BRM94 - driver seat rails worn

Guys,
on my 94 BRM the driver seat starts to wiggle, first I thought about the fixing bolts on the floor coming loose - they didn´t. The reason are the plastic guides inside the steal rails, they are worn. I´ve removed the seat to upholster it, when I put it out and left  the adjusting device in the car, it´s nice to watch how the rails are moving without the seat. It´s clearly that the plastic guide rails are moving up and down, seems to be like they are broken inside....

Unfortunately, they are no more available from Rockauto, does anyone know if they are to source wherever, please remember I´m German and not able to dig them out at the next scrapyard. First question is if they could be disassembled at all to get access to the rails itself or are they covered. If I get the plastic out I could probably make new ones by milling.

I also wouldn´t get used ones from USA with big shipping costs and anyway no guarantee for surviving the next few months.....any advices are welcome....

Check on the impalassforum.com. There is someone who makes new ones, but they are expensive.

Guys,
I tried to find some more information about the seat sliders in the Impala forum, but unfortunately a lot of stories but no guiding to a store what really supplies them. Difficult for me German fool to find a shop from over here....it´s supposed to be very common in the USA to replace the sliders due to the rocking seats in the B-bodies. I would really like to do it, hoping times go by and there are new sources for it. Wouldn´t anybody be able to tell me an shop what offers them? There´s a shop called "Impalasuperstore" but it seems to be no more existent or am I wrong? Any advice is welcome, or send an PM, Thanks

BuickRM wrote:

Guys,
I tried to find some more information about the seat sliders in the Impala forum, but unfortunately a lot of stories but no guiding to a store what really supplies them. Difficult for me German fool to find a shop from over here....it´s supposed to be very common in the USA to replace the sliders due to the rocking seats in the B-bodies. I would really like to do it, hoping times go by and there are new sources for it. Wouldn´t anybody be able to tell me an shop what offers them? There´s a shop called "Impalasuperstore" but it seems to be no more existent or am I wrong? Any advice is welcome, or send an PM, Thanks

Check in the impalassforum.com parts for sale section. Someone in there sells them. They are about $50USD.

Guys, I´ve now fixed the worn seat rails sliders and would like to report. I´ve got them from GSperformance, price was about 70 $ for a complete set for both seats. Unfortunatly it´s no bolt on job, there is a lot of additional work to to to get it well done. The new sliders are considerably too small, the slot of the C-shaped steel rails where it´s sliding in is about 14 mm, the plastic sliders are about 0.8 mm smaller. I guess the guys were worried about the new sliders might be too thick and will stick, so they decided to make them smaller. The steel rails are no precious parts, there might be big tolerances what makes the fix complicated. If you would use them without any rework, the seat will wiggle in almost the same way than before. First I thought about sandwiching a feeler gauge steel stripe between, but then i scrapped the idea, it would be a mess till it would work. So I did the other way round: First you get out the seat itself by removing the 4 M8 bolts between rails and seat, a very easy job. Put out the seat and remove the plastic covers of the rails. Then you can start to wiggle your rails with the old sliders, for sure the sliders are particulary powdered. Then lift the rails with the power switch, I didn´t cut any electrical connection. Move the seat just about in the longitudinal middle position. Pull out the drive cables, 3 ones per rail. Then you can  removed both M6 bolts of the power motor what adjustes the seats in longitudinal direction. Pull the motor out the rail, very easy. Then the seat is released, you can push it out of the rail. Remove all deposit of the old sliders and clean the rails. Take care that you have no hand inside the rails and another person operates the power seat !

I removed one seat rail after the other, tore them down by removing the lifter devices on both sides together with the spring ( take care with removing the springs, clamp it in a vice, remove the lifter nuts and open the vice slowly). Then I clamped the steel rails in my vice, you need a very big, solid vice, don´t try with a childrens toy ! I clamped the rail diagonal, on one side that it´s supported over the closed solid side, the other jaw should press the open end of the open c-shaped rail section. If you then press the jaws together, the slot of the rails will become narrower. It sounds a bit crazy, but it works fantastic. Be sure that you need  a lot of force in a really big vice ! I was able to apply the force that exactly that the plastic sliders were very tight to push in the slot, no clearance to feel. It may take a gentle amount of pressure to move it in the slot, if it´s possible by hand it´s ok. Then you should step forward cause you can´t press all the length of the rails with one position of the jaws, you have to go stepwards with at least 3 or 4 steps. Try to get a feeling how tight you have to press and take the time on the first rail to get the feeling. You can try the movement already when the rail is yet fixed in the jaws. Never press the rail as long as the slider is in the slot ! If the slider can be pushed all the way through the slot with acceptable resistance, the work is done. If you are happy with a 90% job and you accept a tiny wiggling, you can leave a small clearence of max 1/10th mm, but when you check it in the car with all sliders mounted, you might be disappointed how much movement remains though you had the feeling it might be perfect. For the first rail, I needed about 3 hours, for the next 3 rails all together i needed max. 2 hours together with tearing down and reassembling the lifters with the spring. When reassembling, make sure that the positions of your lifters and the adjusting of the rails stays as before. I took the first rail out, pulled out the drive cables, did the reworked and put it back, making sure the drive cables will get in place without any force to make sure nothing was shifted. Then I started to go on with the next rail. When both raisl of one seat are reworked, test the power seat function without the seat on it, if everything works as before.

Before you start, check out the shape of the new sliders: They are 3 D printed, on mine there were 4 pieces which were a little out of shape, they didn´t fit deep enough to the notches in the alu rails were the are clipped on. Take a caliper and measure the inside width of the c--rails and measure the width of the alu rail with both sliders clipped on. Then you´ll see if the sliders are completly clipped or if they are riding on any plastic burrs as it was on mine. You will see if the sliders are parallel to the rails or the will be angled.Then you have to rework them with a needle file or similar. Without checking out the width you shouldn´t start with reworking the complicated job after, you will damage or even destroy the sliders by violence.

When you install the finished ones, dont forget to put some grease inside the rails slots and remove all plastic deposit before from the old, worn sliders, they are powered anyway ;-)

The finished result is amazing: I had the feeling that it´s a different car, how rock-solid the seats are feeling now ! It´s really worth the effort

Good luck you Guys to get it done !

Thank you for taking the time to document this repair. I wasn’t aware there was any remedy for sloppy seat rails ( besides retrofitting seats from a modern car). How a driver interfaces with a car, goes a long way towards inspiring confidence.
Seat rails and steering column tilt that doesn’t feel 100% locked....are items on my ‘someday I’ll fix’ list.

A donor column that is solid is an easy and cheap fix, especially one in a 91 OCC. You can use any column from any B body (just paint to match). The only difference is the "push brake to shift" in the 92-96, and the VATS in the 93-96. If you do not hook them to anything, it will function just like the OEM part. You can even use the donor key without changing the lock cylinder. The D body column is longer, and will not allow the slider on the mediate shaft to work properly (it will be loose). If you decide to use the D body column, you need a custom intermediate shaft, and the turn signal switch from your B body column. The B body column may also have a "flash to pass" headlight switch, and the wiring is reversed along with a second lead to the high beam side to actuate the FTP function.

Just a crappy storefront. I got some here http://www.3gsperformance.com/home/gm-b-body-parts/

I like when I get idiot instructions, http://www.3gsperformance.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Seat-slider-bushings.pdf