.) The seat back hinge or hinge mount is broken or cracked.


3.) The floor pan where the seat bolts down is cracked. This is a headache because you must remove the carpet and interior to get to the damaged area to fix it.
This is what my solution to the problem looks like:
I don't have a welder and it would have been difficult to get the car to a place that could do a satisfactory job of welding up a suitable repair..
Two pieces of 16 gauge steel that overlap at the top to make an approximately 1/8" thick hat section.
The angle sections are riveted together with monel 1/8" diameter solid rivets.

The repair is secured in place with 18 each 1/8" Cherrylock Aircraft Structural rivets.These are NOT the same as cheap Pop rivets!!! Each rivet has a shear strength of greater than 600 pounds and there are 18 rivets. The total shear strength for the riveted joint is over 5400 pounds per side. Considering my body weight, that would hold over 25 G impact for each side of the repair.

Notice that the first picture shows the damaged material cut out and the cracks are stop drilled. This keeps the cracks from spreading further and is a necessary step. This necessary even if you weld whatever repair you do in place.








Notice the contour cut into the Rh side of the lower leg. That was done using a contour gage from Home Depot to pick up the shape of the floor pan.


Also notice the one stud for the seat that is welded in place. This is the only weld in part.



The studs need to hold the wiring harness in place are flat head screws that were countersunk. The heads are flush and the locknuts used to hold them in place. A little Super Glue on the threads insures that they will never come loose.



Here’s what the finished repair looks like


It may be that welding the "L" shaped pieces in place one at a time would work. Cut and fit one "L", drill the bolt hole and the weld a bolt in the hole that is for the missing stud. Then weld it in place. Then repeat the cut and fit of the next "L" and weld it in place.

Also check the seat rail base, they can crack at the 90 where it turns down to meet the floor.

Don't forget the lovely floor pans where the rear seat bolts go through. A lot if these cars have seen problems in that area. Another reason to put sub frame connectors with seat brackets in.

My seats lean inward also. I also had the problem jrichker had with his pan. I welded and added more support. But the seats are notorious for that. Especially with bigger guys in them. I believe they are bent and not likely cracked sometimes. I have not taken mine apart yet, and was just going to get new aftermarket or something. But I do like the stock black leather GT seats in mine. There just leaning in bad.

I found the link to repair the leaning seat problem. I'm going to do my driver seat today. I will take some pics as I go.

Ok, got the seat apart this morning. There is a how too for an 86 seat you can find with a quick search. The 91 is pretty much the same except there are 3 rings at the top of the seat that you must open up to remove the cover. See pic below. You cannot slide the rod out. You must pry open the wire loops. One loop fell out so you only see the outside 2.


The covers and foam is in pretty bad shape. I want to see if the seats fixable before I commit to new leather cover kits and new foam. It's more than a grand for all the stuff. For that I could get a really nice set of aftermarket seats...

Here are some pics of damage and how bent the seat is. I'm going to see if I can straighten it out then clamp and weld it back together. I like the stock seats and if I can fix them would rather put the money into them rather than aftermarket. Stay tuned....out to try to straighten and weld....sorry for the upside down pics.

Seat is perfectly straight now and works and feels great! Basically I drilled out broken spot welds to the surface of the next layer of metal. Then plug welded each one. I also welded all edges were two surfaces met. Ground grooves in cracks and welded them. Then were any metal edge laid on another surface I welded them too. I don't think it will ever break as I seriously beefed it up.
Passenger side is next but not nearly as bad. Pretty easy to get foam and cover back on too. Defenatily going to spend the bucks to restore these.

I'm glad I joined, just got a 1990 hatchback and I know already this community will be my #1 resource!!!

@Bob91vert

I hope that you stop drilled the cracks to keep them from spreading. If you didn't they will continue to grow, even if they are welded. Sometimes cracks will grow when heated enough to weld them closed.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6tBd-wHLaQ

This works in metal parts of all types and some plastic parts too.