- Joined
- Jan 5, 2019
- Messages
- 360
- Points
- 160
So I was determined to fit an underseat compartment under the passenger seat (which is on the right side here). Got the parts (plastic box) and the rather complicated hinge bar thanks to @werdna and @typecastboy. I have a memory seat that remembers the position when the back is tilted forward. The memory mechanics box, which is riveted to the underside of the seat cushion, has to be drilled out to remove the cushion. No major problem so far.
The front rail with the hinge s atttached is a straightforward replacement.
The box itself does not fit. The handle bar that is used to move the seat forward has two different shapes left and right. One side fits, the other doesn´t (see red markings in the pic). No obvious reason for that other than to make things difficult. This could be - and has been - corrected with the help of a heat gun to shape a dent into the box where it collided with the handle bar. Not easy, but came to a reasonable fit. So far so good.
However, the cables that are part of the memory mechanics have to run above the box, so they sit between the bottom of the seat and the top of the hinge rail. Due to that, the clips that hold the front of the seat cushion on the hinge rail to not fully clip in, so the cushion remains loose. No other way to run the cables.
Declaration of defeat and a lot of bad words...
In the end I had to remove the box, while I could leave the hinge in place. Without the box, the cables can run below the rail, so they are not in the way (See the green markings in the picture). Now I have a foldable seat, which at least it makes is easier to clean below the seat if needed or find things that get dropped.
Somehow it seems Fiat does not want this combination to work - things could have been designed slightly differently and everything would have been fine. The only chance is probably to dismantle the memory mechanics with the splitter box in the middle and completely re-route the cables.
The front rail with the hinge s atttached is a straightforward replacement.
The box itself does not fit. The handle bar that is used to move the seat forward has two different shapes left and right. One side fits, the other doesn´t (see red markings in the pic). No obvious reason for that other than to make things difficult. This could be - and has been - corrected with the help of a heat gun to shape a dent into the box where it collided with the handle bar. Not easy, but came to a reasonable fit. So far so good.
However, the cables that are part of the memory mechanics have to run above the box, so they sit between the bottom of the seat and the top of the hinge rail. Due to that, the clips that hold the front of the seat cushion on the hinge rail to not fully clip in, so the cushion remains loose. No other way to run the cables.
Declaration of defeat and a lot of bad words...
In the end I had to remove the box, while I could leave the hinge in place. Without the box, the cables can run below the rail, so they are not in the way (See the green markings in the picture). Now I have a foldable seat, which at least it makes is easier to clean below the seat if needed or find things that get dropped.
Somehow it seems Fiat does not want this combination to work - things could have been designed slightly differently and everything would have been fine. The only chance is probably to dismantle the memory mechanics with the splitter box in the middle and completely re-route the cables.
