Re-Upholstering Second Try

[Jimjific 23]

Here is another attempt at posting pictures. Thanks to Mike and Pak, I might get it to work.

 

Here is my drivers side before starting.

 

 

Here are some of the tear down..

 

Notice the cover for the back of the seat? It's plastic and a different shade. Because of this, I used the back panels that came with the kit that were vinyl.

 

 

 

I tried to take the old material off fairly complete so I would have them as a reference in case I needed them.

 

 

Here is the base stripped down to what used to be burlap. Notice the thin wires that are woven into the burlap. A lot of them were rusted through.

 

I took a lot of pictures at this point of the wire that is hog ringed over the burlap since this is the wire that the upholstery center gets hog ringed onto and I wanted to make sure I put it back exactly where it was since it would effect the centering of the new covering.

 

 

Here it is down to the frame. I didn't go crazy here and sand blast and repaint since one, I figured you won't see it anyway. I guess I just didn't see the value in it.

 

Here is the base with new burlap hog ringed in place. I laid the new burlap in, hogged it and then trimmed it to fit. I reused the recycled looking material that goes on the edges. You can really see the wire that I was talking about earlier.

 

 

 

Next up Installing new upholstery, the real fun begins.

 

 

Jim

[JayEstes 172]

I appreciate the detail with pics. Really a helpful post - the pics worked great - thanks!

[Jimjific 23]

Cool, I finally figured out how to post this way, with help of coarse.

 

More to come.

 

Jim

[Jimjific 23]

Here are some shots on putting the new cover on.

 

Here I am instaling the the listing wire for the covers insert panels. When I first started this I thought, no way am I going to be able to get this in around the horseshoe shape. But you can get it around it, it just takes some time and hand fatigue.

 

I then put the new seat bun on. I tried to hog ring it in place but it didn't really seem necessary. So I put the bun on, marked the center, and then put slits into where the covers insert panel gets hogged onto the frame. This allows you to see the wire (you can just make out the tan part in the slit) that sits on top of the burlap so you can hog ring onto it. I put three on the front and three on each side.

 

Below is the step that saved me and before I figured it out, I was starting to think I wasn't going to be able to do the recovering. What I'm showing here is putting a slit in the pocket that holds the listing rod for the insert panel. Make sure that the slits match the cut put into the seat bun.

 

Here is why this was necessary. It allows you to put the hog ring pliers with a hod ring around the listing wire. Now you can take the pliers and push through the bun slit and hog onto the wire that sits on top of the burlap.

 

Here I am pushing the pliers through the slit to get at the wire on top of the burlap.

 

Do this for all of the bun slits and the covers insert panel is attached.

 

Next is working the cover over the bun and hog ringing it. Get your hair dryer ready!

 

Jim

[Jan 12]

A tip when working the cover over the bun is to put some thin plastic around the bun.

This will enable the cover to slip over the bun will less friction.

(You can leave the plastic under the cover)

 

Good luck.

[DRASTiK 22]

Subscribed to this one. Looking forward to the rest as I'll need to do both front seats in mine. This helps me figure out if I'll do it myself or just pay to have a pro do it.

[Jimjific 23]

So before I continue, here is a shot of the seat base. Notice that the sides and the back have hog rings that go through pockets for listing rods. The new covers had no fabric pockets like the stock ones did (I wonder if ultra anal car show guys worry about this?). The couple of articles that I found that went over reupholstering, made no mention of this and the best I could tell wanted you to just hog the new cover right to the frame. I tried this and wasn't comfortable with how the rings seemed to want to pull through the material. By the way, get a good set dikes, you will need them to cut the old rings.

 

I started with the back. I noticed that the material is folded over and sewn back onto itself creating a very narrow pocket. The back listing rod is wavy. I'm not sure why, but it is. I sanded it to remove most of the rust and then was able to slip it through the "pocket". I'm not sure that this was their intent as you will see in pictures below, but it worked well and really gave the hog rings something to grab.

 

Here is the beck with the rod installed.

 

Here is the back edge hogged to the frame springs. I started with the center and did the others.

 

Turning to the sides now. This corner I found to be the hardest part of doing the seat base. It is tough to get the material to stretch over the hing pin. Use lots of hair drier heat and work it over. I reused the old seat buns as something to put the seat parts on to protect the new cover while I worked on them. I found that putting the seat base on the floor (with the old seat bun under it) then laying a small plank on the frame and kneeling onto the plank to use my weight to compress everything helped in getting the material wrapped around enough for hogging.

 

Here I am inserting the listing rod on the side pocket.

 

Here is why I think this "pocket" wasn't meant for the listing rod. The other end is sewn shut. I remedied this by making a cut and sliding the rod the rest of the way through.

 

For the sides, I started hogging with the back and worked towards the front. Make sure you capture the listing rod when you hog ring it. You can just make out the plank I used to kneel on and my wife's cool pink hair drier.

 

Heating and pulling to complete the side.

Side note here. I bought the "professional" hog ring pliers. The hog rings were somewhat of a pain to get loaded into the pliers. I had to use a set of needle nose pliers to hold and force a ring into the jaws of the hog ring pliers. Make sure you have one in the jaws before you pull and stretch the material so you are ready to clamp it in place. It sounds obvious, but I found myself getting ahead on myself and then going, crap! I don't have the pliers loaded yet.

 

The front is next and is the easiest part of the job. There is no listing rod but the material is not under as much tension and hogs very easily. I started in the center and worked to the sides.

