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Posted by: turk22 Nov 23 2012, 08:56 PM

I wanted to put together a little overview of my experience in Seat Upholstery.

I started with some very brittle and ripped seat and center cushion.



I purchased my seat upholstery on ebay, but there are several vendors.


Remove your seat, I did one at a time, in case I wanted to refer to the other seat to see how something was done. The first step is to remove the two screws on the back of the headrest


Then the two screws in red behind the headrest flap


There are three metal points at the base of the back rest that need to pry'ed up with a flat screwdriver and pliers to release the bottom of the backrest


Here's the backrest removed, and you can see what it consists of on the back. On my car the headrest cover came off quite easy.


Next you can see the points that hold the side bolsters on, these need to pryed up and straightened as well


But first, you need to remove the seat rails by removing the 4 allen head bolts from each rail



There are 2 metal points under the front seat, holding some tucked fabric onto the seat botton, release the fabric and straighten these points as well


Now you release the points holding the bolster down, there are 10 or 12 on each side



The bolster comes off like a jacket, and will go back on the same way

Posted by: turk22 Nov 23 2012, 09:07 PM

Don't forget to carefully remove this hard cardboard piece from the headrest flap, you will reuse this piece.


I also removed the nasty padding from the back of the seat, and added some clear silicone to the worst tear in the seat



and cleaned it to remove all the dust and crud


I traced the seat back padding and cut new pieces from 1/2" foam, cut it out and used contact adhesive to glue it down



Next I had to remove the metal rod from the old seat bolster, and install it in the new seat bolster. To remove I simply split the seam with a razor blade and pulled it out, however you have to thread it down the sewn pocket/seam in the new bolster. This is kinda a pain, but must be done, take you time in the 'elbow' and having another pair of hands helps.



My wife cut some relief snips in the tightest corners and it does help the seam lay down in those tight radius(s)


Now you put the new bolster back on (like a jacket from behind the seat frame), and get it lightly in place. You can see the points you will be using to secure it




We found it easiest to secure the points first, then stretch and glue the bottom with contact adhesive




Don't forget to poke holes in the vinyl where the seat rail bolts go...

Posted by: turk22 Nov 23 2012, 09:20 PM

With the bolster basically done, we can turn to the seat back/headrest
This pic shows the two metal rings that secure the seatback vinyl to the headrest, remove these to release the backpad from the headrest frame. I did not reuse these, I used plastic zip ties instead.


Remove the metal rod from the bottom of the backpad, you will reuse this as well, in the new backpad


Seperate the foam from the vinyl, one of mine came apart easily, and the other, I had to use a razor blade to seperate it. They were glued to the foam originally, and you will repeat that process with the new one.


Remove the foam from the metal headrest frame. My frame was dirty/rusty, and I cleaned it up with scotchbrite pad. I decided to replace the old foam with new, and used 1" thick seat foam. I traced the old, and cut the new



I also added 1/2" foam to the headrest. After test fitting without, this took up the additional slack in the new headrest. I shaved the edge with sharp sissors to ease the transition.



I used a cut stocking stretched over the headrest to ease sliding it into the new headrest vinyl. I lightly glued the foam to the backpad, and then used the white cardboard to glue the backpad to the back of the foam.
**Don't stretch to tightly here! The backpad narrows in the center but has wider "shoulders", and if you pull the wire ties too tight, the backpad won't fully fill the space at the top ** (ask me how I know )


I put the two screws back into the bottom of the headrest here, to pull it in, and then using contact adhesive, glued the headrest fabric around the back of the seat frame for a tight fit. This came out pretty good, and the fit was nice with that extra 1/2" of foam on the headrest.



On the first seat I didn't glue in the flap cardboard until this point, got glue overspray everywhere. On the second seat, I glued it in prior to installing the bolster, much cleaner that way. The overspray cleans up easily, but avoiding it is best.


On this seat the top of the backrest is stretched to tighly (my fault), and I was careful not to make that mistake of the other seat. Another good reason to do one at a time, lessons learned and all.


The seat bottom is very simple, I added some extra 1/2" foam to the "ass" portion of the seat, stretched and stapled (no glue needed). I bought a air stapler from HF for $20, well worth the money.

Posted by: turk22 Nov 23 2012, 09:29 PM

I bought a center console cover from a different vendor, much worse quality, with poor sewing and crooked seams. So bad in fact that my wife could not allow it, she took one of the seams apart, and re-sewed it, tightning it down as well, and it came out great. The misses saves the day!







So the before:


and the after:


before:


after:





Hope this helps someone out with their project, it was certainly worth the time and effort.

