Questions About Seats & New Covers

[dkd021]

I've purchased both new seat foam & covers. I methodically removed the covers from my old seats. During this I noticed some things:

1. Upon removing the old foam I noticed a bar with an attached sliding bar with two rings in the back of the inside part of the seat. They weren't attached to anything & were located about where the seat back foam & headrest foam meet. What is its function?

2. The seat covers from Classic Datsun do not have the metal wire that runs through the end of the vinyl where they clip onto the bottom of the seats. It appears to me that this wire is necssary to provide additional support to the vinyl while under stress of the the bent clip & weight of a passenger in the seat. Shouldn't I have a new wire sewn into the new covers?

3. I got the seat back installed on one. However, it had the loose look that an amateur job is likely to have. How will a shop "fill the gap" if you will to remove the waves?

[hls30.com]

1) That is a bar for attatching hog rings to, it is there to provide tension to the fabric and hold it in place.

2) The wire isn't actually sewn in, it is slid into a tube of fabric made for it. You are expected to use the old hardware, or replace it as necessary-the parts you described in #1 are probably part of what you need in #2.

3) add some 1/2" foam, MIke W wrote up a short explanation on the finer points of upholstery installation here: http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23577&highlight=seat+covers

I will look for a pic of the placement of the hog ring anchors for you and post if I find it.

Will

[SteveInOakland]

I've purchased both new seat foam & covers. I methodically removed the covers from my old seats. During this I noticed some things:

1. Upon removing the old foam I noticed a bar with an attached sliding bar with two rings in the back of the inside part of the seat. They weren't attached to anything & were located about where the seat back foam & headrest foam meet. What is its function?

Those rings get attached to a wire, or bar, that runs through a horizontal channel in your new seatcovers. You can reuse your old one. It's how you get the tuck at the bottom of the headrest.

2. The seat covers from Classic Datsun do not have the metal wire that runs through the end of the vinyl where they clip onto the bottom of the seats. It appears to me that this wire is necssary to provide additional support to the vinyl while under stress of the the bent clip & weight of a passenger in the seat. Shouldn't I have a new wire sewn into the new covers?

You can reuse the wire from your old covers (yes, you need it). It doesn't have to be sewn in, it's relatively easy to thread it into what should be a channel at the bottom of your new bottom-covers.

3. I got the seat back installed on one. However, it had the loose look that an amateur job is likely to have. How will a shop "fill the gap" if you will to remove the waves?

If the foam you bought is the same as what I got from MSA, there is one big problem -- the headrest foam. On mine at least, the stuff sucks. It's too soft and it's too small, so it will never fill out the headrest upholstery. I ended up taking my backs in to a pro place, and they insisted (rightly) upon using my original headrest foam. Unlike all my other old foam, this 33-yr-old stuff was not bad at all, and much more viable than MSA's headrest foam.

That, and the use of the bar mentioned previously, and a tight tuck job at the bottom of the seat-backs, done by an experienced hand with the right tools, would be the difference.

Steve.

[xray]

Agree with all the above. I am using CDM foams, and have to "massage it" to get the foam to sit correctly since these are not 100% accurate. Since my original foams are mostly OK except for some blatant wear areas on the bolsters, I am going to see if I can cut some parts out to use as shims to make everything nice and neat.

I am also using the original headrest because they seem in great shape and appear to fit better than CDM's...

In re: sags and wrinkles....Humble's book mentions heating the covers (gently---don't smoke the vinyl!) with a heat gun or hairdryer so as to stretch and shrink the covers to conform better to the underlying foam.

Steve

[dkd021]

Well all of that makes sense, thank you.There just wasn't anything connected to the part in the seat back so I was confused. I'm going to take the seats to an upholstery shop along with the car to get the windshield posts & headliner properly installed.

Edit:

XRay, I considered re-using the headrests & the jute, but they stink so bad! I had to sand & respray the hip portions of the seat because they had a good bit of surface rust. I think the previous owner had a sweating problem. Well, maybe it was the dead AC & the GA humidity!