Greetings, All:

This morning when I went out to start my '88 Westy, the battery was dead (I
found out later that I had left the interior light above the driver's door
on). I asked a neighbor for a jump-start. When I went to open the battery
compartment, however, there was a problem.

There is a protective metal plate over the battery behind the passenger
seat. To get to the battery terminals, this plate must seemingly be removed.
The plate is secured by two screws in front, and two in back. The screws in
front were easily removed, but even though I moved the seat all the way
forward and swiveled it to one side, the swivel-plate the chair sits on was
still over the rear-most section of the battery compartment, blocking access
to the rear screws and therefore preventing the removal of the panel.

For a short-term solution, I simply bent the plate upward, which allowed
access to the battery terminals and I was able to get the bus jump-started.

I must be missing something. What's the proper way to access the battery
compartment? How was I supposed to remove the rear screws?