I've been reading through some of the great seat rebuild threads and have been wondering how firm are the new molded foam inserts from MSA and other venders?

I love the look of the OEM seats but mine are mush, I'd rather rebuild them then go aftermarket as long as the outcome is a nice firm seat. 

Could someone who has done a rebuild comment on how much of a change the new foam makes?

Thanks,

Steve

well the seem fine to me at least the bottom, did not do the backs yet. On thing is they are thicker, as afterward I had less head room (hair on top of head brushes against the top now). I know if you get new covering material the old foam will not be thick enough, I tried and ended up with too much left over to fit correctly.

Yep, new foam will definitely make you ride a couple inches higher.  I replaced bottom and back foams.  It has been in about 2 yrs now and I've either gotten used to it or it has settled some.  Either way, it's more comfortable than sitting in the hole that was there before IMO.  It was a very noticeable difference.

Edited July 20, 20177 yr by gwri8

my new foams from msa are firm but comfortable

If you're going to install new seat covers, there's an incentive for replacing the foam at the same time.  When rebuilding the bottom cushions for the seats from my 70 Z, I discovered that 'skirt' of the replacement bottom seat covers was considerably 'taller' than the stock seat covers (my replacement covers were manufactured by Distinctive Industries).  I chose not to replace my original foams (they were in pretty good shape), so I ended up having to shim the underside of the bottom cushion foam with about an inch of added-in foam sheet so that the cushion would adequately fill the new seat cover.  This was the only way I could bring the lower hems of the covers into proper alignment with retaining tangs on the seat frame tubes.

My foams were from Banzai Motorworks, it's a dramatic difference in firness, 200% +.

Since you live up north Steve, put in seat heaters as part of the rebuild for those cool fall days ...

Thanks, will put that all on the list for this winter. Happy I can keep the stock seats.

I'm in the process of doing my seats at the moment and have finished one so far. I had two original seat covers on my car when I bought it and shipped it over to the UK. One was badly split but the other was fine but dirty. I didn't want to go to the trouble of just buying replacement covers for both of them so I managed to get from another Z owner, an original seat cover form '72 with the same grain as my one good seat. I also bought and shipped over two new foams from the US (Z Car Depot) ...

THe foams are much firmer than my old foams for sure, and much sturdier, the only thing is, they're not exactly the same shape! They're good but probably only 95% accurate, but with a bit of leeway and another wrap with some wadding, I have managed to get them to fit the original covers okay. Now I have two decent seats, albeit one is butterscotch!

I too have fitted heated elements in the seat and back part, the back was fine but the seat was more trouble as of course the heated bit goes OVER the part in the foam where the cover i drawn through and held with he rod and the hog rings to keep it taught. I did some work with some cable ties and managed to get it pretty taut.

So would I recommend getting new foams? Yes I would!