Re: Restoring Seats

[stans4@ix.netcom.com (Stanley Schaefer)]

You wrote: 
>
>I have several Type III's that have cracked and peeled seats.  I 
hoping for some opinions on how to go about restoring these.  
>The inside foam is shot also, so this would be from the ground up 
restoration.  Do most people use these aftermarket kits?  Or 
>get the supplies individually?  Some of the front seats no longer fold 
forward when lifting the lever on the side of the seat?  I can 
>see that the hook is worn.  Do they make replacment parts for this?  
Thanks in advance for the info.
>
>Craig
>-------------------------------------
>Craig Woolston
>Lockheed Martin Skunk Works
>So. California
>'70 Sqback
>'71 Fastback
>cwoolsto@ladc.lockheed.com
>
>
>
Having just gone through this, here are some tips:  Strip the things 
entirely, remove what remains of horsehair padding, foam, etc.  The 
bases on mine('71) have bent sheetmetal clips that can be persuaded to 
let the bottom come off(rail part).  Clean rails thoroughly, sand, 
steel wool, whatever.  Check parts, the spring links particularly, for 
cracks, etc.  My driver's side back was hard to get forward, what had 
happened was that the latch hook had cut into the folding part and had 
raised a large burr at the latch hole, causing me to have to joggle the 
back to get the hook to release.  When I saw that, I got out the old 
rawhide mallet and wood block, got things back into position, works 
like new now.  On the springs, clean as well as you can, hose it off 
and spray with some epoxy or similar paint.  If you have some rust 
converter-type stuff, use that first.  You want very smooth edges for 
the vinyl covers to slide on, makes things much easier.  You might want 
to rub tire talc on the inside of the covers, mine slid on much easier 
that way, very tight fit.  I used jute-backed carpet remnants for 
covering the springs, foam was good on the backs so just taped over the 
springs on the back with some more carpet.  I had some molded foam 
cushions for the bottoms, taped those into position so they didn't 
slide around trying to wrestle the cover on, had to do a little surgery 
on the foam around the edges, the lips didn't quite match on the one 
seat with the edge of the springs.  Really didn't take much more than 
an afternoon to get things together once the painting was done.  I had 
some low spots on the back on the drivers side, just slide some more 
carpet up inside.  Pad to taste, in other words.  Looks OK, rides 
better, much more comfortable than riding around on the old springs and 
depleted horsehair.  Did it during the summer 85 degree weather, 
wouldn't like to try it in the 30's and 40's, vinyl is real stiff and 
needs a lot of stretching to get it to fit, heat gun time, maybe.  Wish 
I had done it years sooner.

There is some adjustment for centering the latch hooks, played with 
that, also had to rebend one of the latch connecting rods that had 
gotten bent trying to get the seat to unlatch.  Get both hooks to 
withdraw at the same time and you've got it.  Can reallly see what's 
going on with the seat out, kind of hard with it in the car.

  Does anyone know of a source for the plastic covers that go on the 
pan part of the rails for '71s?  WCM used to catalog them, but 
unavailable now.