Seat disassembly for the 88-93 International Series Cutlass Supreme AQ9.

[jiggity76]

Having a hard time finding information on the disassembly procedure for the CS AQ9's.  Anyone know?

 

Edited June 22, 2020 by jiggity76

[jiggity76]

I figured it out...thanks everyone.

[Schurkey]

1 hour ago, jiggity76 said:

I figured it out...thanks everyone.

Post photos and description so the next guy has a clue.

[jiggity76]

9 hours ago, Schurkey said:

Post photos and description so the next guy has a clue.

Will do.  I'll post what I have done so far.

[jiggity76]

Ok, here is the procedure that I did with the disassembly of my AQ9 seats from my 1991 Cutlass Supreme International Series coupe.  I'm assuming it will be very similar for the 88-93 years and may even help out the guys with the AQ9's in the Grand Prix's as well.  I've taken the best pics that I could with each step of the process.  Please let me know if anyone needs any further info or tips.

You will of course need to pull the seats out of the car.  There is a total of 4 / E10 bolts per seat that anchor each seat track to the floorpan.  I haven't figured out how to move the pwr driver's seat forward and backwards to gain access to these bolts.  My driver's seat isn't working so I need to figure out a way to move it manually to gain access to the bolts.  The passenger side has a manual adjustment bar at the front of the seat and you can pull up on it and move it back and forth to get the bolts out.  The seat that I'm tearing down in the pics is the driver's seat but it doesn't have the pwr back/forth option and is just like the passenger side with the manual movement bar.  Apparently even with the AQ9 seats, pwr driver's seat was a separate option.  Also, the seat in the pics was from my 1991 International Series Cutlass Supreme sedan parts car, again, no pwr driver's seat option.

The hardest part of the whole process in my opinion is getting the headrest out.  It's the first thing you need to do and is a bit finicky and takes patience.  I used the smallest allen wrench that I had to push it down between the headrest metal rod and the white collar that it locks into.  There is a small tab at the bottom of this collar that locks onto the headrest rod.  You need to the right side one first (per Service Manual) and push it down into the front side of the right side headrest.  You will feel it drop down and release this collar tab.  This will allow you to pull up on the outer decorative collar (same color as the seat) and then rotate it about 90 degrees while pulling up on the entire headrest.  The headrest and the rods will then release from the seatback.  Again, this will take a little time and can be frustrating but don't give up, you'll get it!

 

 

Edited June 23, 2020 by jiggity76

[jiggity76]

Next is the seat back removal.  Now that the headrest is out, the whole seat back is held on with plastic Christmas tree tabs at the bottom, one on each side.  The side decorative cover is also locked onto the pivot point of the upper and lower seats.  You will need to pull up on the seat back releasing the plastic Christmas tree tabs and simultaneously pulling out from the clip at the bottom of the upper and lower seat pivot point.  It's a little tricky but be careful not  to break the tabs on the seat back or the side decorative cover that covers up the bolt for the upper seat back.

WARNING!  Make sure to pull straight up, not having the seat back tilted too forward or backwards.  It needs to come straight up or you'll risk breaking the plastic collar that locks the decorative side bolster seat cover at the pivot point.

In the first pic, you can see the decorative side cover at the bottom.  They have a rounded edge and from the side, you'll see where they cover up the main bolt that separates the lower and upper seats.  There is a black plastic collar that screws onto the pivot bolt and this is where these covers lock into, sort of a u-shaped plastic collar.  In the last pic, you can see my original one is missing and that's part of the reason why I'm doing this project.  You can also see the bolt that holds the upper and lower seats together at this pivot or reclining point.

[jiggity76]

Here's what the seat looks like with the back cover off.  You can see the white Christmas tree lock tabs at the bottom on each side of the seat back metal frame.  These hold the back cover on.

NOTE:  This cover on the earlier cars like my 89 International coupe parts car has a different style of locking tabs for the seat cover.  They do not use these Christmas trees but use a large metal clip and holder molded into the plastic cover itself.

 

 

Edited June 23, 2020 by jiggity76

[jiggity76]

Next, I removed the decorative panel at the bottom of the seat bottom that goes from the front and wraps around the sides to the back.  There are two screws at the back and two in the front.  You will also need to remove the bolts that hold the upper seat back to the bottom seat at the pivot point for the reclining function.  They are 13 mm.  To get them out, you need to take out a black collar that screws onto these bolts.  These are the lock collars that hold the decorative side panel on, the ones I was referring to earlier.  

 

[jiggity76]

Now remove the mechanism on the side of the seat that has the plastic color matching handle for the reclining function.  There is one 13 mm bolt.  The bolt is to the right of the white plastic triangular piece (next to one of the black screws).  There is nothing on the right side of the seat that needs to be removed.

