Ok, Read all the posts. Got great tips. Got everything I needed. Went for it last weekend. I started with the passenger bucket, got the bottom of the seat done, looks good, bolsters and everything. No problem.

I'm now trying to get the seat back rest done. Ugh! What a PITA!! I haven't started hog ringing it yet because I can't seem the get the foam under the cover to look right. I'm trying to get it so it doesn't look like a sack of monkey nuts!!

Can anyone give me a good play by play on the backrest? I'm must be missing something here. I have new foam from Year One (American Cushion Industries I believe). The covers are made by PUI, also from Year One.

Starting from the bare backrest frame, can someone who has done this give me a nice step by step. I'm desperate. I'll send you a case of beer if it works!!http://www.chevelles.com/forums/images/icons/icon12.gif

Thank you!

Jim

Jim;

Not sure where you're running in to problems, but one thing I did on the recommendation of Olle (here) was to add a 1" extra layer of foam over the standard foam. It REALLY tightens everything up well and gave the seats a nice full look and feel.

I didn't have the luxury of doing one at a time as my seats were so bad from years of exposure that they were essentially disintegrated.


In short, what I did is as follows:

1) Stripped down the old seats and did the requisite cleaning, and degunking, etc.

2) Covered the springs with a double-layer of drapery liner to keep the springs from rubbing on the foam too much. Wrapped the foam (with the extra 1" layer) in plastic garbage bags to aid in sliding the covers over and then also to protect the foam from any liquids. Sometimes, spray glue helps hold everything in one neat package...

3) Let the seat covers warm up in the sun for a couple hours, then turned them inside out and began unrolling over the seatback.

4) Hogringed it all in place.

5) Cut the holes for the headrests.

6) Got a massage for my fingers !

Each seat was about a 2 hour job - 1 hr for top and 1 hr for the bottom...

If your Monkey's parts are junking it up, the extra padding makes a HUGE difference! ;)

thanks, dittoz. I did not do the trash bag deal. wasn't really sure how that worked.

did you hog ring the foam to the frame before you slid the cover on?

And, you left the trash bag on after you buttoned up the cover? Does it make any cruchy sounds when you sit on it?

I will try the inside out trick.

Jim

The trash bag trick works great! The bag makes the cover easier to slide on, and it will also be easier to stretch and twist it, in case it won't come on perfectly straight to begin with. I prefer to tear them out before I put the hog rings on, while others leave them in there. I suspect that they can make some noise but I haven't heard anyone having a problem with it.


Each seat was about a 2 hour job - 1 hr for top and 1 hr for the bottom...


That's if you don't have to take the covers off again to add the extra foam, like I had to do... :D

How about which end you hog ring first? It seems like I would want to start at the top behind the headrest. Not sure though.

The foam is brand new and looks good until I squeeze the cover over. The top gets all bunched up looking.



Jim

Those seats have an open back that's covered by a plastic panel, right? If that's the case, I would stretch the cover real good and put a few hog rings at the bottom to hold it in place, then start hog ringing around the perimeter of the back in a star pattern (kinda like tightening lug nuts) while checking frequently to make sure that everything is still straight. I don't know if that's the procedure the pro's would use, but the problems I have had when doing this have always been that I tend to stretch it too much in one direction, ending up with wrinkles or crooked seams. I would think that working in a pattern like that would make it easier to get it straight and evenly stretched. It worked for me anyway.

It's no big deal if it doesn't look perfect, hog rings are easy to remove and replace. To me, it has been a trial and error procedure to get everything to look good, but someone who does it everyday will probably get it right first time.

The "bunching" you see at the top could be where you're trying to straighten out the seams. Those areas are much stiffer than just plain vinyl, so you might want to heat it up a bit with a hair dryer (do it carefully...) to make it easier to stretch and smooth out. It probably won't look perfect right away, but many wrinkles will actually disappear afterwhile. The bench in my -69 was definitely not perfect when I installed it, but it looked way better after parking the car in the sun for a day or two. Doing the job outside in the sun is another way of getting a good result.

Yeah, I left the plastic bag in there. I have only sat on the seat in my living room thus far, but being much quieter in there than out in the garage I still didn't hear anything. The bag is flat against the foam and the seat cover is flat against the bag and the whole thing is buttoned up real tight so no... no funny diaper noises at all.

As far as the alignment of seams and such, I didn't have any problems. Turning it inside out allowed me to get the cover in place properly the first time without pulling monkey parts around the top since as the cover turns right-side out, that's the first location that is in place. I guess you could ring it as you "unfurl it, but I didn't have any problems. I DID cut my 1" foam add-on about 2" longer than the seat foam. It wraps over the end and gives a much cleaner look. That may be why I had no problems too... not sure.

One other additional facet - when I was ringing the seat, I used heavy-guage wire coat hanger - the lightweight stuff that others talked about didn't seem to be sufficient and I was worried that when I was pulling on the rings, that the wire would break and tear out the seat cover.

I wanted to thank you guys for your help. Trash bag worked great. Seats came out nice! Not perfect. But I am extremely happy with the results. Here's a before and after.

http://home.comcast.net/~conn118/wsb/media/409712/site1027.JPGhttp://home.comcast.net/~conn118/wsb/media/409712/site1028.JPG

Jim

Pretty nice, Jim. I'd feel extremely happy also if I were you! I paid an upholstery shop to finish my '64 seats after stripping them down, getting the frames powder coated and installing new bottom spring sets, and new hardware. I wasn't confident enough to do it all and the total cost ended up being a grand when it was all said and done. Maybe I'll try it next time. 64elkynss

Jim - you should feel great! Super job. I just happened to read your posts and wanted to make sure I didn't screw anything up along the way! I did a complete set of buckets and rear - I'll have to post some pics too.

Awesome job. DrewC.

Thanks for the replies!

My hands look like they went through a blender, but I would do it again. I'm trying to convince a couple of my friends to do theirs, they need it bad.

Jim

Looks great! :thumbsup: Now you know how to do it, so why don't you do it for your buddies? Looking at what some upholstery shops charge, I'm sure you can make a few bucks if you offer your services. You probably have to wait until the skin has grown back on you fingers though. :D

Not too shabby ! :thumbsup:

Did you do the extra foam or just the trash bags? As soon as your fingers recover, there's a tidy little side-business waiting...

That looks great! Got some red twins of yours awaiting the same...Never heard of the trash bag trick, that makes me feel a little more confident a first timer like myself can do it. :beers:

Good work on the seats!!!!