240z Seat Strapping

[zhead240]

first off i know this thread is 4 years old. i'm going to try a diy repair similar to what arne did. i would like to know what kind of rivets he used. looks like regular pop rivet with grommets and setters. is the strapping stretched tight and how do you do it, with a special tool? tia

[bvolken]

I used the webbing repair kit (I think from Motorsport Auto).

I used regular-old pop rivets each fitted with two flat washers that fit snug.

I used a hole-punch tool (Harbor Freight) to "pre drill" the holes in the webbing fabric to take the rivet.

I carefully folded over the material, punched and riveted.

How tight is kind of a guess. Once I had one the dimensions I wanted, I transferred the dimensions to a piece of paper to make a 'story board', from which I could quickly cut and rivet the remaining web pieces without have to guesstimate each one.

With new MSA padding and covers - looks like a $1,000,000.

One word of caution - I'm 6'5" and I thought I fit in my Z pretty well. Turns out the seat cushion was shot as well as the webbing, so I actually sat "in" the seat rather than "on" the seat.

After the re-webbing and new padding, I have to recline the seat all the way, and slide down a little bit to avoid hitting the roof. It's a very small price to pay.

1971 240z

Photos

Restoration Blog

[zhead240]

looks like the only way to remove the sliders is to come at it from the top because of the carriage type bolts. that means removing the seat cover and foam. am i right. i was hoping to have to do this.

[Stike]

On 2/7/2013 at 5:13 PM, zhead240 said:

first off i know this thread is 4 years old. i'm going to try a diy repair similar to what arne did. i would like to know what kind of rivets he used. looks like regular pop rivet with grommets and setters. is the strapping stretched tight and how do you do it, with a special tool? tia

What did you wind up doing re. stretching? I restrapped my seats ( very poorly) close to 25 years ago with a kit from Victoria British/Black Dragon. The included hog rings and pliers were a real pain in the arse if I recall correctly and have not held up over the years. Part of the pita was stretching the straps, what did you or anyone else who may read this do? I'm about to rebuild my seats (covers, foam, straps) and want to do it right this time. 

Just curious, has anyone ever just welded a metal plate to the bottom of the seat frame to replace the straps?
 

[Namerow]

hmmm... I don't think you're going to like the results if you replace the straps with a metal plate.  At least, not unless all the roads where you live are billiard-table smooth.

The strapping kit isn't that hard to install.  The three fore-aft straps all get cut to the same length.  The MSA kit provides you with the details and includes enough webbing to do both seats with about 6" left over (which means there's no forgiveness if you screw up on any of your cuts). 

When cut to the correct length, you don't really have to stretch the straps very much to seat the end clips into the seat frame.  I found the most difficult step was punching holes through the straps for the rivets to pass through.  That rubberized webbing is tough! 

When you're installing the end clips on each strap, make sure they're both facing the same way up before you install the rivets (it's no fun trying to remove the rivets to fix a mistake made here).

If you work at it methodically, you should be able to complete the strapping job for both seats in a morning or an afternoon.

[Stike]

3 hours ago, Namerow said:

hmmm... I don't think you're going to like the results if you replace the straps with a metal plate.  At least, not unless all the roads where you live are billiard-table smooth.

The strapping kit isn't that hard to install.  The three fore-aft straps all get cut to the same length.  The MSA kit provides you with the details and includes enough webbing to do both seats with about 6" left over (which means there's no forgiveness if you screw up on any of your cuts). 

When cut to the correct length, you don't really have to stretch the straps very much to seat the end clips into the seat frame.  I found the most difficult step was punching holes through the straps for the rivets to pass through.  That rubberized webbing is tough! 

When you're installing the end clips on each strap, make sure they're both facing the same way up before you install the rivets (it's no fun trying to remove the rivets to fix a mistake made here).

If you work at it methodically, you should be able to complete the strapping job for both seats in a morning or an afternoon.

So you rivet the straps around the clips/hooks and then stretch to insert hooks into the seat frame? I'm pretty sure last time I did it I stretched the straps around the hooks while they were in the frame and then clamped the supplied hog rings in place which after giving it some thought sounds really stupid now.

[Namerow]

Sometimes the obvious escapes us all .  Now that you know the 'secret', it should be much easier.  You'll need to use vise-grips to get a firm hold on the free clip so that you can pull against the strap tension and navigate the pins into their holes in the seat frame tube.

When it comes to making the cuts in the strapping, this is a classic case of, 'measure twice, cut once'.  One mistake and you'll be feeding more $$ into the coffers of MSA to order another strapping kit.

[Stike]

14 hours ago, Namerow said:

Sometimes the obvious escapes us all .  Now that you know the 'secret', it should be much easier.  You'll need to use vise-grips to get a firm hold on the free clip so that you can pull against the strap tension and navigate the pins into their holes in the seat frame tube.

When it comes to making the cuts in the strapping, this is a classic case of, 'measure twice, cut once'.  One mistake and you'll be feeding more $$ into the coffers of MSA to order another strapping kit.

Was going to order from here. https://www.albrightssupply.com/rubber-webbing-p/w2000.htm

[psdenno]

33 minutes ago, Stike said:

Was going to order from here. https://www.albrightssupply.com/rubber-webbing-p/w2000.htm

Check Amazon for a similar product at about half the price:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZVHMSZC?psc=1

I've also heard of using lawn chair rewebbing kits which are even less expensive if cost is an issue.

Dennis

 

 

[Stike]

41 minutes ago, psdenno said:

Check Amazon for a similar product at about half the price:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZVHMSZC?psc=1

I've also heard of using lawn chair rewebbing kits which are even less expensive if cost is an issue.

Dennis

 

 

Cool! Thanks for the link.

[Gav240z]

Hi Guys,

Has anyone produced a good step by step tutorial on re-trimming S30Z seats? I found this.

http://woodworkerb.com/home/datsun-240z-rebuild/seat-rebuild/

However my seats were already re-trimmed once and I'm not sure they were done correctly, just looking for an example of how things should go.

[Gav240z]