How to repair a Back Pad, the CSOB way Options

[76-914]

I think my back pad is like most. Looks good from a distance......


but a wreck upon closer examination. Like the bottoms which have wicked up water and warped like this center piece.......


Or worse; like breaking off like this drivers side as viewed from the rear.......



or this passanger side which is missing the bottom 6" all the way across



and several edges like this one that have become delaminated.




These spots and the warped pieces are easiest to repair so I'll start there. This is a shot of a warped bottom on the center piece. This one was removed for another repair but as you will see in other pic's I did not separate the pieces or removed the vinyl to make repairs.



First you will need to wet the piece, both sides.................



Then place wax paper on the wetted sides............



Then place a "flat" piece of wood on both sides and clamp in place........



2 hr's later...................



This pic shows the actual center piece in clamps as shown in an earlier shot but I wanted to show that frayed edge in the single clamp above and to the left of the board. The same is done to the frayed areas as the warped areas. After drying they will be flat as a pancake and water resistant.



The most common complaint is that one or more of the upper clips has broken off. This is a very simple repair. Simply wet any remaining board on the clip and back pad, then I laid 2 pieces of 2" fiberglass across the clips, wetted them and placed a piece of Armaflex foam which was covered in wax paper and compressed with a board and clamp. This helps when dealing with uneven surfaces if you can't vacuum bag it.













Speaking of that rubber; my shop stool had lived thru 1 puppy then another. Between the two there wasn't much left of the padding or covering. So I cut a piece out for my stool while I was at it and recovered my stool seat with a scrap piece from a seat back so n ow it is a Porsche Seat. LOL



The drivers side will take a little more work but still easy to do. We'll need some underlayment for support so I used a thin piece of cardboard similar to a phone book cover. By massaging the piece and placeing the various clamps in different positions the cardboard assumes the contour of the back pad, as seen in the 2nd pic.......





Now a piece of regular cardboard is traced out to fill the void..............



Filler piece of cardboard in place..........



And the same area with a small fiberglass patch in place and dried. This area will get a few more layers of glass later.



The same area but viewed from the front.......



Now for the passenger side. I didn't have an existing piece to graft onto like the drivers side and I was missing the bottom 6" all the way across.



But I did have a donor to use as a model..............



So I taped some wax paper on the area first..............



Then a couple pieces of glass...........



Here is another pic of the rubber used to conform to the rolled edge............



When the piece dried it was removed from the donor piece that was used as a mold and stapled to the passenger back pad as viewed now from the front..... it has a few more layers added later.



Here is the psgr back side with a more glass ans untrimmed..............




Now the back side pieces get a few layers of glass 7" x 16" wetted, wax paper and longer wood pieces clamped and glassed to keep her straight and tie it all together.




An untrimmed shot...............





Standing on it's own now waiting on a small bit of trimming for final fit........



And now installed. Those screw thimbles fit quite solidly in the fiberglass so mark your 4 bottom holes carefully, pilot drill with a small bit and adjust hole as necessary. Now I don't have to keep the seat all the way back to keep the pad up. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

[markb]

Nice job! I've never worked with fiberglass before, what are you wetting it with to help pull the layers back together?

[poorsche914]

Very timely as I will be refurbing my backpad soon.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

[saigon71]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif) Great work!

[nsr-jamie]

Excellent !! Perfect thread with easy to understand descriptions with pictures. Thank you !!!!!!!!!! This is something I have been thinking about doing myself but not sure really how to do until now. Thank you !!!!!!!

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

Also noticed you have Corduroy seat inserts...very jealous

[76-914]

Nice job! I've never worked with fiberglass before, what are you wetting it with to help pull the layers back together?

