Seat recovering....

[xray]

Saw these with the following EBay auction:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1972-DATSUN-240Z-RESTORATION_W0QQitemZ300024643413QQihZ020QQcategoryZ6187QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Those seat reproductions look real similar to all the ones I've seen floating around on EBay, MSA, CDM etc...Are they supposed to look like that? Looks to me like maybe they didn't replace the foam, or if they did, it's a bad home-done job...

Recovered seats should look a little---tidier--shouldn't they? Not at all trying to be overly critical, just want to know what I'm getting into as I eye my own set in my garage....

Any advice for those who've redone seats to avoid the wrinkly-look?

Thanks,

Steve

[hls30.com]

Adding a 1/4" of padding, and some careful use of a heat gun/hair dryer will go a long way to get rid of the waves. Perhapse a little more care in installation would have helped too, proper placement of hog rings should have held the material tight over the seat bottom foam, the back just needs more padding or to be pulled down more.

WIll

[xray]

Will,

I thought the heat gun was used to help stretch the material for better/easier installation, then when cooling it would contract and be tighter. How would heat help the "sagging" effect?"

Thanks,

Steve

[hls30.com]

Steve,

The sagging is due to variations in the tension of the material, equalize the tension, the sags dissipate. Heat alleviates the stresses that cause the variation in tension, and thereby the sags...

Will

[Mike B]

When I got my 240z it came with a NOS datsun seat cover that the owner bought in 1977 (it was packed in a box with a newspaper from the time that was advertising the first Star Wars movie). The drivers seat had some damage to it, so I bought new foam from Too Intense Restoration, which from what I heard, had the best foam set available. I had the cover and foam installed by an upholstery shop, but when I went to pick it up it didn't fit tight enough on the headrest, so they had to add some more foam to make it fit tight. The body of the seat was fine, but they did have to sew and extra seam at the bottom to get it to fit right.

[z_scout]

I bought the foam and upholstery kit from MSA and am very happy with how they turned out. I left the upholstery out in the sun for about an hour which made it easier to install. I also used a spray adhesive on the foam as I installed the covers. As you can see from the pictures, there are still a few wrinkles.

Keep in mind that the foam made the seat bottoms much higher than the originals. They are also virtually flat so the lateral support isn't as good at the orignal flatter seat cushion.

Andre

[hls30.com]

Looks very good!

Will

[zhead240]

z scout- i see there are no vent buttons on these covers. are they not on the 280 seats?

[z_scout]

I think the '77 and the '78 don't have vent buttons on the seat backs. This is on a '78 280z.

Andre