Seat Re-Assembly After Installing New Seat Covers

[Namerow]

The topic of installing new seat covers has been covered nicely by Hardway and several others.  However, having completed the job on the first of my 70 Z's two seats (Distinctive Industries covers, purchased from Mike at Banzai), I've run into a little conundrum that nobody seems to have ever commented on:

 

For the bottom half of the seat, I installed the seat cover with the sliding seat tracks removed from the seat frame.  This seemed only logical, since it provides full access to the underside for purposes of pulling the hem of the cover over the metal tangs (and also for purposes of pulling the listing wire fabric loop down through the slot in the foam and clipping the wire in place.

 

The problem sets in when I try to bolt the track to the frame.  The tracks' mounting studs insert into cupped plates welded into the four corners of the tubular frame (the studs, of course, are pressed into the track ends and don't turn).  So, now the hex nut needs to get threaded onto the stud (not much access, but do-able)... and tightened. 

 

Problem. 

 

The raised edges of those cupped plates is making wrench access impossible.  I've tried every type of box-end, open-end, and socket wrench that I have in my toolbox.  Nothing seems to work.  There's not enough space between the underside of the foam and the plane of the hex nuts to get a socket wrench in there.  An open end won't work because the cupped edges of the mounting plate gets in the way.  It looks like a high-offset box-end might do the job but, as luck would have it none of the five versions of 12mm box-ends in my toolbox have anything more than a minor offset.  Even so, what a PITA that would be to tighten all four of those nuts with a non-ratcheting box-end wrench and a swing arc of about 20 degrees.

 

Am I missing something obvious here?

[jfa.series1]

I also removed the tracks from the frames for cleaning and repainting but re-assembled them prior to putting the soft bits in place.  Otherwise, the track nuts are a blind access as you have discovered.  I don't know of any way to get to them with the cover and foam in place.  I had no significant problems getting the covers in place with the tracks installed.  Not what you want to hear but I think you're facing a teardown and re-assembly.

[Namerow]

Thanks, Jim.  That's what I was afraid of.  Fortunately, I decided to do one seat at a time so as to learn what to do / what not to do before tackling  the second one.  Interesting how such a small but important point has never surfaced in any of the the how-to write-ups (not even in Wick Humble's book).  Maybe it was just more obvious to everyone else than it was to me!