if your seat decides to not recline....
in my quest to find stuff no one has ever felt the need, or had the inclination, to do to an NSX, and post it on the internet to reduce the things google can't find results for..... i give you the wonders of the NSX seat recline mechanism!
now, back in 2018, my seat back decided not to move, and a random post was added (took some finding!) showing an unexpectedly stripped seat....
http://www.nsxcb.co.uk/showthread.ph...865#post126865
well just before xmas, just as i was getting ready to do absolutely nothing, my seat decided to stop reclining again....
so the seat was pulled, and stripped of it's cover....
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...356b3047_c.jpgIMG_20201222_111918 by jon sutherland, on Flickr
i had hoped it to be just the motor side, but it appeared the right hand side (looking at it) was the side that was giving the issue.... so soon it was stripped down further....
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...af7d4e68_c.jpgIMG_20201222_113203 by jon sutherland, on Flickr
and narrowed down to this part..... previously described as having some kind of witchcraft/magic contained within....
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...7ff87068_c.jpgIMG_20201222_113953 by jon sutherland, on Flickr
undo the nut, and the drive gear comes of....
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...6f2ce570_c.jpgIMG_20201222_114005 by jon sutherland, on Flickr
it has a spring on the back.... now this isn't helping issues, because, if you push the gear back toward the bracket, it all works great... pull it away from the bracket, it locks up.... guess where the spring wants to move the gear????
of course, just to be awkward, it's riveted together, because no one would ever need to get into it.... so they had to be drilled out to reveal.....
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...aaeb64c0_c.jpgIMG_20201222_121310 by jon sutherland, on Flickr
(top is the seat base, bottom right is the moving recline bit, bottom left is the eccentric pin - the gear side drive flats pointing towards you)
a simple but clever little mechanism. one gear fits inside the other but with a space, and the drive pin in the middle is offset, so as it goes round it effectively walks one gear around the other making it all turn and give it a lot of effective gearing at the same time! ..... however, when you use a taper as the bearing surface it all goes a little pear shaped after a few years too-ing and fro-ing!!!
with a bit of trial and error, i worked out how big a washer i needed to give the gear enough engagement in the taper bearing, but not too much let it all lock.... a case of will that do? no, ok, make another, does that work? yes hurrah, bolt all back together quick!
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...94ea6ca8_c.jpgIMG_20201222_124937 by jon sutherland, on Flickr
nicely out of focus!!!! and the 'gear' that side isn't used for anything, it's where the gear the pressed in for the other side!!! anyhoo, the washer is between the pin and the inside cover to stop it pulling through too much when the gear and spring go back on. fortunately fully assembled mechanism has dowels and is all located properly, not just relying on the bolts now replacing the rivets!
once it was all back together the motor decided it didn't want to play, turns out that was the motor brushes, so they were tweaked and it all reassembled! what i should have done was measure the brushes, so i could order up some spares, but they seem common in various sizes!!! obviously a waste of time asking honda!!! (something like these! they are the right sorta shape! https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07JN557...v_ov_lig_dp_it )
so there we have it, yet another delve into the mysteries of the NSX and now you know what the recline mechanism looks like and you can sleep easier knowing it's not filled with witchcraft/magic :) !!!! :)
