Before

Start with one ratty seat.

Clips

These clips hold the bottom skin to the seat frame. They must be removed in order to peel the old cover off. Keep the clips, as they will be needed later. And for peace of mind, buy another package or two of some new clips.

Pulling Skin

Once the clips are removed, peel off the seat cover.

Batting

This batting covers the front foam wrap-around. I'm not sure why there's two layers. Maybe this cover acts as a shear layer, to prevent the seats from squeaking a lot due to foam to seat cover friction.

Back Clips

More clips along the back that have to be removed.

Stripped Bottom

The bottom is out.

Back Cover

Straightening the metal wraps in the tails at the bottom of the seat back (SAVE those metal pieces!), and removing the seat back cover by working it upward reveals is the back padding with cotton batting on top.

Glued On

The padding, again, is glued on. Amazingly, after almost 40 years, the glue was still tacky!

Back Diaphragm

The back diaphragms are in pretty good shape, but not what I'd call servicable. They need to be removed and new ones sourced.

Stripped Frame

This frame is pretty bent out of shape will need some straightening, and then treating for rust, before paint and re-covering.

Partial Kit

Here you see the rubber seat diaphragms, seat bottom foam, seat back padding and batting.

Indispensible Tool

Who would have guessed that a set of fencing pliers could be so valuable to the diaphragm installation? Placing the hog ring in the "beak" of the pliers makes it easy to stretch the rubber and get the ring into the appropriate hole.

Process Steps

The order to do this in is to start with the back two as they are the hardest to install under tension, then do one side, stretch the opposite side, and finish with the front two.

Done!

A finished seat diaphragm, and the helpful fencing pliers!

Bottom and Back

Using a cheap set of fence pliers, the seat diaphragm went on in seconds (forty, to be exact). Then the squab was placed on the seat back, spacing the springs where it made most sense. Testing the seat feel, it is found acceptable.

Squab

The seat squab comes to you with no instructions, but with differing sized springs. Here are the springs in their approximate locations. Note that the springs at the bottom are longest, and the springs at the top seem to be made of a slightly shinier material.

Seat Foam

The seat bottom foam fits inside the rear U-channel that the two rear hog rings of the diaphragm fits to.

Batting

My kit came with neither the foam or the batting that surrounds the seat bottoms. I went to WalMart and picked up simple cotton batting for $5, and trimmed to fit.

Padded

Here you see the seat bottom foam, as well as the trimmed cotton batting, in place on the frame.

Clips- Caution!

The clips used to hold the covers on are too difficult to put in place without a tool. This was the first one I placed, and I made the mistake of not protecting the cover, and caused a cut in the vinyl. NOT good!

Protection

I found that a small set of Channel Locks worked well for pressing on the clips, but the bottom jaw was covered with some padding and duct tape in order to protect the vinyl cover.

Tucked

The bottom covers have plastic tubes in the piping, and these are easily tucked under the piece wrapped around the rear channel.

Corner

Here is the corner, once the piping plastic is tucked in.

Secured

Here you see just how many clips are used to keep the bottom cover in place. Remember, these clips are taking all the stress of your weight distributed along the edge of the vinyl. Be generous with those clips! You can see that I've used new clips, as well as old ones salvaged from the seat strip.

Bottom Cover

If care is taken to make sure that the edges are pulled down uniformly, then the piping and seat edges should all look uniform. This one worked out well. Now, on to the seat back!

Back Glued

When installing the squab padding, it has to be glued to the seat back frame. You can't do this with hobby cement. I went to an upholster's shop and got industrial contact cement. Both the frame and the padding were coated, glue set, and then put together.

Glued

Glue the seat frame all the way around the back, because the squab padding is wrapped around the back side.

Cutting Corners

In order to make the padding fit without some nasty bunching, I cut the corners out of it, and wrapped it over the frame.

Tail Metal

The seat kit does not come with the necessary metal tabs that keep the tails wrapped around the bottom, so the old ones need to be re-used.

Natural Lubricant

I've figured out that the only purpose of the batting wrapped around the seat bottom and along the top is there strictly as a natural lubricant. The back pad and the foam on the bottom create a lot of friction with the covers. Using the batting allows the cover to slide smoothly.

Improvements?

Standard seats have always been described as uncomfortable. Half of this issue is due to the fact that the seat back is 90 degrees to the bottom. The other half is no lumbar support. I made up some foam cushions to pad the lumbar area.

Trimmed Edges

So as not to be too unsightly, I trimmed off the squared edges.

Tucked

Once the lumbar foam is in place, and the cover slid over the top, the ends are tucked down through and to the back.

After the Tuck

Here are the ends of the seat back. These are pulled and wrapped around that rear U-channel and clipped right over the top of the cover end that is already clipped in place.

Tails

The tails are wrapped around the bottom, and the piping tucked out of the way so as not to hang down when the seat is in place.

Done

Here's a look at the corner, after it's all together.

Closer Inside

A shot from the inside of the seat, showing the tails, and the piping tucked.

Diaphragm

Finished seat, from the bottom. Note the clips for the seat back. It's not as critical to use a lot of clips for this, because they don't have that much tension on them, but enough should be used so that they pull evenly and you don't run the risk of having it come undone.

Finished Seat

The lumbar support. Stock? No. Do I regret it? No way! The seat is so much more comfortable with the added support that I don't mind the non-stock look.

Front View

A completed seat, ready for installation into the car.