Seat question

[Reverend]

I'd like to have your opinion about my situation.

My seats are torn and i need new covers. I have few options: either take it to tailor who charges 250€ (over 300$) per seat. Propably very good quality OR order new covers from Banzai (240$ 2 seats PLUS foams 120/seat) and try to tinker them. Tailor said that if you try to install new covers with old stuffings, it looks bad. BUT i've read that with new stuffings, long guys (like me) wont fit in to the cockpit anymore.

So....what would you do?

[Carl Beck]

The seats in the Series I & 2 {70 and 71} 240Z's are slightly different than the Series III {72} seats.

The Series I & 2 seats had thick foam pads supported by rubber webbing. That webbing ran under the tubular frame of the seat bottom. The Series III seats used steel springs, to support the foam pads which sit on top of a jute pad. The foam then sits on top of that. The springs sit slightly higher up in the tubular frame of the seat bottom as well.

There is no reason - that if you get the foam pads - which are made for the Series I & 2 cars - that the foam pads couldn't be made slightly "thinner" {less high} for proper fit in the Series III & IV {72 & 73 } cars.

Order the stuff from Banzi - seat upholstery & foam pads - take your seats to a good auto upholstery shop - and have them take the seats apart. Then compare the thickness of the original pads to the replacement foam. If necessary they can trim the new pads.

Ask the upholstery shop to call you when they have the seats taken completely apart. You may find rust staring to form on the metal parts. You may want to sand them down or wire brush the metal parts - then prime and repaint - before you have the new upholstery put back on.

Around here most auto upholstery shops charge between $75.00 and $100.00 per seat to install your foam and upholstery. You can do it yourself - but it is hard to get them on without a bunch of wrinkles if you don't have a Steam Machine to work the vinyl.

FWIW,

Carl B.

[Reverend]

I might do the upholstery myself if someone has nice write-up somewhere Always willing to save every little penny i could, we have to re-make our driveway this summer so thats gonna cost some dough.

[ZCurves]

I bought my replacement seat foams and leather covers from MSA (Look in my Albumz in my Signature for pics). I know that the Banzai stuff is top notch - in fact everything from Mike McGinnis is of high quality including his customer service.

Now, I am 190.5cm tall and I did encounter the seat height issue, but I believe that this was because I had also replaced the springs in the seat frames. So, I am now in the process of trimming approx. 2.5 centimeters off if the seat foams to account for the variations in height. I am still VERY happy with my seats though.

I would suggest that you get some Recycled Felt Jute from your upholstery shop and use that as a replacement for the ancient organic jute between the seat foam and straps/springs (which ever you have).

Side Note: When you remove the old organic jute used by Nissan, it will remove the "Classic Z Car Smell" from your Z. Everyone reading this knows what I am talking about.

[Reverend]

Nice info zcurves, now i'd love to see some pics of installed Banzai seats for comparison! btw. the tailor said that he could not provide EXACT same fabric as the original...