 

[jiggity76]

With the two bolts out on the side of the seat, you need to unhook some air lines.  These lines are held on with one zip tie that is clipped to the metal frame at the bottom right of the seat.  Cut this clip and unhook the air lines going to the head rest (runs thru the left side of the head rest rod), the air line going to the left side side bolster unit, the air line going to the right side bolster unit, and the air line going to the upper seat lumbar.  The lines are all color coded and I would take pics or label them making sure they go to the correct air bladder upon reassembly.  I used small pliers to hold the connector while twisting and slowly pulling the air line off the bladder nipple.

Edited June 23, 2020 by jiggity76

[jiggity76]

Once all the air lines are disconnected, you can now separate the seat back from the bottom seat.  You may need to spread the right side of the seat at the pivot point to get it to release out of the bottom seat frame.

 

[jiggity76]

For the upper seat back and for my situation, I wanted to replace my broken side decorative cover and switch out the seat fabrics.  The side cover is held on with plastic tabs that go thru the seat back frame and are hot welded onto it.  Sort of like a rivet effect only with plastic tabs.  I don't have pics of this area but they will need to be drilled out and reattached somehow at a later time maybe using glue or screws, need to think about it a little.  Once you have the upper seat cover off, you will see what I mean and how they are attached.  

To remove the seat fabric, you will see some small staples in a few places, some hog ties, and plastic sleeves that are sewn onto the fabric edges that lock into the metal frame of the seat back.  There are also some of these plastic sleeves that are locked into the deep seams or grooves on the bolster side of the fabric.  Just feel your way around the fabric and each individual area and how it's attached will reveal itself.  

Edited June 23, 2020 by jiggity76

[jiggity76]

If you want to remove the side bolster units (mine original one was damaged with screws being driven into it), they are easy to remove.  There are two 10 mm nuts on each one.  Once these are removed, they will release from the metal seat frame and you'll need to pull away the seat fabric for them to come out, really easy.  The first pic is of the left side bolster unit.  You can see the two 10 mm nuts.

 

[jiggity76]

Ok, now to the seat bottom.  Flip it over and you'll see how it's put together.  There are two 13 mm bolts at the front of the seat that lock the seat frame to the cushion.  I also removed the large spring that creates tension for the forward/back movement or slider function of the seat.  You can also see the air line system.  Not sure what all these parts are called but it looks like a distribution center and a master pump or something?  They are both held on with screws and you'll need to remove their lock tabs for the connects and then disconnect them.  There is also the main wiring harness that runs all the components.  Pretty self explanatory stuff, just follow each component and disconnect them at their source.  Since this is a non pwr seat, I need to swap out the frames to retain my pwr seat function and again, I need to gain access to the seat fabric.

 

 

[jiggity76]

Now with the wiring harness out of the way, and the two 13 mm bolts at the front of the seat removed, the seat track/frame will release from the bottom cushion.  At this point, I started releasing the small staples, hog ties, and the large plastic sleeves that is sewn onto the seat fabric and started working the seat fabric away from the seat cushion. 

At the front of the seat, there are 4 screws that hold an inner panel onto the seat bottom.  This is where the adjustable seat thigh support lives.  There are also 3 little springs that create returnable tension when operating up and down.  Remove these springs and screws to release the black inner panel structure from the seat bottom.  Oh yeah, there is also two 10 mm lock nuts that are mounted to the white plastic frame for the thigh support.  Also, don't forget to release the air line going to the thigh support bladder.  It's the last air line for the whole system and needs to be disconnected for the whole thing to come out.  It's pictured in the 4th pic.

There is also 6 large springs that are mounted on the outer seat frame to the center portion.  These provide the "give" and the comfort level that is desired when you sit on the seat.  I removed only one side of the springs allowing me to release the air line harness from this area.  Once this is done, you can remove the entire air line system pushing the tubes thru the bottom seat cushion fabric.

 

[jiggity76]

I hope this helps others as I didn't see any threads about this procedure.  Thanks to Schurkey for giving me the idea to do this.  I'm not the best about documenting steps on repair processes so if I missed something or if anyone else needs more info or a better explanation, please let me know.

The whole reason for me doing this project is to replace some shoddy work from a previous "repair" and to make things correct and just look better.  I have a set of really nice seats from my parts car thankfully and so they will live on now in my 91 International coupe.  

Overall, it's not a hard job to do but the first job of removing the headrests is not fun!  Once you get past that, it's pretty easy.  Just take your time so that you don't damage your fabric, plastics, or any of the internal complex components and you'll be just fine!

[Schurkey]

Wow.  What a job!

 

Thanks for the photos and instructions.