DIY Re-upholstery Front Sport Seats kit 85-89

[DRACO A5OG]

Oh good, you know there is an old youtube trick using a heat gun to bring back the black and luster. I tried it and it does work, just have to be careful not to over heat it.

[A horse with no name]

Hi Jim ...No I never knew that worked on plastic... Being I have new ones I will pop the old ones off.
Re the heatgun- We have a black table and from time to time it will get a milky looking stain caused buy a hot item e.g - cup of coffee- and a friend told us to just put a tea towel over it and the just make a couple of passes with a hot iron and sure enough it works. It must work on the same principal- 'Fire on Fire'Again.... Thanks for all your 'hot' tips. Much appreciated!

Cheers!

[dshepp806]

Great stuff, DRACO !!!! Sidenote: I rx'd my leather sample from Heritage today and it sure looks darker than factory (to me),..waiting to hear from my Painter (who has the car) to see what his eyes tell him.

The black vinyl was good-to-go.

The carpet sample remains questionable. Tony and I had discussion about NOT using any Sliverknit in my car. It will call for German valour (much thicker/denser. Additionally he was quite aware of the (necc'y) black dotted backing used by Porsche and would be backing with that. I say it's questionable because the sample is noted as Sliverknit (maybe they're trying to just ensure the Silk Grey color is a match and this is a non-issue).

What a painstaking process. Looking to speak with Tony tomorrow.

Wish I coulda' been there for all of the work you did, DRACO.....good stuff!

Best!

Doyle

[EHS911]

Very nice work and finished product. Great write up and pictures. Thanks for sharing.

[sobamaflyer]

[QUOTE=DRACO A5OG;7276349 "hey they didn't do this and that right" :-P

You would think if they are going to charge 400-600 just for labor, they can at least do it right, dang it.[/QUOTE]

Thank you for taking the time to post this excellent step by step view. We paid to have stock seats in a brand new car recovered because we wanted the color different, thought it's brand new, it should look the same but different color....WRONG. I simply don't trust any local shop to take more care or effort than I will.

I'm about to embark on an interior re-do, hope my seats turn out as nicely as your's have. Has several months shown any trouble areas?

Travis

[DRACO A5OG]

Nope, just the normal wear and tear, just got to keep up with the Lexol Conditioning from time to time until the leather breaks in.

Just be very careful with the steaming at the perforations, DO NOT GET Water in there, it will harden the leather.

One of my bolts for the rail came loose, but, that, ain't bad, next time I will use lock tight like the previous installer did.

[Green6]

Draco, thanks for the write-up. You've inspired me to try recovering my sport seats myself. I have some nice new covers from Lakewell that came with my car. I'm gathering the tools and supplies for the job, and have a couple of questions. I'm ordering the outward clinch stapler with 1/2 in. stainless staples. I'm also ordering the hog ring pliers and hog rings. Do you remember what size hog rings you used? Also, can you clarify your plastic bag technique. I'm guessing it's to help slide the skin on. Do you leave it in there, or can you reach up in and pull it out? If you leave it in does it leave any residual lumps? Thanks again for taking the time and effort of documenting the process.

[DRACO A5OG]

No Problemo!

Sorry forgot which size but maybe 1-1.5", get the copper coated if you have allot of moisture in your area.

Bag, technic, you can leave it in, no residual lumps, if it bothers you, I guess you can pull it out but it is pretty tight and you do not want to lose the alignment of the seams.

Break a Leg brother!

[Taylor1969]

Hi all,

This looks like a great thread but the pictures aren’t showing up for me. Does anyone else see a message from photobucket on all of the images?

Thanks,
Chris

[DRACO A5OG]

Yeah, sorry fellas, it really sucks.

I will do my best to re-post them

[Harpo]

Yea, it would be great if you could repost these photos.

Thanks

David

[da Vinci Dan]

Why cant I see any of these photos? Looks like photo bucket want my money to look at OP s pics.

[DRACO A5OG]

Oh poop, they blocked me too

That really sucks

[donagain1]

I've never worked with the leather kits, and they seemed a bit pricey for a first-timer to screw up while experimenting upon, so I got a couple-hundred buck vinyl kit. Pros wanted more than I paid for it to install, so I had at it aided by the pics in this post (back when they were visible). Went so easily and smoothed out so nicely that I'm in no huge hurry to transition to the leather.

[Crude Rudy]

photofcukitbucket has screwed all of the friendly user forums on the internet. $3-400/yr to access your picks you already gave the scumbags. All of the hard work many people put into how-to posts w/ pics are crap now

[Eric at Pelican Parts]

DRACO A5OG if you remember your photobucket login information, you should log in and save all the pictures to your computer. Re-upload them through here, and you won't have to worry about it going down anymore.

I would have recommended you use imgur, but I have a feeling it's only time until they stop doing the free image hosting like Photobucket did.

[oh snap]

Originally Posted by Eric at Pelican Parts

DRACO A5OG if you remember your photobucket login information, you should log in and save all the pictures to your computer. Re-upload them through here, and you won't have to worry about it going down anymore.

I would have recommended you use imgur, but I have a feeling it's only time until they stop doing the free image hosting like Photobucket did.

There is a useful extension for Chrome called photobucket hotlink fix. (I think they have one for Firefox and Opera too). You add it to chrome and it automatically replaces broken links with ones that work.
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/photobucket-hotlink-fix/kegnjbncdcliihbemealioapbifiaedg?hl=en

No idea how it works or if Photobucket will find a way to block it at some point as well but for the time being its an essential add on for anyone that browses car forums.

[DRACO A5OG]

Hmmm, I have chrome, let me try it out.

[somoney311]

Christmas day miracle! Two clicks later and the photos load right up.

[DRACO A5OG]

Really? on Chrome with that link?