 

Finished front edge.

 

Finished seat base. Installing the seat pads and cutting the hing pin holes is not as scary as you think it will be. For the hing pins just make a little circle cut on top and the pin will come right through. For the seat pads, feel with a jewelers screw driver for the threaded hole and then poke a hole.

 

Next installment with be the seat back and head rest.

 

Jim

[JayEstes 172]

Man- this is some great detail. Thx Jim for posting all of this info.

Jay

[Jimjific 23]

Here is the back part of the seat. It is pretty much the same as the base. But you will see that I had a pretty major issue.

 

Same stuff here. I took a lot of pictures of this wire and where it war hogged onto since I was going to put new burlap on.

 

Here is the back bare frame.

 

This was interesting. Look what I found in the frame. It's a mangled seat back panel clip pushed on the frame.

 

Here is the frame with new burlap. Nothing really different than the base.

 

Crap!!! I was literally shocked when this happened. The passenger seat cover went on without any issues. Yes, it wasn't easy but it also didn't seem terribly challenging. I used a hair dryer on both. I almost feel like this was a defect since it literally seemed to happen without a huge effort. There is no way to fix it other than get a new piece. I called the cover manufacturer to see if I could just buy that piece but they don't sell directly to people and told me to go through Mustang Unlimited and to tell them that I spoke to them. I haven't done this yet so I don't know how this will all pan out in the end. For now, I have the seat installed and you really don't see it unless you fold down the seat.

 

Here is the splined shaft for the seat lever. One issue I had hear was that the new foam pushes out more and makes it the handle harder to put on. The original screw would not grab, so I had to go to the hardware store and get a longer screw. Also, don't forget to put the little foam ring around this shaft before you put the cover on.

 

Here is the bracket that helps captivate the headrest. The passenger seat headrest came out easier than the drivers side did. Because of this, to get it to release, I detached the bracket from the frame and removed the headrest and bracket together so I could separate them. I didn't want to break this part.

 

Hear is the headrest. Nothing to hard here. Just make sure you put the cover on in the right direction with foam.

 

The cover is just stapled onto the fiber board. I didn't have any of these narrow upholstery style staples but regular ones worked. Just be careful not to try to staple too close to the cover plate nuts since I think they have a metal backing so the staple won't go into the board. I did trim the cover since it seemed like they gave you more than was required and I wanted the plate to go back on evenly.

 

Hear is the passenger seat finished and assembled. One of the more difficult things to do is getting the back onto the base hing pivots. I bought new washers that go onto the shafts. Be very careful when trying to get the back onto the base. I didn't come up with a smoking gun way to do it other than a screw driver and brute force. It could be very easy to slip put a hole in the cover.

 

Here is a slice of great NY pizza that I had when I finished.

 

All in all I was pretty happy with how they came out other than my one major screw up. You do sit higher with the new foam though and it feels a little weird. It will hopefully relax some with time.

 

Jim

[Mike65 475]

Very good work. Nothing like a slice of pizza after some hard work on the Mustang, now all you need is a beer to go with it.:drool:

[rawlinss 14]

Great Job!!

[DRASTiK 22]

Do you feel that the tear was your fault, or do you think maybe the material was just weak in that spot?

[Jimjific 23]

I'm not really sure. All I know is that It didn't take much to make it happen and I really didn't feel like I went "Ape" on it. One thing I thought afterwards was that they should put a reinforcement on that seam like they do on some of the others.

 

Jim

[proud2bawesome 10]

Those look great! This weekend I did the same for my coupe, replacing the original blue vinyl with black that I picked up from Mustang Interiors online as well as replacing the dash and wheel. It all ended up being much less daunting then I anticipated.

 

Before:

 

After:

 

 

[Jimjific 23]

Looks great. I am going to get one of those wheels but with the black rubber rim. I think it will match better since I don't have anything else with a wood grain. Was it easy to install?

 

Jim

[proud2bawesome 10]

Looks great. I am going to get one of those wheels but with the black rubber rim. I think it will match better since I don't have anything else with a wood grain. Was it easy to install?

 

Jim

 

Yeah it was actually pretty easy, prior to install I thought it was going to be difficult because typically you need a puller and there are 4 different spacers with adapters, but thankfully the previous owner had installed the old wheel poorly and it came off without much effort and the instructions were pretty clear.

[Pakrat 1,043]

Looks great. I am going to get one of those wheels but with the black rubber rim. I think it will match better since I don't have anything else with a wood grain. Was it easy to install?

 

Jim

 

I have the black Grant wheel and it's very easy to install, the puller is easy to use too, very straight forward. I bought one but a place like autozone will lend you one for free. I've actually removed my wheel a few times now anyway and it was cheap so I'm glad I had my own in the end though.

 

Biggest obstacle if you choose to do it, for the Mustang horn button they suggest you cut off the end of the center stud that it bolts down too. I was a little concerned about doing that originally and did not and quite often my horn button would fall off on a turn or some inconvenient time and to press it back on means you have to honk your horn to do it which is a pain. Trimming the stud allows it to fasten more securely so I'm finally going to do that this time around. The end of the stud is not threaded anyway, it's got a nubbin on it for quicker assembly line bolting and won't matter at all but it's a thick like 5/8 or 3/4" hard steel and at the time (12 years ago) all I could have used was a hacksaw, nowadays though my cutoff wheel and grinder should make quick work of it.

Edited April 20, 2012 by Pakrat

[waketek516 10]

Aside from the rip, those came out great!