I picked up a pair of '69 bucket seats to replace the bench in my '69. I've taken them down to the frames, much to the chagrin of the former mouse tenants. I planned to wire brush them, shoot 'em with primer and then paint the visible metal parts a gloss black. Is this the right approach?

The face of the seat backs have a cord made up of thin wires covered in a paper-like wrapping that goes up the left side, across, and then down the right side. Although it is secured with hog rings on the sides, it is held much more permanently in two places at the top. If I wire brush it, that paper wrapping will be history. Should I avoid that area, not worry about preserving the wrapping, or replace the cord entirely if possible?

Lastly, I was going to have the seats reupholstered with original style material but I saw some pictures on this site of the products provided by Desert Sun. They look terrific and are about the same price as the stock looking stuff. Can anyone offer any comments on the Desert Sun upholstery? What other companies offer similar alternatives.

Thanks very much.

Bob

[This message has been edited by RDJunc (edited 03-20-2001).]

you are on the right track with stripping and painting the frames. I wouldn't wire brush that cord unless it's bad rusted, you may have a hard time replacing it. Eastwood products has some good paint for this. Try to fix/ rebuild the existing seat springs if possible, you may have problems with the new springs (like I did). Do replace the foams!

The original seat springs are natural steel and were not painted. If you want to protect them and still keep them looking original them how about using spray "Extend". Its Clear and will protect from rust. The mounting base is painted semi-gloss black though.

Thanks for the tips. The springs are in pretty good shape. None are broken. They are a bit rusty in some spots but it's not like they sat in water for along time. I just don't want the seat to eat themselves up from the inside out if I don't get rid of the little rust that is there.

I got a good suggestion today about the cord. It is held on the sides by hog rings but more permanently at the top so other than the top part, I can have easy access to the rest of the cord. The paper wrapping is already torn up in some spots. If I go through the seats with a wire brush and take off all the paper, so what. I can just re-wrap it in electrical tape. It would be much better than the paper anyway.

Semigloss it shall be!

Bob