TR4/4A Seat frame - rust "repair"?

[Popeye]

Hi all,

I stripped the old seat covers off my TR4A seats. The seat frames underneath are rusty; nothing is rusted through, but there is significant pitting.

Should I be concerned about the structural integrity of the seat frames? They are a little flimsy to begin with; add some corrosion...

My question: Would it be a good / bad idea to reinforce the seat tubing with fiberglass and epoxy? (As a former owner of a "good old boat", I have considerable experience working with West System epoxy and various forms of fiberglass.)

Pro and Con thoughts:

1. Glassing the tubing makes it stronger.
2. Cosmetics are not important as the seat frame will not be visible when complete.
3. The car will be a pleasure vehicle - and the seat frame should see minimal moisture (i.e. I will get caught in an occasional rainstorm, but the car will primarily be driven in good weather and stored indoors.)

1. Fiberglass is generally frowned upon in body repair work, due to differing rates of thermal expansion resulting in an eventual crack between the two materials.
2. Alternately I could cut and weld in new tubing where the corrosion is excessive, or weld on patch pieces. This is a challenge in the bent sections of tubing.


Thoughts?

 

[TomMull]

I write this from my good (hopefully) old boat in the Bahamas, which has had plenty of fiberglass repairs in the 25 years I've owned it, and which is why I don't recommend structural fiberglass repairs to steel, and particularly rusty steel, although I admit I've done some in the past.
Better options would be to weld new tubing where needed but that is expensive unless you can do it yourself. Another option would be to find some decent used seat frames, probably not cheap either.
Tom