Mark, wetting is a glass term. It means to saturate with the resin. Sorry, I left that out. WalMart is a cheap outlet for the fiberglass resin. The fiberglass can be had from many places but I recommend a good bidirectional cloth (Aircraft Spruce is one local supplier). The cloth that comes with most "repair kits" is fine for a flat surface but if you need to conform to changing shapes then you need a bidirectional cloth. If you use foam as a backer and a styrene resin like I used, be sure it is urethane foam (available from hobby shops and floral suppliers). Otherwise, the foam will disolve. Don't be intimidated by fiberglass. Any mistake (as long as it is not structual) can be ground down and re-fiberglassed.

[windforfun]

If anybody needs some panels or a center pad, let me know. They're in pretty good shape & you can have them cheap.

[DRPHIL914]

Pretty cool, - i was lazy and ordered replacement with fiberglass core and vinyl from Morph-(James at 914AP)

phil

i still have the old ones with the original pads, they were in pretty good shape if anyone is interested- i just changed from Tan to Black.

[fteixeira]

If anybody needs some panels or a center pad, let me know. They're in pretty good shape & you can have them cheap.

Windforfun: are you talking about door panels? I may be interested. The PO had to "screw" the panels along the bottom because he said they wouldn't stay put. Messed everything up. I'd like to replace with something not hacked up.

Nevermind, you are obviously talking about the back pad. Thanks.

fteixeira

[windforfun]

If anybody needs some panels or a center pad, let me know. They're in pretty good shape & you can have them cheap.

Windforfun: are you talking about door panels? I may be interested. The PO had to "screw" the panels along the bottom because he said they wouldn't stay put. Messed everything up. I'd like to replace with something not hacked up.

Nevermind, you are obviously talking about the back pad. Thanks.

fteixeira

Call Rich at High Performance House in Redwood City. He's a little $$$, but has a TON of stuff. Google HPH for his contact info.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/shades.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/shades.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/shades.gif)

[Dutchy914]

I have same issue,
thanks for your post, nice work
I think I can do this as well (just need some patience)

CAN YOU SEND ME LIST / Name THE PRODUCTS / MATERIALS YOU USED ??
thanks so much !!!

[windforfun]

I have extra backpad panels for sale for cheap. You can have a complete set for $100 plus shipping (which will probably be at least that much). Let me know if you're really interested. I'll need to dig them up, so to speak, & send you some pics. They're in much better condition than what's pictured above.

[pfreiburger]

Thanks much, very good info and your repair was nicely documented, will help many for sure (my back pad is out at them moment and it does have a crack at the engine lid hole). BTW, I also have used Aircraft Spruce over the years - great source for all kinds of stuff like AN washers and other higher quality fasteners.

[Superhawk996]

Based on CSOB title I expected Duct Tape.

Nice job! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smilie_pokal.gif) Great pictures and great how to thread.

[rhodyguy]

The 3 piece design ships pretty cheaply if you break it down. Pretty sure it will fall in to the oversized money pit if you try to ship it in one piece when all boxed up.

[tygaboy]

Kent isn't SuperMan. SuperMan is only "The Man of Steel"...

Kent is "The Man of Steel, Aluminum, Cardboard and Fiberglass"! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/pray.gif)

Great stuff! And soooo cool that you document and share all this helpful stuff. Good on 'ya! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[76-914]

Hah. Thx Chris. I'd forgotten about this thread. Been busy with rust repairs and getting ready for paint on old #1 the past 2 weeks. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[partwerks]

Mine wasn't near that bad, but made one good one from two from the junk yard. Lucky it was the DS, cuz the donor was an early pad.

I used Elmer's glue, and some thin spots I added some wood dust from a table top saw to add some body to it.

I only had to graft in one spot.

[windforfun]

You can still buy brand new ones from Porsche. At least they were available a few years ago.

[worn]

You can still buy brand new ones from Porsche. At least they were available a few years ago.

The acrylic resin and the pressed board for the back pad seems a match made in heaven. I did basically the same thing for my 3.2. Works for door cubbies or glove boxes too. British, American or German, they all respond well to being plasticized.