Help! Broke bolt that holds seat down!

[adam355]

I currently just bought a new talon tsi because my esi just wasnt fast enough. Well i liked some of the interier on my old talon better so i am in the process of swapping. I was putting the driver side chair on and tightening the last of the 4 bolts and all of a sudden the front one just snapped off. I pulled up the carpet and the bolt that broke in half looks as if it was welded down. Is my only option to file it flat and have someone weld a new one on? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[GTM]

Originally posted by adam355
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I was putting the driver side chair on and tightening the last of the 4 bolts and all of a sudden the front one just snapped off. I pulled up the carpet and the bolt that broke in half looks as if it was welded down. Is my only option to file it flat and have someone weld a new one on? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Grinding or cutting and welding a new stud on may not be the best of repairs. A better solution would be to cut it off as close to the floor pan as you can. Then with a sharp punch put a dimple in the center and start with a small drill to drill a hole all the way through to the underside of the car. Go up a couple drill sizes and drill again all the way through. You wil probably want to use about 5/16" machine bolt with "fender washers on the underside and long enough to come all the way through the seat rail and a flat washer plus lock washer. Use a grade 7 bolt (machine screw) with NF (national fine threads) with matching nut. You can put a dab of silicon glue on the bolt and fender washer to keep any rain / water splash from leaking into your carpet.

Be careful with the small drill bit for they are so easy to break, use a variable speed drill preferably with a clutch set on lightest torque to start with, if it grabbs then twist the chuck backwards by hand while lifting up then start again, use WD40 or cuttin oil to keep the drill lubed. Most of all be patient for if you break it you are in deep do-do. Give yourself 10 min for the first size and 2-3 min for each larger size until you get to the 5/16".

You just can't get a good weld when butting 2 pieces of metal together.

Cheers,
GTM