Thread: 110 county seat restoration

Mick thanks for the info.

So far I've repaired the foam cushion and started sewing the vinyl edge to the seat.

The cushion repair was fairly straight forward. I cut out the damaged area with a stanley blade, leaving a straight edge to attach replacement foam. I had some left over foam sheet (10-15mm thick) which is dark grey in colour and fairly dense. I cut out several pieces so that I could laminate them together verically with contact adhesive. The damaged area was the edge of the seat, damaged because of entry/exit from the driver side. I soaked the straight edge on the cushion with contact and let it dry. I applied another coat and glued the replacement foam into position. Then shaped the foam to roughly the right shape as the opposite side. Next I finished shaping the foam with a foam sanding block. This work perfectly. I am going to place a sheet of foam between the cushion and the steel base to pack up a bit of sag. I will probably place some type of rubber or dense foam over the top of the cushion to help hold it all together.

The upholstery for the seat upright was ok other than a split in the vinyl which ran along the top. After removing the cover (not a difficult job) I turned it inside out and marked the join between the vinyl and fabric every 3 or 4 cm (matchup marks) so I could match these lines up when I sewed in the new vinyl. I then cut out the piece to be replaced by unpicking the stitchwork. Then as Mick suggested marked all the stitchwork and fold overs. I ironed the old piece flat and placed it over the new vinyl and traced around it. I also marked on the new piece the matchup marks, the stitchmarks and folds. I've started stitching it into place. I intend to just 'tac stitch' into place and take it to a boot repairer or upholstery place to run a sewing machine over it.

The job seemed fairly daunting. However, like many things it was pretty easy once you started into it.

So far the costs are as follows:

*contact adhesive $10;
* foam - nothing left over from another job;
* rubber cover for cushion - nothing I will probably use a busted tyre tube oor some very thin carpet underlay I bought for another job;
* vinyl - $6 from spotlight;
* sewing by upholsterer - hopfully no more than $20 - $30 for both seats.

I have a 2nd seat to repair I will take some photos as I go next time.

rar110[/list]

RAR, thats great Im glad my post helped, before ya do the next one - take a before and after pic - in fact that post and the pics would make a good article for the mag ...

Mick