[Mgs] MGB headrests

[Carr&Edwards]

Said tensioner spring has a piece broken out of it where it would press on the
shaft--hence no pressure (and it's hard to believe that the system worked well
even when it was new!)  No doubt the simplest thing they could think of, to
save a few pence.

Sarah Carr
'71 MGB/GT in PA




  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Mike Eldred
  To: scvc70 at epix.net ; mgs at autox.team.net
  Sent: Monday, June 27, 2011 11:28 AM
  Subject: RE: [Mgs] MGB headrests


  Sarah,

  I don't have any experience taking MGB headrests and seats apart, but I do
have a pile of Midget headrests and seat frames in the garage at the moment.
And on the Midget headrests, the protruding piece of spring steel at the
bottom of the headrest post is there only to keep the headrest from being
fully withdrawn from the seat.

  Inside the seat, inside the "socket," there is a cylindrical "tensioner."
It is about as big around as a pencil.  It fits into the socket that holds the
headrest post.  If you look down inside a Midget seat, you might be able to
see it about two or three inches down, running horizontally through the
socket.
  It can be replaced, but you would have to remove the upholstery and foam
from the seatback.

  Whether this is the same on some MGB seats is for someone else to say, but I
hope this helps you track down your headrest problem.

  I can think of a couple possible solutions without removing the upholstery.
One would be to increase the friction on the headrest post by altering the
shape of the post.  Perhaps you could remove the post and hammer the sides
carefully to make the post bulge very slightly - enough to provide tension.

  A second idea is to drill a small hole through the post at each of the
places you need it to stop.  Make a pin to put through the hole that's just
long enough to keep the headrest from dropping in any farther.  I suppose this
may or may not work depending on whether there's enough room for the pin to
get through the upholstery.

  Glue a thin, tapered sliver of wood to the post - thin as in plane-shaving
thin.  If it doesn't work, at least it's easily reversible and won't damage
anything.

  Good luck!

  Mike Eldred
  1954 MG TF
  1973 Midget


  > From: scvc70 at epix.net
  > To: mgs at autox.team.net
  > Date: Mon, 27 Jun 2011 10:12:43 -0400
  > Subject: Re: [Mgs] MGB headrests
  >
  > The piece of spring steel with the protruding "ear" on the side had been
  > displaced upward inside the shaft, so that the ear no longer stuck out of
the
  > hole. However, fixing that problem didn't help, as there are no serrations
on
  > the inside of the socket to hold the shaft at any particular point--the
system
  > relies entirely on friction, which is entirely inadequate.... Still trying
to
  > think of some device I can make that will hold the headrest in place but
which
  > is easily adjustable, as I'm not the only one driving the car. The main
  > stumbling block is that the top of the seat back is easily compressible
  > (unlike my Subaru, which had the same problem, so I just made a wooden
block
  > to fit underneath the headrest). Back to the old drawing board-----------
  >
  > Sarah Carr
  > '71 MGB/GT in PA