Dismantling seat recliner

[Lotus211]

I'm dismantling seats for upholstery, and I'm having trouble removing the rod that goes through the seats that adjusts the angle.
There is a black knob on one side, but the appears to be a spring mechanism inside the seat which is preventing the extraction of the rod.
What am I doing wrong?
1963 230SL

[swood1]

I believe when I stripped mine there was a large circlip that needed removing from the bar, it should then slide out as one piece.  There will be a rubber buffer/sleeve on each end.  It should be pretty self explanatory if you have the seatback off the seat. 

I would carefully check all your flat springs when you have it apart.  A couple of mine were broken.  I carefully repaired them with my MIG welder.

Steve

[waltklatt]

Carpet panel on seat back needs to be removed to see the rod and all the workings.
Walter

[114015]

Hello Lotus Elan,

Walter is already right.
That's the first thing to do.

- All the work on the seat adjustment mechanism and the backrest adjustment mechanism goes best if you take the seats out of the car first.
- Remove the cardboard/carpet panel from the backside of the backrest.
- There are two chromes Philips screws at the bottom of this panel.
- After unscrewing those pull out the panel to the bottom of the seat to take it out.
- Then you see the rod/bar with the both winded-up nylon straps and the spring that connects the both straps (see attached pic). This spring needs to be taken out as well. The straps themselves can remain in the seat frame.
- The inner side of the rod (towards the other seat so to speak) is secured with a C-clip in the way Steven already mentioned. You only have access to this one if you  remove the chrome plate/cover of the seat hinge on the tunnel side as well.

Pretty forthcoming.
You have got an early 230 SL…, 1963 means seat type I (according to that weird article I wrote  a couple of years ago and which was published  in the Pagoda World).
The adjustment of the backrest incline with this nylon strap construction, which was used until mid-1965 (i.e. serial no. 012466),  is known to be not the best…
It was replaced by a much advanced little gear - toothed rack mechanism that the earlier cars do not have.
The nylon straps tend to tear … and they are NLA by the factory. You can fabricate these yourself.
I used a replacement nylon strap of a brush cutter.

Good luck

Achim
(Pagodaseatcollector)