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> 914 Seats not the Best, Neoprene Seat will soon be installed
tracks914
post Apr 17 2006, 07:50 PM
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I have never been a fan of the comfort afforded me when I drive my car. I have found that Rabbit or Jetta seats to offer better latteral support and just being made of fabric you don't tend to slide around.
So the winter project started with an old 914 seat I had lying around.
First I built up the side bolsters 2" in the middle, 1" 1/2 way up and forward tapering to 1/4" at each end. Picture # 1Attached Image
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tracks914
post Apr 17 2006, 07:50 PM
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Nuther


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tracks914
post Apr 17 2006, 07:52 PM
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Then I bought some Neoprene on Ebay, took the old seat apart, matched as many seams as I could to the new material.
Then I sewed it all together.


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tracks914
post Apr 17 2006, 07:52 PM
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Nuther


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robby750
post Apr 17 2006, 07:58 PM
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I like it! Good job!
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tracks914
post Apr 17 2006, 08:01 PM
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Here's the fun part.
I only did the one seat cause I only had one spare seat to experiment with.
When you change the shape of the seat, (side bolsters) the ratio of the fabric changes too, and it isn't as easy as you might think to custom design it from scratch.
Trying this with a home sewing machine is hard but not impossible.
Trying to get the tight corners of the seat bottom was impossible for me, so I ended up cheating a bit.
It took 5 times as many hours to do it than I thought it would.
For every 4 seams I sewed, I unsewed 1.
Trying to do a reinforced seam (the one that tears at the side bolster) is very hard to do but not impossible. It is however impossible to make it look like a factory seam that they use a special sewing machine to do it with. Mine looks like it but the seams are not perfectly parallel.

Last, I don't know if I would do another one. It wasn't easy and the $95 I gave an upolstery guy to redo my original side bolsters now seams like a steal. No pun intended.
The whole thing cost me about $65CAN.
It feels pretty good to sit in but my car is still in winter storage untill next week so until then I just get to look at it.
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tracks914
post May 9 2006, 07:55 PM
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Now installed. Car corners better now that I don't slide around.


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tracks914
post May 9 2006, 07:56 PM
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Nuther one.


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anthony
post May 9 2006, 08:46 PM
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Cool project!
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tracks914
post May 17 2006, 02:30 PM
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These ones cost me about $50 in material and many hours of labour but now that I have done it, and driven it, I think I will do another one.
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Andyrew
post May 17 2006, 02:32 PM
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I had plans on doing that.

Looks great!!

(I went with a racing seat instead..)
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Trevorg7
post May 17 2006, 03:36 PM
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QUOTE(tracks914 @ May 17 2006, 01:30 PM) *

These ones cost me about $50 in material and many hours of labour but now that I have done it, and driven it, I think I will do another one.



You mentioned you got the material from ebay, do you recall who?

I am really in need of redoing my seats. In fact I was wondering if fans could be added to the back (facing the driver) to aid in cooling. Or if by replacing the basket weave material it would naturally be cooler.

Let me know

T
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blitZ
post May 18 2006, 12:20 PM
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That turned out really nice. How is the neoprene for sitting on for long periods, ie. does it make your butt sweat? I have a couple of seat shells, I might try this. What thickness material did you use and what type of padding? A link to your Ebay source would be nice.
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tracks914
post May 18 2006, 03:24 PM
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I have only driven it 1/2 hour max on a hot sunny day but so far it is far more comfortable than the vinyl. I did make the side bolsters a bit too high. They are OK for me @ 170 lbs but anyone bigger won't fit between the sides.
Here is a link to the material I bought.
Ebay Neoprene material sale
BTW I bought 3 yards of material but only used about 2 for that for one seat.
I re-used the foam from the headrest, sidebolsters and seat bottom.
For the seat bottom"padding" and back "padding" I bought padding from Walmart for about $12. The thin triangular foam pieces in the back pad I replaced with some 3/8" high density foam I had lying around.
The material to "support" the the "padding" in the back and bottom( You'll know what I mean when you take your seat apart) I just used some old purple corduroy that my wife had in her sewing room. (don't tell her pls)
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tracks914
post Jan 13 2007, 11:25 AM
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Bump for Bob.
BTW on my current project I will be doing both seats, visors and the door panels in the Neoprene/vinyl combo.
The passenger seat will be of stock configuration but the driver seat will have the added side bolsters.
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johnc
post Jan 13 2007, 12:09 PM
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QUOTE(tracks914 @ Apr 17 2006, 05:50 PM) *

Nuther

I really like the idea of using the factory foam for the side bolsters, but how did you build up the sides and maintain the strength of the formed fiberglass?
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tracks914
post Jan 13 2007, 09:57 PM
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QUOTE(johnc @ Jan 13 2007, 10:09 AM) *

QUOTE(tracks914 @ Apr 17 2006, 05:50 PM) *

Nuther

I really like the idea of using the factory foam for the side bolsters, but how did you build up the sides and maintain the strength of the formed fiberglass?

That's a good question. I was worried about the integrity of the bolsters if I was "T"boned and the seat supports gave way and ripped me apart.
1st the neoprene is strong enough that it won't tear and that helps.
2nd the sides are made of 3/4" plywood. After the wood was cut to shape I ground the inside edge out to fit the outside radius on the sides of the seat so that it was a tight fit. Holes were then drilled from the underside of the seat edge and wooden dowels (3 per side I think) were installed to hold the wood to the fiberglass seat and keep it lined up. A small bit of long strand fiberglass was used to bond the wood to the seat along the seat edge.
3rd the wooden side boltsters were wrapped with fiberglass cloth to form a good bond and overlap to the original seat.
4th when this was done I used more of the long strand fiberglass to smooth out the edges and that is what you see in the pictures.
Maybe it was a bit of over kill but it really didn't take that long to do that part (maybe an hour or so) and I know I have a good seat now.
BTW the foam didn't quite fit after and it had to be trimmed at the 2 edges but once pulled flat with the fabric it looks OK as you can see.
Tx
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pfierb
post Jan 14 2007, 03:19 AM
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For what it is worth I installed a set of neoprene seat covers on my Alfa Spyder,Wet Okole,and found that on a hot day sitting on them was unbearable.....hot and stickey they don't breathe like sitting on clear plastic ,couldn't wait to get rid of them even though they looked great.
Sorry
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tracks914
post Jan 14 2007, 09:01 AM
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Hotter and stickier than black vinyl????
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pfierb
post Jan 14 2007, 10:56 AM
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QUOTE(tracks914 @ Jan 14 2007, 10:01 AM) *

Hotter and stickier than black vinyl????



I would say about the same after a 10minute ride I would have to change my shirt
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