Refitting seat rails - help!

[bobbe]

I'm trying to fit (pfl) seatbacks onto stock rails. I've been at the first of two for over 6 hours (I wish I was exaggerating) without making any real progress. I've found it impossible to do this

I can't get the bar that runs through the seatback to go into the slots it should go into on both rails. The bar goes fine if I take it out of the seat and put it in on its own. But when I'm trying to put it all together nothing aligns no matter what I do

I also can't get the bolt holes on both sides to line up at the same time. It's no problem to do one side, but somehow the bolt holes on the other side of the seatback always end up miles away from the holes in the rails they're supposed to align with, and no way of getting them to match up

These are the rails these seats came off, so they should fit without a problem

This was not how I'd planned on spending my Sunday and I'm at the absolute end of my tether. Is there some trick to this I'm missing? All advice is extremely welcome at this point. Surely it can't be this hard

[Call the midlife!]

To put it bluntly the entire job can be a complete arsehole to do or it can go smooth as silk, so don't be too discouraged by your first attempt.
Are both sides of the rails at the same point on the tracks? They can get out of sync when they're not attached to the seat base so make sure they're both at the same position.
It's donkeys since I separated seats to restain them but I find it can be easier with them fully reclined on their back, make sure you get the little felt square in too 😂.

[Ardent]

@bobbe

Pm sent

[bobbe]

Thanks both - in what can only be described as joyous scenes, it inexplicably all clicked into place just now and I've finally got the first seat done

The second seat can wait until tomorrow. In the meantime - figuring out how the spring clip for the driver's seat height adjustment knob goes back on (any instructions very welcome)

[bobbe]

Ah it turns out the clip for the knob is straightforward. A small blessing at least

[Topdownman]

I feel your pain, I only attempted this job once. Never again!

[bobbe]

Wouldn't you know, this morning the second seat all went together easily enough. Why the first one wasn't like that I do not know, but it averages out to about 3.5 hours per seat

Advice for anyone else considering this: don't!