How to remove and reinstall the front seats without drama and add a little leg room too!

For some reason, Porsche decided to use special socket-head DIN6912 M8X20 screws with shallow Allen heads to mount their seats. This has caused seat removal to get to the DME, alarm controller, or audio amp a tortured experience for some. The issue is when unfastening the seat the cap screws' head socket strips during removal. Below is how to remove a seat with a minimum of this drama:

Removing the seat:

6mm Allen wrench

• First, put a drop of odorless penetrating or sewing machine oil on each of the seats mounting Allen head cap screws and give it a few days to soak in.
• Do not use PB Blaster or some other acidified penetrating oil as it will take years to get the acrid smell of the oil out of your car! Don't ask me how I know this.
• Raise the seat both front and back to its highest position
• Remove the capscrews that hold the seat down. 

• Be sure to use the right size Allen wrench and care to fully insert the wrench holding it square to the capscrews' heads to not strip the screws socket when releasing them. Using an Allen wrench of high quality may avoid stripping the head.
• The force applied to remove feels relatively high and if not previously removed the capscrews release with a "pop" sound.
• Use high-quality preferably new Allen wrenches as the cap screw heads are easily distorted and stripped. Some use a special 6mm  DIN6911 hex key bit with a center piloting provision pictured below however, I have never used such a tool.
  
• It may be advisable to have a few replacement capscrews on hand from the dealer to replace the ones that become gnarled up during removal. The issue is with even slightly gnarled ones they may be problematic and strip the next time one plans to remove the seats.

• Unplug the seat's power seat and seatbelt warning light pigtails and lift the seat out of the vehicle. The seat is heavy and best removed with the back folded forward taping some cardboard down to protect the door threshold from scratches if you bump it.

Important reinstallation notes:

• The four rear of the track capscrews per seat has two washers under them. this looks to be so the unthreaded section of the capscrew's shank does not come into contact with the threaded holes in the backing plate. Doing so would strip the backing plate threads weakening the seat mounting.
• According to the catalog, the front labeled #11 above and the rear washers labeled #5 above are different in thickness and possibly hardness so make sure you reinstall them in the same positions.
• All washers have a top and bottom the tops have smooth edges the bottoms have sharp ones. When reinstalling the mounting capscrews be sure to face the smooth side of the washers face up under the capscrews' heads to avoid damaging the small fillet under the head significantly weakening the capscrew and therefore compromising the safety of the seats' mounting.
• A torque value of 23nm or 17 ft-lb should be used for the mounting capscrews that are lightly oiled. Tighten the rear capscrews first and then move the seats back and tighten the front.
• Verify the seat/rail position

Getting a little extra legroom  when remounting the seat:

• If your seat was originally mounted in the forwardmost mounting holes on the seat rail pedestals one can move the rail back to the second set of holes on the pedestal's frame. In the rear of the rail, the rear threaded pedestal backing plates can be slid rearward to line up with the two further back mounting holes. The front holes in the pedestals are both threaded to receive the mounting capscrew. Moving the rails back will give you about an inch more legroom and a little greater clearance between the seat and the steering wheel to get in and out of the car. 

• Beyond this seat rail extensions, marked in red in the picture below, are available that are placed on top of the seat pedestals, pictured in yellow. They allow for attaching the seat even further back by

  

  Under Seat View 

  about an additional inch and add a small amount of height. They can be purchased from:

R.P. Mack Motorsports. 

Phone: (616) 844-4162. 

Email: rpmack_427@hotmail.com.

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