Re-Upholstery

[Mal81]

I've had the leather to re trim my front seats laying around in their vacuum packed bag for a couple of months. Tonight I opened them up.



The leather is cold and pretty stiff to work with. I brought the passenger seat inside the house tonight, and am just 'placing' the leather on it so that it can sort of warm up. After it's good and warm, and there's daylight, I will start stretching and attaching it to the frame.

[Mal81]

Piece of Snake. . These covers are well made, and I feel pretty confident they'll fit well too. They are exactly the same as my old covers, but seem to be a bit heavier material. Though, the old ones are as dry as dust...

[MPDano]

Nice! How much did you pay for them?

[Mal81]

The basic set (all leather) is going for $300 for the fronts. You'll have to pay extra for piping and pin hole inserts. I don't know if it's cool to post a link to the company, so I won't. But you can probably figure it out from the pictures.

[Danglerb]

Post the info, nobody is too fussy about that stuff here.

[Mrmerlin]

I looked at the site but did not see any for the 928 they are having a 50 % off sale now see Lseat dot com

[Danglerb]

I posted a couple questions, and might pop for a set for my Lincoln at $300.

Regards 928, its very rare to see a reupholstered seat look factory, the cushions usually end up looking rounded when factory is flat and squared off.

Main question is what type and grade of leather is being used? Factory is the top grade.

[928 Bro]

Take pic of finished look. thx

[Mal81]

Hey Danglerb.
No these are not factory (European leather) covers. The leather is likely American (N. Or S.) as it is thicker and stiffer than European leather. However, the leather is without any blemishes, and was very accurately cut and sewn together.
I know what you mean about the rounded edges... I'm going to do the best job I can by taking my time, glueing and weighting the seams.. My $1500 car will never be concours, so if I fail to get them flat and square, they'll still look a whole lot better than they did, and give me many years of good service.

Hey 928 Bro, Absolutely! And probably snap a few along the way too. (0:,'

[Mal81]

Mrmerlin,
I ordered the 911 seats, but described mine as accurately as possible. They then asked me to snap some pictures so they could determine if they were sport seats or not, and if style A or B. In all, we traded 5 or 6 emails before the sale was processed. I think other OB owners will have it a bit easier now that they've completed the job I sent them.

BTW, these are 'made to order', and not pulled from a shelf. You'll wait 4-6 weeks before they're shipped out.

[Danglerb]

Total fail in my view, I sent them an email asking about the leather grade and type used and the reply was cow hide. Makes me think they could be using furniture grade leather which doesn't last in a car.

Porsche leather last I checked sold for about $600 a hide, and that isn't sufficient for a full leather set of front seats iirc.

Every data point is a good one, so looking forward to seeing the end results.

[Danglerb]

I think this place might have had a good explain on leather types, GAHH: Convertible Tops, Auto Interiors, Quality Convertible Tops $1600 for a pair of front seats as a kit.

[Mal81]

Re: Dangler's concern that they won't be square and flat across the faces.

Here's my plan of attack:

I read someplace about somebody using a length of PVC and weights to press the seams down while the adhesive sets. I'll give that a try, but plan to do my work on a piece of clean plywood and then clamp the PVC with vise grip welders clamps on the ends instead of the weights. I pressed the PVC into one of the seams just now, and it looked pretty good:





My idea is that the adhesive will suck it in tight, and then I will work on that face, the next seam, and the next face, etc

[Mal81]

The Chistmas Holiday is passed, and my visitors have left. The project resumes as of this morning. Let the gluing begin!

[Mal81]

Quick update:
The original covers were attached to the foam in places with an outside clinch staple gun (aka: box-top staple gun). I thought I could get one at any HVAC supply store, since they're also used by the guys to attach insulation to ducting. No joy.

Added to my online shopping list

[Danglerb]

Try a keyword like upholstery stapler maybe, its just the foot that is different. I've had staplers that could do both types.

[Mal81]

Bostitch T6-8OC2 7-16 in. Crown 9-16 in. PowerCrown Heavy-Duty Tacker Stapler

This is what I ordered. Seems that Arrow was the first with their T-50 stapler, but recent ones seems to have quality issues. Bostich shoots the identical staples, but has a bit better quality

[Danglerb]

I'm not getting a good, this is the right tool vibe, but mostly I am not finding better or fully understanding the terminology.

Outward clinch, might be right, but carton staplers often poke thru, curl, and poke back out.

[Mal81]

Just my luck... Doggone thing is back ordered. Might just go ahead without it.

Not sure what visual is coming to your mind with these staples; I have a pic here from the sales literature:



It's not clear in the image... There are 2 staples in the picture. A sort of 'before' and 'after' is depicted.

[Danglerb]

I searched and found Dean's old thread here and RL, and he used the Arrow OC you mentioned, so either is likely fine.

I was thinking of staples used on cartons, usually copper that come back up through the box.

I got to know the staples well. I took apart dozens of back seats to get the leather for a project I had in mind.