75 280Z - Another Interior Innovations Seat Upholstery Thread

[HusseinHolland]

I bought the leather versions of their upholstery (off Amazon, included vents & "Z" embroidery without additional cost), and the new foam to go with. My original seats have 250K miles, so I figured safer to have the foam. There was much hay on the floor.

I watched a coupe videos, just to get the gist of the Datsun construction. One guy used dozens of tie wraps(!). I'm familiar with Volvo & Honda (S2000) seats, many hog rings on those, so it was nice to see the way Datsun went about it.

Anyway, took the seats out yesterday, and the carpets & under-matting. I have new carpet also, so I need to clean everything up,  fix the heater valve coolant leak, then put the new carpeting in, so I can reinstall the seats.

Added a reinforcing layer to the under-mats

Made new cubby inserts, foam w/ vinyl layer glued

removed the seat hinges & rails. Pass seat back upholstery was still good, but I don't want vinyl . Have to clean up the hinges & rails before they go back together. I'm missing the outer hinge covers on both sides.

Foam comparsions - new one is thicker, doesn't need the hay layer

transfer perimeter  wire from originals

Started raining, so I moved indoors. Adding seat heaters while I'm at it. 

Used tie wraps to add in pulling the upholstery flap through to the wire frame

Layer of felt to protect the foam

Frame wedged in place, upholstery tangs pressed into leather seam, forward flap hog-ringed in place, rear flap not yet attached

Fit seems OK

Stripped the driver's seat back

The upright foam doesn't seem to fit as well, however once the upholstery was on, it seems OK

 

Pulled upholstery over the head rest portion & install 3 hog rings

took a couple tries to get the cover reasonably aligned, still a little off center

forward cover stretched over tangs, then rear lip

seat heater wire brought out near the hinge

Edited March 28, 2023 by HusseinHolland

[psdenno]

Nice job!  Just finished doing the seats in my '71.  New foam and vinyl upholstery.  It's the third time I've done it in the 52 years I've owned my Z.  And, no, it doesn't get easier with practice.

Enjoy your heated seats and leather.

[Patcon]

Love the heated seats! That's great. I like the contrasting stitching too.

You'll need to add to this thread your wiring details for your seat heating when it happens

[HusseinHolland]

Worked on finishing the seat upholstery & re assembly today

guts of original

used Saran Wrap on the headrest area, made it easier to pull the cover over & align it

inserting original support wire

Cover going on

securing the bottom edge

this one is more even

cut holes for the hinges

fit protectors behind hinges

hinges in place on cushions

Uprights are a little tricky - the back screws don't have a taper guide tip, so I used the rail screws first to position the hinges

then swap out for the correct bolts one at a time

all together

rails back on after clean & lube

I put them back in the car for now - have to finish cleaning the floors run the heater wiring & put the carpet in before actually installing them

found a small area of surface rust to address on the forward passenger side seat attachment

 

 

 

 

Edited March 30, 2023 by HusseinHolland
typo

[HusseinHolland]

Now that I have the interior going back in, I finally installed the seat heater switches. Didn't want to drill holes in the console itself, so this was the next best option for me