seat covers

[zhead240]

will the passenger seat cover fit the driver seat?

[agemeansnothing]

It depends what shape are they and what are they made out of?

[montoya_fan01]

The seat covers are the same for both driver and passenger seats

[agemeansnothing]

oh ok my bad.

[bpilati]

I purchased one of those seat cover and foam kits from Distinctive Industries through Classic Datsun Motorsports. I believe that most everyone, who sells the Z seat covers, sell this one. Some people only replace their covers, but I also purchased the replacement foam cushions.

I just finished putting the driver's seat cover on and it went very well, except I got a small rip in the vinyl in the rear part from working with the cover. It is covered by the rear flap though. Hopefully this won't get worse with use. I had to run the wire around the bottom from the old seat cover so that he prongs on the seat frame would not tear through the vinyl. To bad they didn't include new wire. It was very difficult to connect the two wire rods that make the crease in the top of the vinyl seat cover. What I ended up using were Blair pig rings from the hardware store to hook the two rods together.

As far as the bottom support straps that were used on the 70-71 model Z's I found strapping material that was almost identical to the original. The only difference is that the original was one ply thicker and was covered with nylon on the outside. There are four straps front to back and one left to right (I used seat belt strap for this) just under where your arse sits. I pulled these through the original hooks and put two aluminum rivets with washers on each end. Of course this was done before they came out with the strap kit that's now for sale. REMEMBER IT WAS MY REINVENTION!

I just removed the cover from the seat back and discovered something very noteworthy about the original headrest cushion. It is not the same foam as the seat back or bottom cushions, but is actually a crushable foam. It is also covered with a thin layer of plastic wrap; maybe to keep the foam dry from sweat? Not sure about this, since it is covered with vinyl. The wonderful quality of this crushable foam is that if you are hit from the rear and your head impacts this foam, it will crush and eliminate rebound of the head in the forward direction. The new headrest foam is not like this and is the same as the rest of the new foam. I may changed to the new foam headrest for comfort reasons anyway though. I thought I would mention that for anyone interested in crash safety. I also noticed that the new covers do not include the original style jute matting that is located just behind the seat back cover. You know those vent holes that are in the original covers; theoretically they allow air to circulate inside the seat to help keep your back cool. The original seat designers weren't so dumb were they? I wonder if I should go buy some jute matting and put some in. I'm also thinking about adding a small amount of additional foam in the lumbar area to improve support there. Has anyone else tried this; if so, how well did it work?

Well I finally finished the driver's seat. It looks great and I sit higher. I'll have to lower my seat now. Anyway, it took a lot of pulliing and tugging to stretch the cover enough to attach it to the seatback, but I finally got there. Wheewww. I added some jute padding in the lumbar section and it seems to be working great so far.