Turk

Posted by: DBCooper Nov 23 2012, 09:58 PM

Looks really good. Well done.

Posted by: FourBlades Nov 23 2012, 10:54 PM

Nice work!

John

Posted by: Todd Enlund Nov 23 2012, 11:48 PM

Sweet!

Thanks for sharing!

Posted by: Cool914 Nov 23 2012, 11:58 PM

Very nice, thanks for the pointers!

Posted by: zonedoubt Nov 24 2012, 12:46 AM

Nice! I'm right in the middle of doing my own seat upholstery. Thanks for the tips and photos!

Posted by: rnellums Nov 24 2012, 09:55 AM

Excellent work! Isn't it great when things turn out so well?! I might add that the stock seats also sewed the seam between the headrest and the backrest into the foam headrest pad to pull it back a bit. It is a PIA to do, but can help tighten up the vinyl if it is a bit loose. Yours looks great though!

Posted by: turk22 Nov 24 2012, 12:14 PM

Thanks All,

The first seat took a couple of days, to stop and buy the replacement foam and finally figure out the best way to do it.

The second seat was done from removing the seat to re-installing the seat in the same day, over the course of about 6 hours. There is a lot of time waiting for the contact adhesive to dry to the touch. I did 90% of the second seat myself, but used my wifes help on the headrest/backpad, where 4 hands are better than 2.

I seriously doubt that Edd China did them both in an afternoon, probably just creative editing...

Turk

Posted by: dlkawashima Nov 24 2012, 04:29 PM

Edd China's didn't come out as good as yours. Yours look just about perfect, except for the one section you mentioned at the top of the seat. Is there no way to fix that?

Posted by: johannes Nov 25 2012, 06:36 AM

Very well documented. I hope this will help more people to restore their interior...

Posted by: turk22 Nov 25 2012, 09:58 AM

Thanks, I'm considering removing the screws from the bottom of the headrest, and reaching back there and removing (snipping) one of the wire ties that is too tight. but I'm going to live with it for a little while, and see if relaxes a little bit.

Posted by: SUNAB914 Nov 25 2012, 09:59 AM

Great job, this thread needs to be saved.

Posted by: turk22 Nov 25 2012, 10:16 AM

Thanks Johannes. I have also done a little work on the radio, and I have downloaded your speaker template from Classics forum, and will be putting in new speakers soon as well. (I got the cable to allow playing music from my phone/ipod). Re-sealing the rear window and new carpet is next.

Posted by: saigon71 Nov 25 2012, 05:17 PM

Excellent work and documentation!

My drivers side seat needs a re-work and I will reference this thread when the time comes. What was your ebay source for the seat upholstery?

Bob

Posted by: trojanhorsepower Nov 25 2012, 06:28 PM

That looks great! Thanks for the write up.

Posted by: turk22 Nov 25 2012, 06:46 PM

This is the vendor, I am impressed with the product and workmanship.

http://myworld.ebay.com/aoenterpreses/&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2754

Posted by: 1970 Neun vierzehn Nov 26 2012, 08:37 PM

Nice contribution to the forum.

Surely you have sat on these seats since the install.......do they feel different to you?

Nice work

Posted by: scotty b Nov 26 2012, 08:40 PM

Lapuwali classics now

Posted by: turk22 Nov 27 2012, 12:19 PM

I did, and other than being extremely more pliable, they don't feel significantly different. I added a 1/2" of foam to the seat cushion, and that feels better. I went for about an hour drive on Sunday, and have to say its very satisfiying to have completed the seats, the first of several refreshening projects to the interior I plan this winter.



Thanks Scotty, there is a classic thread there already with this info, and its also very well documented. I wouldn't have had the stones to try mine without it. The main difference is the vendor, and I didn't change out the material for anything else. I will say again that I am really pleased with the material and workmanship of this vendor. I've actually considered buying another set, just to put away in case they stop making them.

Posted by: Speedo Oct 9 2020, 04:47 PM

Seat upholstery...thread bump. Considering the various options and wanted to know who people are currently using for vendors. I need to redo two bottom cushions (basketweave) and 1 set of bolsters (smooth).

Posted by: porschetub Oct 9 2020, 06:19 PM

Lars contact the guys @ 914rubber not too far away from you they can sort you out,cheers.

Posted by: iankarr Oct 9 2020, 07:48 PM

Adding videos to this thread for future generations ..

Part 1 - seat teardown and hardware replacement:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxG5eIdiTHY


Part 2 - upholstery:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGmEYUzRjBg

Posted by: mark04usa Oct 9 2020, 10:01 PM

Thanks to Turk22 and Ian, we have the ultimate reuphostery instruction thread